Music video directors research #1: Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze (born Adam Spiegel) is one of the most creative music video directors in recent history. Since the early 1990s Jonze has been creating strange music videos for a wide range of artists in a range of musical genres including hip hop, funk, and rock. Here are some of his best.



Fatboy Slim- Weapon Of Choice
Christopher Walken sits in an empty shopping centre. The song starts and he dances round to it in a strange fashion. He then jumps over the balocony and begins to fly. When the song ends, he goes back to his chair and sits down again as if nothing happened. To this day we don't know why. The dance and flying around follows the surreal nature of videos that both Jonze and Fatboy slim are known for.




The Pharcyde - Drop

Jonze directed this video to look like one big long shot. In order to give the video the bizzare look that the band wanted, they rehearsed with Jonze and the crew at doing the whole video in one take. The band perform the video backwards, meaning they had to learn the lyrics backwards too. The video was then played backwards (or forwards) in the finished product, leaving the bizzare visual that could connote the kind of stoner hip hop the band is known for and disorientates the audience.



Weezer - Buddy Holly

Weezer's old school song about an old school rock n roll star desevers an old school rock n roll video, complete with an old american TV style, fashion sense and dancing. The video draws influence from the rock and roll feueled TV show Happy Days, and features charcters dressed in the same style as some of the characters.