Music Video Director - Hype Williams

Music video director

The music video director I am analysing is Hype Williams born in 1970 Queens, New York. Hype Williams is an American music video, screen writer and film director of African-American descent. He earned the nickname of ‘Hype’ as a child who was hyperactive and first displayed his work of graffiti which showed off his interests in colour even then.

Hype Williams is an extremely successful music video director who has made a large amount of videos that people listen to and watch even today. He has worked with some big names in the music industry such as R-Kelly, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Will Smith and Beyonce.

Hype Williams first recorded music video was in 1991 by BWP (Bytches With Problems) “We Want Money”. This video consisted of simple shots and not many quick edits or cuts which may seem far too simple nowadays was very complex and amazing in the 90’s. They used a lot of low angle shots and two shots and the affect of the camera spinning really quickly.

Hype Williams has a very long list of music videos he has directed. He has worked with a number of artists and these videos are extremely well known and remembered. Some examples of these are, R-Kelly “I Believe I Can Fly” (1996), TLC “No Scrubs” (1999), Kanye West “Gold Digger” (2005), Jay-Z ft Alicia Keys “New York” (2009) and these are only a selected few. Hype Williams has been an extremely successful director since the 90’s and is still directing music videos as his list goes up to the year 2011. He is also a film director and has a film called ‘Lust’ coming out in 2012 which will be his most previous work yet.

All the videos I have seen by Hype Williams are all performance based videos. He always shows the main performer/singer as they are. Mainly dancing or just singing. They are not usually telling stories or show wacky visuals. 

Hype Williams has some signature styles which are used a majority of his videos. An example of this is called the ‘Fisheye lens’. This was an effect on the camera that distorted the camera view around the central focus. This style was used in videos such as Busta Rhymes’ “Gimme some more” and Will Smiths “Getting’ Jiggy Wit It”.

However this was dropped by 2003 when Hype experienced his lowest ever viewing levels since the beginning of his music video director career.

 Another signature style of Hype Williams is one of his better known.

This Signature style involves putting shots in regular widescreen ratio while a second shot is split in half horizontally and then placed in the upper and lower bars of the video. This was used in videos such as Ne-yo’s “So Sick” (2005), LL Cool J ft J.Lo “Control Myself” (2006) and Beyonce’s “Check On It” (2005).

Hype Williams received MTV’s Video Vanguard Award for his achievement as a filmmaker in 2006 and is being nominated for Video Director of the Year at the BET Awards of 2011.

Since 2003, Hype has adapted a new style which is a style combining a centre camera focus on the artist or artists body and a solid background colour with a soft different coloured light in the background to give a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject. This style is shown in Beyonce’s “Video Phone” (2009) and Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” (2005)

Auteur Theory - Colin Tilley

Colin Tilley (born June 27, 1988 in Berkeley, California) is an award winning music video director for Riveting Entertainment who has written and directed music videos for notable RnB and hip hop artists including as Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Diddy and Justin Bieber among others. Tilley’s most frequent collaborator is Chris Brown, over the last two years the two have worked closely on numerous videos, he directed all the videos bar one for Chris Brown’s F.A.M.E album.

The following examples of Colin Tilley’s visual style feature many of the elements that have become typical for big budget RnB videos. Unlike music videos for other genres, particularly rock which seek authenticity, RnB and hip hop videos usually portray an enhanced, glamorized version of life. Tilley’s cinematic style comes to the fore in many of his videos, particularly Chris Brown’s Deuces (2010) and Jason Derulo’s It Girl (2011). The opening sequences of both videos are reminiscent of film trailers, the director, artist name and song title take the place of credits and there are rapid montages of the action.  The words ‘Collin Tilley Presents’ appear at the beginning of all his videos, indicating his own authorial importance and the cinematic nature of the whole production.

These rapid montages in the opening sequence have become Tilley’s trademark and are used to establish a sense of movement and the passage of time. Each shot within the montage features a beautiful female. Lara Malvey’s ‘Male Gaze Theory’ would identify that in terms of gender representation; these women are portrayed as sexual objects and are solely there for the gratification and titillation of men. This is evident in the camerawork, the camera is often positioned at a low angle so it is looking up at the women and focusing on their breasts and legs.

This is a genre convention that the majority of hip hop and RnB videos conform to or observe. However, Tilley takes a more artistic approach to the conventional nudity. He often uses black and white, another trademark of his, to create a more contemporary, subtle feel in comparison to typical hip hop videos which tend to feature overt sexuality.

