Music Video Director

Paul R Brown

Basics about music video directors

What is a music video director???A Music video director is an inspired thinker, someone who creates something of beauty, conveying music in a unique way, a creative strategist.

Who they work with:Music video directors work with hundreds of musicians, some of them I like, some of them I don’t. Even if I don’t like the music, I can always admit when they have created an incredible video. They capture the music perfectly with the visuals, and they work with a wide range of artists, from examples such as Slayer, Wednesday 13, Amy Lee, Machine Head, Gallows, Parkway Drive (a few bands I like) and many more, depending on the genre they work in. These bands are examples of who I will be inspired by.

Slayer Wednesday 13 Machine HeadParkway Drive

Paul R Brown: In 1996 he founded Bau-da-Design Lab, which still currently operates out of Los-Angeles & New York. Brown is very well known for his work with some of the most famous rock n roll musicians/bands. He’s known very well for his album designs for bands such as Mötley Crüe, KoRN, Godsmack and more, he gained a particular notoriety in the music business with his work with Marilyn Manson.

Examples of his album art

His career in music video direction was much more well known, he work with acts including Slipknot, Bullet For My Valentine, Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins) Evanescence, Prince, Static-X, Mötley Crüe & more. A very continuous genre style within his work as you can see from the artists. He has made videos of a very unique and influential style. I will be looking to make my videos very similar to his, or at least representing the same genre of music. Static-X – I'm the one

Wednesday 13 – I walked with a Zombie

Slipknot – Dead Memories

Mötley Crüe – If I Die Tomorrow

Examples of his music videos

What do I like about Paul Brown???

One of my favourite things about Paul R Brown is the way that he visually links his videos to the music he works with, so with rock/punk/alternative genre, he manages to completely represent the genre with all their work. They work with acts that are a lot of fun, they are energetic, and they all have a similar style. There is a key link between his videos as to how he portrays the artists he works with. He uses a lot of staged performances, but also a lot of scenes within the videos, such as movie flashbacks etc. He also creates a strong narrative within many of his music videos, allowing audiences to be engaged and to follow along with the music.As mentioned he uses similar techniques throughout his videos, such as surreal effects, such as mirrored shots of bands, rippled camera lens’s, Photoshop animation, cartoon moving shots & more. These effects and techniques are frequently involved in his work, and the effects are simple awe inspiring.

Below are some examples of screenshots from his videos.

Slipknot – Dead Memories (Mirrored Shots)

Static-X – I'm the one (Rippled Camera Lens)

Mötley Crüe – If I Die Tomorrow (Cartoon Moving Shots)

Wednesday 13 – I walked with a Zombie (Photoshop Animation)

Mise-En-Scene

An intertextual example of Paul Browns work within Mise-En-Scene would be his intertextual references. The biggest example I could find was from Wednesday 13s video “I walked with a zombie”. There are shots of the band playing throughout the whole video, making it a staged performance, however they are not on a stage, they have all been cropped, and placed onto the front layer of another video playing in the background. The video playing in the background is the vintage 1968 zombie horror film ‘Night Of The Living Dead’. This is a strong link with both the lyrics, and the name of the song. This is a clear intertextual reference, plus it also links strongly with the genre of the band. This was one of my favourite videos. I have analysed from Browns work.

Here is a shot of the band playing, as you can see they have been cropped from a stage and layered in front of the movie scenes.

Here is a simple shot a section from the movie that is shown during the video.

One very clear aspect of Mise-En-Scene that Brown uses is the use of fire, this is used in a fair few of his videos. This is used to represent different meanings. In a percentage it is to represent hell and how strongly rock n roll links with hell and the devil, hence the use of fire. Fire/animation fire is used in a lot of his videos, 2 clear example are one of animation fire (Avenged Sevenfold – Almost Easy), and one with actual fire (Slipknot – Psychosocial).

Example of animation fire.

Example of real fire.

When it comes to Paul Browns aspect of Mise-En-Scene, it’s a very crucial part of his music videos. As this is what helps him to show the style of music the band are, for example if it’s a horror styled band, he’ll set it in a graveyard setting, with knives, zombies, and dark clothing, this is a typical horror setting. If he’s setting a typical rock n roll styled band, he’ll shoot it in a sleazy bar with typical rock aspects, such as use of women, as mentioned by Paul Goodwin as using women as things rather then people. HE sets his videos up beautifully, I love his style and everything he does. However his videos wouldn't ’t be anywhere near as effective if he didn't’t include such strong pieces of Mise-En-Scene. This is an aspect I will be featuring in my work, making the scene, genre and band style clear.

