Music video director - Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek was born on 8^th September 1959 in Chicago, America. He is best known for his directing work in feature films, music videos and commercials. Romanek first began directing feature films in 1986 after the release of his first film ‘Static’ which was co-written by American actor and film director Keith Gordon. He later signed with the production company Satellite Films and began directing music videos.  One of his most notable music videos was for the Nine Inch Nails song ‘Closer’ which caused a big controversy in the media with many accusing the video as being disturbing, demonic and demented.  A few years later in 1996 Romanek received his first Grammy Award for the ‘Best Short Film Video’ featuring Michael and Janet Jackson’s music video ‘Scream’. The music video was shown to be a big success costing a total of $7 million dollars to produce, making it one of the most expensive music videos ever to be made.

Romanek directed various other music videos including Jonny Cash’s cover of ‘Nice Inch Nails’ which was released in 2002. The video was described by many critics and fans to be very personal and moving with scenes of self-loathing and futility as Cash quietly performed in his old home. The video was nominated for several awards, winning one for cinematography.  Romanek also directed Jay-Z’s performance art video for the song ‘Picasso Baby’ which was released in February last year. The video was shot inside the Pace Gallery in New York and featured  several personalities from the world of art including Marina Abramov whose 2010 performance art work - "The Artist is Present" inspired the video.  His most recent project was for Taylor Swifts’s music video ‘Shake It Off’ which was premiered earlier this month on the 18^th August. The video already has over 600,000 likes and almost 50 million views on YouTube, making it likely to be a huge hit.

Below is a full list of Mark Romanek’s videography:

Year	Artist	Song title
1986	The The	‘Sweet Bird of Truth’
1989	Robin Hitchcock and the Egyptians	‘Madonna of the Wasps’
1990	En Vogue	‘You Don’t Have To Worry’
1991	ABC	‘Love Conquers All’
1992	Keith Richards	‘Wicked As It Seems’
	Teenage Fanclub	‘What You Do To Me’
	En Vogue	‘Free Your Mind’
1993	David Bowie	‘Jump They Say’
	Madonna	‘Rain’
1994	Nine Inch Nails	‘Closer’
	G.Love & Special Sauce	‘Cold Beverage’
1995	Madonna	‘Bed Time Story’
	Micheal Jackson	‘Scream’
1997	Janet Jackson	‘Got ‘Till It’s Gone’
2000	The Wallflowers	‘Sleepwalker’
2001	Mick Jagger	‘God Gave Me Everything’
2003	Red Hot Chilli Peppers	‘Can’t Stop’
	Linkin Park	‘Faint’
2004	Jay-Z	’99 Problems’
2005	Coldplay	‘Speed of Sound’
2013	Jay-Z	‘Picasso Baby’
2014	Taylor Swift	‘Shake It Off’