Thursday, 28 August 2014

Music video director - Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek was born on 8th 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 18th 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’

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