The filming techniques used by Paul Brown are intended to engage the audience, focus on every little detail of what is going on, and in a high percentage of his videos, focus on the members. His techniques are designated to linking strongly with the bands style/genre. This gives fans a strong idea of the bands loves and passions, and favourite styles. His best examples of this are genuinely in Wednesday 13/Murderdolls videos, or also in Slipknot videos. In these videos he has clearly filmed them to reflect the bands genre/style. For example in the Murderdolls video ‘Dead In Hollywood’, he has filmed it within a hospital room, the singer singing through a drip the whole song, referring to the title ‘dead’. However also referring to the genre of the band ‘horror rock’, mainly as the video refers to death and horror. Linking strongly with the singer singing through a drip, this is a shot dedicated to focusing on the vocals. In another video by Sixx A.M ‘Accidents Can Happen’, he uses a similar shot of the singer with his microphone, again a mid shot, focused on the vocals. However to represent the bands style he uses a traditional microphone, to represent the style and class of the band, suggesting they are sophisticated wearing suits etc. This is a very strong piece of filming which conveys the styles of the bands clearly.

Filming/Cinematography

‘Dead In Hollywood’ video (singing through the drip representing the dead and the horror aspect).

Another thing I have noticed about the filming of Browns videos, is the way he introduces videos. He does this in a vey unique style. For example when he introduces Slipknots ‘Snuff’, he uses a lot of long shots, to allow the audience to overview the scene, and see the character from a distance, and recognise there behaviour. This is to create tension for the song to start or for the intro. It does that well for ‘Snuff’, mainly due to the way the character is acting, as he is acting odd. However Brown sometimes doesn’t make his introductions to videos long, he makes them short and snappy. ‘Snuff was an example of a long winded intro, with many long shots, mid shots, and tracking shots following him walking etc. With videos such as ‘I walked with a zombie’ which I have referred to numerous times, he uses words and a voiceover word by word introducing the genre, band, and the title of the song. The band then straight away play, this is a much more rapid start compared to ‘Snuff’, Showing he uses many styles with filming his introductions and his actual videos.

Corey Taylor in the video ‘Snuff’, standing looking sketchy in front of a car smoking. This is a long shot, allowing the audience to survey his body language etc. He is waiting by the looks of things, but what for. That is what Brown has built up tension for.

Explaining the horror/content… How you cant imagine it… The name of the band… Title of the song/content…

‘Accidents Can Happen’ video (singing through old styled mic representing sophistication and class).

Another long shot used to show what Corey Taylor is looking at across the street. This again is building up tension as the audience are curious as to what he is gazing at in his suspicious way.

Editing (special post production effects)

What I like about Paul Browns editing, are a few very clear things. Such as the style of the editing itself. He uses many layering tools with his videos, as he plays bands on stage on top of videos, or different people on top of different backgrounds. This is all edited very smooth as well, as its all so well put together.

Examples of basic/skillful editing:

Vince Neil – Tattoos&Tequila

This video is shot in a basic yet beautiful way. The shots include many out of focus, to in focus angles. It also includes shots of the band and singer in b&w playing, with a contrasting girl in colour waking around a swimming pool and clubs. She is in colour to represent a good thing, a positive beauty. The band and singer are I dark b&w to represent there dark ways, and there rock n roll sleazy style.

Wednesday 13 - I Walked With A Zombie

This video includes many different editing styles as I have mentioned in previous slides. These 2 shots represent 2 of the techniques. First you have a layering tool, which I have used and uploaded to my blog before using Photoshop. This is the guitarist, with a spiral background, with text over the top, stating his name. This is a technique I would like to adopt to my work. In the last shot is a simple green screen style shot, where the lead singer/guitarist is standing clearly on a stage or studio floor, but has been cut perfectly to be in a animation style grave yard, with a strong 3-d effect. This editing is complex but very effective. Although this effect is influential, I am not sure I would adopt it to my work.

Corey Taylor - X-M@$

This gimmick video feature some strong editing techniques, not any that I would personally use in my own video, but yet still shots of his work that are influential and creative. He has shot the whole video properly with real objects/the singer, then using a filter, altered it all to a realistic cartoon style. This is very clever and keeps with the feel of the song. He has used this throughout the video, and edited it at a fast pace, this makes it even more effective, as it brings some fun to the video. Again some basic techniques, but very effective and influential.