Director research

Director Research: Spike JonzeMedia A2Jason R Sulit

Who is Spike Jonze?Born in October 22 1969, Jonze is an American director, producer, actor, and screen writer, From the present day to the 1989 he has been active in his fields. His work includes films, television, music videos and commercials. Many know Jonze for his video collaborations with Weezer, Fatboy Slim, Kanye West, and Beastie Boys. As well as this he was also known for being the co executive producer MTV’s Jackass. Currently, he is working as a creative director for Vice Media, Inc. His work for films and music videos are know for being off-beat in their visual storytelling, in particular to their mix of live-action, puppetry, and animation.

Auteur TheoryThis theory of filmmaking suggest that the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture, the concept suggest that the one who oversees the visual and audio elements of a motion picture is the author of the film rather than the screen play writer. In terms of this the overall visual elements such as lighting, scene length, camera angle and placement is what conveys the message of the film rather than the plot line.

He Music Genre FocusSpike Jonze typically works with the rock and hip hop genre, when filming rock and hip hop genre the director tends to have more freedom in terms of what he could include and what he can’t include in the video. For Instance in pop music video the it is usually restricted to love, relationships, and break ups.Spike Jonze usually has a style of off beat comedy themes in his video, these theme will not appeal to everyone there fore he avoids pop videos and an instead focuses on rock and hip where he the video is less restricted.

Artists Jonze has worked with Daft Punk The Chemical

Brother Puff Dady Fatboy Slim Kanye West Ludacris Beastie Boys Lady Gaga Elastica R.E.M

Wax Sonic Youth The Breeders Marxman MC 900 ft. Jesus Dinosaur Jr. Velocity Girl

Awards Spike Jonze has won and has been nominated for many awards.• Won Best Screenplay Oscar for

‘Her’• Nominated MTV Video Music

Awards for Best Direction• Won MTV Movie Awards for

Best New Filnmaker for ‘ Being John Malkovich’

• Nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Director.

• Won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay

• Won Grammy Awards for Best Short Form Music Video for ‘Weapon of Choice’

• And also won three major awards at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards

Jay-Z & Kanye West - OtisJay- Z and Kanye West constructed this song upon a sample of Otis Redding’s ‘Try A Little Tenderness, this song is postmodern. The song includes Redding’s soulful voice which is rapped over by Kanye West. The two artist have used instruments Redding however they have incorporated there own beat and style to it. The focus of the video is the Maybach 57 that the two artist modifies. The pace of the camera at first is slow matching the tempo of the song we see Jay Z and Kanye West holding a blow torch and a saber saw suggesting contrast between violence and the brand new vehicle. Most of the scenes in the video are bright and lit with natural light source with the American flag in front of a building, the video is located in an industrial lot that is is mainly in blue. The video is mainly performance base however there is also a fun and simple narrative. Jonze tends to enjoying filming a comical video which is evident by this, the atmosphere of the music video is laid back and creates a positive attitude to the audience, the editing of the video reflects the positive personalities of both the artists. In this music video the most predominant shot used is a two shot and a wide screen these shots wee used to emphasise the location and to also keep main focus on the two artists, Other shots that were used includes, low angle shots, mid angle shots, close ups, panning, zooming, etc. there was also a hand held shot were the rappers take the camera and scream into it.

Camera Shots

Beastie Boys – ‘Sabotage’

Sabotage is narrative music video based on show made in the 70’s and 80’s named ‘Cop’. This music video has incorporated the shows style into this. The music video consists of car chases and parkour. There is a large focus on visual comedy, which is again common with Jonze’s videos. The video goes against its conventions of a hip hop genre as it is difficult to determine their iconography and style as well as the fact that it is a parody. There are lots of close- ups of the artist however you do not recognise them due to the costume used, the close-ups are therefore used to mock the genre in a comical way rather than giving a star motif or recognitions. The editing is fast paced which matches the pace of the music, the music also echoes the mock violence scenes; for example there was a heavy drum beat that was in sync with the explosion in the video. As there was a large focus on visual comedy, it allowed Jonze to explore a cliché cop chase that were typically used in the 70’s cop shows such as Miami Vice. There is a sense of narrative however it is very brief and the audience is unable to figure out the complete storyline. The video is set in both an urban and upper class American town, the camera shots in this video consists birds eye view, high and low angle shot, mid shots, canted angle, close ups, point of view shots, as well as this zooms are also used for comedic relief. This music video is one of Spike Jonze’s famous music video due to its creativity.

Camera Shots