Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek was born 18th of September 1959 in Chicago, Illonois. According to Wikipedia he was inspired by Stanley Krubrick’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey to become a director. He has directed many music videos of which these are just a few: Rain by Madonna (1993)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15kWlTrpt5k&ob=av2e

Beside You by Iggy Pop (1994)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrpS_H2FZC0

Closer by Nine Inch Nails (1994)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFwQP86BRs

El Scorcho by Weezer (1996)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okthJIVbi6g&ob=av2e

Speed of Sound by Coldplay (2005) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TahH7B_aUZc&ob=av2e

Beck – Devil’s Haircut

In this music video, Mark Romanek slows down a lot of the shots of Beck walking through various different settings. This works well with the overall tempo of the music which is quite slow and mellow.

He also uses stills of Beck which he then zooms in on; I find this effect works well with the music and I’d quite like to use this effect in my music video.

The music video’s story is summed up with zoomed in shots of people who look like spies who we seemed to not notice whilst watching the video, I think this is quite clever and works perfectly with the song which ends in such a way that it works in harmony.

Eels – Novacaine for the soul

Like the first music video, the song has a slow tempo and is also from the indie genre. Some of the shots are slowed down in the music video, this helps with the overall sound and image of the video as it spaces out those parts where solos are performed. The video is very bizarre and surreal as throughout most of the video the band is floating up in the air.

Unlike the music video Mark Romanek made for Beck’s Devils Haircut it is shot in black and white, there may or may not be a reason for doing this but in photographic terms, black and white photography is traditionally considered to be artistic whereas coloured was not. I think this could definitely relate to this music video as it has a strong sense of art and playfulness of art engrossed in it.

I like the mise-en-scene with the record player and the setting of the street where the band is playing. Street scenes work well and really exaggerate the different tone of the greys in the black and white.

Hurt – Johnny Cash

This music video by Mark Romanek stars Johnny Cash; it is a very deep and personal video revolving around his life of fame.

The music video is very mainstream and iconic due to Johnny Cash being such a cultural phenomenon.

I like the flashbacks used in the video as they are very nostalgic and capture Johnny Cash as himself as a person.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Can’t Stop

I

like the style of this video, it is very appealing to the eye and I like the contrast of the colours used against the white background.

I think there may have been an inter-textual reference used here of the Ghostbusters.