Dave Meyers long ago made quite a name for himself as a music video director, but this year he managed to extend his success to the commercial realm. Meyers, who directs spots through bicoastal/international @radical. media, earned kudos for his Apple iPod ads ("Hip-Hop," "Rock" and "Dance") out of TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles.
The ads—honored at The One Show, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show, the Clios, The Art Directors Club, and the Cannes International Advertising Festival—are striking in their simplicity. They feature people shown in black silhouettes dancing against brightly colored backgrounds to a particular kind of music. Clearly visible on the silhouettes are the white iPod headphones. The spots followed a similar iPod print campaign and were a perfect fit for Meyers, whose credits include more than 170 music videos. "I think my background was definitely an asset on this campaign," he says. "I’d done so many dance-oriented music videos. I know how to shorthand what would be the hottest dance steps, who [to include in my] team, and what talent pool to draw [the dancers] from."
Meyers admits he was particularly eager to work on the iPod campaign because he was such an Apple fan. "I’ve always been attracted to the simplicity of Apple marketing," he says. "They’re ingenious with their approach to advertising and so I instantly wanted to be a part of this campaign. The fact that it was music-driven made it even more appealing to me."
The engaging commercials were "almost complicated by their simplicity," according to Meyers. "Actually, keeping the earpieces [on the dancers] was really hard," he laughs. "That was one of the little challenges we dealt with, but overall it was a very smooth shoot. The selection of music was incredibly good. It brought a contemporary edge to the whole thing. To complement that, the dance styles and the dancers needed to be less choreographed and rehearsed to make it more organic. Keeping all that in mind, it was really important to make sure we got the best, most magical moments as far as how they’d look in silhouette."
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Meyers’ directorial education began during his final year at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, when he got involved with the Independent Feature Project/West—a.k.a. IFP West—an organization for independent filmmakers. From there, Meyers headed to Paramount Pictures and spent two years temping his way through a myriad of departments until finally landing in the studio’s development division. He stayed there for two more years. It was around that time that he decided to follow the leads of two high-profile directors into the world of music videos.
"Honestly, during school and even after that I had always focused on movies," shares Meyers. "Then I ran into Gus Van Sant [My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting] and he mentioned that I should try videos. Plus, I was a fan of F. Gary Gray’s [Friday, The Italian Job] and I knew that he also directed music videos, so I kind of got steered in that direction and it worked out for me." (Gray is repped for spots and music videos via bicoastal HSI Productions.)
Meyers toiled on several videos, but it wasn’t until 1999, when he collaborated with Kid Rock on the clips "Bawitdaba," "Cowboy" and "American Bad Ass," that he began to get noticed. He later found representation via F.M. Rocks, Santa Monica, and went on to helm videos for such recording superstars as Janet Jackson ("All for You"), Britney Spears ("Lucky," "Boys"), Dave Matthews Band ("I Did It," "The Space Between"), No Doubt ("Hey Baby"), Creed ("My Sacrifice"), Pink ("Get This Party Started"), Aerosmith ("Girls of Summer"), Missy Elliott ("Get Ur Freak On") and Jennifer Lopez ("I’m Real").
In ’02, Meyers decided to test his mettle in the commercial arena and signed with @radical.media. "It was time," he says. "I had learned a lot about the advertising world while I was working on videos and I became more and more attracted to it. I think the best analogy I’ve come up with is that videos, for me at least, are like paid film school. You know—you don’t want to be that guy in school for like eight, nine years who never graduates. I went to @radical because they have a really organized commercial division that offers a lot of stability career-wise, both here and in Europe, which is exactly what I was looking for."
Meyers has since started @radical.media/music, a division of the production house specializing in music videos. Through that division, he has directed clips for artists such as Elliott ("Pass That Dutch") and Ludacris ("Stand Up").
These days, Meyers prefers to focus primarily on his commercial endeavors, but he’s still involved in the music video world. "I still keep my legs in videos and might actually be doing another one soon," he says. "I’m always game for it if something really special comes along, but there are limits to the genre. The artists are the stars and there are shots of their dance moves and beautiful close-ups that must be included. That’s the priority. You can tell a great narrative, but if you leave the artist out of the video, people are going to be upset. It’s like leaving the brand out of the commercial. Plus, I just have a natural gravitation towards diversity and variety in the projects I choose. To me, the healthiest director is one who jumps around and tries new things."
This summer Meyers shot new spots for Target (out of Peterson Milla Hooks, Minneapolis), Nike (for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.) and Elizabeth Arden (for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco), and if all goes well, he may soon be directing his first feature film. "It’s kind of too early to really talk about it, but I might have some good news to report on that front very soon," he teases. "I am really excited about it. I did a really off-the-radar hip-hop kind of movie awhile back, but this would be my first real feature film with movie stars and the whole deal. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for a long, long time."Z
