“I miss the years when a new creative video coming out was a social event,” relates director Chris Milk of bicoastal/international @radical.media/music. “Everyone used to see every new video the week it came out. A new Michael Jackson video was like the Super Bowl. Now MTV plays so little videos that you are lucky to catch one on the station at all. When did ‘Music Television’ become all about dating someone’s mom?”
However, this setback has opened up other avenues. “With iTunes and different Internet outlets, videos are finding other opportunities,” says Brendan Malloy, who with brother Emmett Malloy form The Malloys directing duo from bicoastal/international Black Dog Films, part of the RSA family of companies.
“Sometimes not having to worry about the MTV audience can be liberating,” conjectures Emmett Malloy. You can be a lot more ‘self-serving’ in terms of being absolutely true to the performer, knowing that the fans who seek out that artist on the Internet or elsewhere will understand. You’re not looking to try to appeal to everybody.”
“The Internet has become more pervasive and that has impacted videos, enabling people to push the creative limits more,” observes director Marc Webb of Hollywood-based DNA. “It also pushes directors more. Technology has made the process more accessible. New unproven talent is directing since the price of entry isn’t that steep–and they’re getting exposure for their work on the Internet. Different people are directing content, experimenting so that the competition has gotten stiffer–which is good creatively for all of us.”
Webb, The Malloys and Milk have a common bond this awards season. They are among the Best Director of the Year nominees for the Music Video Production Association (MVPA) Awards. They join fellow nominees Sophie Muller of Oil Factory, Beverly Hills, and Floria Sigismondi of Revolver, Toronto and Los Angeles.
The Malloys were nominated for the Director of the Year honor on the strength of The White Stripes’ “My Doorbell,” Jack Johnson’s “Sitting Waiting Wishing,” and the Black Eyed Peas’ “Don’t Phunk With My Heart.”
Milk’s nomination in the high-profile category came for Audioslave’s “Doesn’t Remind Me,” and Natasha Bedingfield’s “These Words.”
Earning Webb his nom were My Chemical Romance’s “Helena,” All-American Rejects’ “Move Along,” and Weezer’s “Perfect Situation.”
Muller’s director of the year nomination was on the basis of Gwen Stefani’s “Cool,” Garbage’s “Bleed Like Me” and Faith Hill’s “Like We Never Loved At All.”
And Sigismondi was a nominee this year for Fiona Apple’s “O’ Sailor,” Living Things’ “Bom Bom Bom,” and The White Stripes’ “Blue Orchid.”
MVPA’S SIGNIFICANCE Just days prior to the MVPA Awards ceremony this week in Los Angeles, SHOOT caught up with nominees The Malloys, Milk and Webb to get their sense of the business, to discuss some of their nominated work, and to elicit their reflections on what the MVPA Award Best Director of the Year nomination means to them.
On the latter score, Milk observes, “I realize the cooler thing to say is that awards mean very little. This nomination means a lot to me, though. It’s sort of repairing the social damage from being an outcast in high school that my peer group now thinks my work is cool.”
“The MVPA Awards go for the quality of the videos. They don’t look at how much MTV played the video,” says Brendan Malloy. “Last year we won [the MVPA Award in the cross-promotional video of the year category] for Will Ferrell’s ‘Afternoon Delight’ [tied into the comedy feature Anchorman]. MTV didn’t even play that video. But we won and it gained acknowledgement from our peers. That same dynamic continues–most of the videos that have received MVPA nominations this year I hadn’t ever seen before.”
Webb relates, “It’s a great feeling to be nominated. I very much like and respect the other people who were nominated. It’s a great legacy of directors over the years. That sort of recognition from one’s peers is wonderful.”
CLIP FEEDBACK The directors also reflected on their nominated work. Milk assesses, “Everything that could go wrong in a music video went wrong on the Natasha [Bedingfield] video. Without getting into all the gory details, I’ll just say the aired version did not have my name on it.
“On the flipside,” continues Milk, “the Audioslave video was a creative dream come true. The band, management, and label gave me complete creative freedom to write and shoot whatever I liked. Since there was no band in it, everyone sort of took a hands-off approach and just let me do what I thought was right. They ended up approving the first cut I submitted without any changes.”
Emmett Malloy recalls “Sitting Waiting Wishing.” He says, “We went into the Jack Johnson shoot with crossed fingers.” The clip had Johnson singing in a physically challenged scenario, dealing with fireworks all about him, being sprayed by a fire hose, thrown chairs and balls. “It was all pretty much done in one take. We had backup plans if it didn’t go as planned. But the first time through, it was about 90 percent right. That made us all feel a lot more comfortable that we could get what we set out for–There were four takes in all.”
For Webb, My Chemical Romance’s “Helena” stands out. “We had only $200,000–which isn’t the most overwhelming budget–but everything came together. I had never dealt with dancers before in any significant way. The synergy of the band, the music, the dancers and the choreography just blended perfectly.”
Webb also liked the fluttering frame effect–achieved in camera and with a stop motion-like editing approach–in the All American Rejects clip. “It entailed so many set-ups in a short amount of time, but the ultimate look was worth it.”
