Michel Gondry

MICHEL GONDRY

S A E E D MO U L A I

FACT FILEMichel Gondry was born on 1963 in Versailles. He is a French

director who has been nominated for and received numerous awards for his screenwriting, commercials films and music videos.

HIS PAST

His career started when he formed the French rock band, “Oui Oui” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hghFCkIKmPY

After this he began making music videos for their singles, and it was clear of his approach

He wanted to use film as a canvas, after an interest with emotion

RISE TO FAME

After making this music videos, he was approached by Bjork

Bjork asked Gondry to make a music video to her song “Human Behaviour”.

He did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDbPYoaAiyc

This music video was a huge success, and subsequently Gondry and Bjork worked together for 7 more music videos

AT THE TOP

Michel Gondry continued his rise and went on to directing and creating videos with other well known artists in order to progress his career. One of his most famous videos is Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwv-3cM2pVk

Alongside this, he also directed commercials. E.g. Levi’s 501 Drugstore. This commercial was later banned in America.

GONDRY’S STYLE AND TRADEMARKS

A big part of Gondry’s success was the use of mise-en-scene in his videos

In his videos he tries to engage and attract the audience by using unique techniques.

His ideas are abstract and have dream-like narratives/sequences

He frequently works with similar artists, such as Daft Punk and Stardust Fame.

He is also very well known for his work with The White Stripes, Kylie Minogue, The Rolling Stones and Bjork.

Trademarks:Unconventional cuttingDream like sequencesUnnatural scenarios

INSPIRATION AND RECOGNITION

Michel found a lot of his ideas for his videos from his childhood memoriesHis unique approach to directing was found successful because of the surreal

settings and visual effectsHe became recognised when he released a set of DVDs alongside Spike Jonze

and Peter Cunningham