Music Video Directors

Douglas Hart (The director of some of  'The Vaccines' music videos )
His style is based around 'alternative rock' - fragmentation of shots, creative use of lighting for effect & colour, band performance shots, quite quirky and interesting (almost weird) to watch, variety of shot lengths, montage. 
He was the first bassist (a musician who plays a base instrument) and founding member of the band 'The Jesus and Mary Chain' (he played with the group from 1984 to 1991) Whilst playing in the band he began to start directing music video's for other groups of a similar genre & then founded his own company (he's directed over 80 videos) EG: 'My Blood Valentine's' "You Made Me Realise"  'The Horrors' - "Sea Within a Sea" and some of the 'The Stone Roses' videos.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA16546A082A90D19 - his directorial videos 

Melina Matsoukas - (who directs a lot of Rhianna's video's & is Rhianna's favourite director )
She's an American music video director & graduated from the American Film Institute, (New York University's Tisch School of the Arts), and her graduation thesis there was about music video. Her work is bold and described as "chalk full, she uses a combination of either bright & brash colours or saturated & sharp black and white images, smooth spotlights, +  tasteful retro video models." Matsoukas believes that expensive equipment isn't needed, even when creating a really high quality video. 

She feels that  "A good video has the right visuals, a well conceptualised story and should be exciting and elicit reaction" and also said that (in terms of the music video industry)"I love it. The quick turnaround, the creativity." 

Some of her work:


"Because of You" - Ne-Yo
"Green Light" - Beyoncé
"Upgrade U" (co-directed by Beyoncé Knowles) - Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z
"Tambourine" - Eve feat. Swizz Beatz
"Give It to You" - Eve feat. Sean Paul
"Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis (UK version)
"Hold It Don't Drop It" - Jennifer Lopez
"Sensual Seduction" - Snoop Dogg
(2007 ^)

"In My Arms" - Kylie Minogue
"Just Dance" - Lady Gaga feat. Colby O'Donis
"Return the Favor" - Keri Hilson feat. Timbaland
"Thinking of You" - Katy Perry
(2008 ^)

"Not Fair" - Lily Allen
"Work" - Ciara feat. Missy Elliott
"Million Dollar Bill" - Whitney Houston
"Hard" - Rihanna feat. Young Jeezy


"Rude Boy" - Rihanna
"Put It in a Love Song" - Alicia Keys feat. Beyoncé
"Rockstar 101" - Rihanna feat. Slash
(2010 ^)

"S&M" (co-directed by Rihanna) - Rihanna
"Move Your Body" - Beyoncé
"I'm Into You" - Jennifer Lopez feat. Lil Wayne
"We Found Love" - Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris
"You da One" - Rihanna
(2011 ^)

Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director who has worked on well over 200 music videos for various well known artists - for example Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nelly, Foo Fighters,Avril Lavigne, and Aerosmith (many with multiple MTV award wins and nominations). In addition he is the founder of Rockhard, (a music video production company) who has produced videos for mainstream artists such as Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, LMFAO, Britney Spears, Aerosmith, Prince, Mariah Carey, Kelly Rowland, Jessie J and many more.

Klasfeld has a versatile nature and his directorial productions are all very much based upon performance & have a definite focus upon the artists (band or singer), he often shapes his videos towards the star & is much more about selling the star & song than any meaning or deep emotion. His narratives usually revolve around the artist rather that a dual narrative using different characters, creating the sense that the artist is narrating the story personally & directly to their mass market fan base. His work does vary and some of his pieces have a much more serious tone & style, whereas others convey comic/mocking/humorous themes. He often uses parody's, and intertextual references in his videos, and most have quite 'busy' vibes - don't rely on the simplicity of a performance but a mixture of narrative and performance,  creating a visually chaotic & interesting effect (bright shape & variety of scenes + costumes + characters). He often relies upon the use of bright lighting, multiple shots, extensive close up's, coloured tints & close ups of instruments. 

Pulse 'Fred & Nick'

 They are a directorial duo who are part of 'pulse' (Pulse Films is a talent management and integrated content production company that creates content across many different platforms) and have directed a wide range of music videos, in the style of 'live &documentary' (for artists such as: Coldplay, White Lies, Elbow, The Maccabees and Laura Marling). One of their most famous videos ( and award-winning) was the 'Gentlemen Of The Road' series for Mumford and Sons which consisted of four cinematic short films that changed the bands status forever from one who toured in a transit van to a group who were selling over 3 million albums worldwide. They aim to capture the essence of the bands they work with and exert their energy & passion through their videos - Their emotions, their honesty, their vibe, simplicity. They usually use a mix of strong visuals of a conceptual performance, and create very edgy but clever & indie style videos - playing around with shot lengths & editing speed for effect. ( you get a really good sense of the bands ethos & 'team' spirit from their style of video. 


 http://www.pulsefilms.com/talent/frednick/