Tilley has acknowledged the influence of his hometown, California, to the look of his work. His video for JLS’ She Makes Me Wanna best represents Californian ideals. The video is set on a golden beach, people are sunbathing, everyone’s partying and there are women in swimwear.

His visuals are famed for his use of lighting. Tilley frequently alternates from low key lighting to high key lighting to create striking effects. He frequently uses understated, dark locations such as basements as in Wiz Khalifa’s No Sleep (2011) and Lil Wayne’s John (2010) and then places light boxes in the background of the frame in order to illuminate the star and establish a powerful image. The use of these special effects gives the director total control over the video.

Chris Brown’s ‘Deuces’ from his Fan of a Fan mix tape was released in 2010 on Jive Records. The RnB ballad also features guest vocals from Tyga and Kevin McCall. There is a clear conceptual idea in the video which relates to the lyrics of the song. The lyrics discuss the end of a relationship after failed attempts to make it work, Chris Brown repeatedly sings ‘She makes me wanna say bye bye to her’

There is a clear relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The visuals feature a woman walking away, towards the camera, which is a visual representation of the person in the song walking away from the relationship.

Chris Brown is the main focus of the video, there are frequent close up shots of him. This conforms to Andrew Goodwin’s Six Point Analysis (Dancing In The Distraction Factory, 1986, Routledge) which states that the demands of the record label will result in the needs for lots of close ups of the artist. Although Chris Brown is already an established and respected artist, his record label may have demanded more close ups in order to reinforce his public image, Fan of a Fan was his first release of 2010, after his short break from music.

In terms of mise-en-scene, Deuces is set in a very urban and contemporary location. The video, which has been shot entirely in black and white, is set against the heavily graffiti’d backdrop of the Los Angeles River. The location is dark and gloomy, which is a characteristic feature of Tilley visuals, and the grey background starkly contrasts with Chris Brown’s all black clothing. This makes him stand out and identifies him as the focus of the video.  There are several sequences where Chris Brown is performing a contemporary dance routine; this is typical of the music genre, slick choreographies feature in many hip hop and RnB videos. In these scenes, Chris Brown is dancing in a tunnel and appears to be blacked out; the camera focuses on his shadow dancing. His expressive performance represents all the emotion portrayed in the lyrics.

The video is cut to the beat; the fast paced editing with frequent cuts matches the speed of the music. In sequences where Brown is dancing, cuts are even more frequent in order to display his energy.

In terms of gender representation, the men are represented as strong, independent and powerful. Low angle shots of them standing around a car portray them as intimidating and powerful.  In several shots, the male artists flip their fingers up in the air, which represents the title of the song, ‘Deuces’ and also has a sub conscious message, they are essentially flipping their fingers up to the woman they are singing about, who they have just broken up with. These visuals further amplify the song lyrics and the overall message of the song.

The Chemical Brothers "Let Forever Be"

The Chemical Brothers "Let Forever Be" directed by Michel Gondry

Let Forever Be" is a song by English big beat The Chemical Brothers, released as the second single from their third album Surrender. It contains the vocals of Noel Gallagher of Oasis, who also co-wrote the song.

The video for the track was directed by Michel Gondry, and utilized ground-breaking video and film effects in its depiction of a young woman's nightmares. The video, which drew much visual inspiration from Ray Davies' 1975 Granada TV production Starmaker, received much media attention and became one of the most well-known videos from the band.

Similarly to the Foo Fighters "Everlong" video, there was a strong conceptual element focusing on dreams, particularly nightmares as in "Everlong". In this video, instead of an exaggerated, theatrical mise-en-scene, the visuals and mise-en-scene are glamourised and glossed over.

Foo Fighters "Everlong"

Foo Fighters "Everlong"

Everlong is the second single released from the Foo Fighters second album The Colour and the Shape released in 1997.

The surreal, satirical video for the song was directed by Michel Gondry. The running time of the video exceeds that of the original version of the song, so in order to accommodate this, the final chorus is followed by a brief interlude consisting of the last few seconds of the song played backwards, then followed by a repeat of the chorus. This version is used only for the video.

The video has a very strong conceptual element, it relates to the ideas of dreams, the reality and the dream world. Gondry's love of mise-en-scene is prevalent in this video, the exaggerated theatrical set, drag costume and villains.

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry born May 8, 1963) is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise-en-scene.



Two notable music videos he has directed are the Foo Fighters "Everlong" and the Chemical Brothers "Let Forever Be"