Music Video Director Research

Chris Cunningham was born in England, Reading 1970. He has become a well known director within the industry through his unique work. Cunningham was fascinated by the confluence of human anatomy and robotic machinery as a young teen. By the age of 19 his obsession immersed in special effects and filmmaking, building animatronic robot arms and sculpting caricatures for the TV series Spitting Image. Following on from Cunningham's work in the early 90s he eventually lead himself to work alongside Stanley Kubrick on the film A.I.

Cunningham's creative imagination lead him to pursue his career as a director. In the late 90s he directed music promos for the infamous Aphex Twin featuring tracks such as; Come to Daddy and Window Licker. Both these promos highlighted Cunningham's intelligence to create slick, cinematic and imaginative pieces within the music video industry. Following on from his success Cunningham directed six more promos and seven advertisements.

In 2000, Cunningham directed two short films for the Anthony D'Offay Gallery titled flex and Monkey Drummer Those works showed a very modern and hyper-realistic take on the world. In 2005 Cunningham released Rubber Johnny, a six minute short that showed just how disturbing a vision Chris has. It released with a book whose photos are definitely unsafe for work.




Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
Directed by Chris Cunningham
In 1997 Come to daddy (one of Aphex Twin's best known song), was filmed in Thamesmead, South London. The promo took place in a council state, where the audience seek an old lady walking alone with her dog. Automatically you sense a feeling of insecurity due to the woman being by herself; the colours used throughout this video suggest insecurity, cold, and grit. Blue and grey are used to portray a paranormal effect. This maybe a suggestion of a target audience or this just maybe what the director wanted to create a narrative.

One of the most important issues about music videos is the response from the audience. The audience determine whether the promo is a success. Cunningham's work creates a lot of mixed views, I have recently been introduced to Chris's work and I admit the first time I watched Come to daddy, I felt uncomfortable however the video is incredibly clever.

The artist Richard D James, commonly known as Aphex Twin uses his face on the actors, creating a visual twist due to the children being so young (no older than 10 or 11 years of age) the image is very abstract.

It is important for every music video to have feedback to allow the director to see if his ideas met with his chosen target audience however everybody is entitled to their own opinion but not all criticism can be positive.
Quotes I found from YouTube:

"chris cunningham said this video was intended to be funny That's what you call "silly"? I call it maniacal."

"Not to mention he's also screaming "I WANT YOUR SOUL" with a bunch of demonic little children that all have his face."

"This video puts mental scars on the brain. I feel sorry for you if you can't imagine thinking creatively without using drugs."

I feel these comments maybe from viewers who may not understand Cunningham's intentions. Reviewing his work and researching upon him, I maybe suggest that these particular viewers don't understand the video. I feel that the video is full of creativity however Cunningham has expressed and used his creativeness in obscure and unpredictable ways.

More positive and constructive comments I quoted from YouTube:

"thats so cool"

"hes very talented and the production quality is great, but i think hes trying WAAY to hard to be dark. the i want your soul thing is redundant and cliche. but chris cunninghams a beastthis song is epic, it has it all, good music, good sound, good bass and i haven't talk about the video itself yet, just awesome"

"this represents everything real, true, industrial should be"

"This is one of the best videos ever made!"




Bjork - All Is For Love
Directed by Chris Cunningham
This video is incredible, so cinematic. Stunning picture. The audience are able to really engage the relationship between the lyrics and the video. Compared to come to daddy, this video is very light hearted and easy viewing.

Bjork’s video, “All is Full of Love” was the first DVD single ever released. Looking at it, its not difficult to see why. This thing is beautiful, innovative, wonderfully shot. All is Full of Love raked in the awards back in 2000, including the MTV Best Special Effects award, the ITS Monitor award, and the Best Music Video at the 1999 London Effects and Animation (LEAF) awards.
All is Full of Love opens with a female looking robot is being put together, while she is musing (singing). Eventually another twin robot enters the picture, and the two robots begin to embrace to the chorus, “All is full of love.” Throughout the entire video, the builder machines continue to make adjustments to the pair. The pacing is slow and deliberate, which mirrors the song.

All is Full of Love provides incredibly realistic and high production values. The result is an incredibly immersive posthuman experience. Almost immediately the viewer is drawn into the setting and does not leave until the video ends. The colours are almost all whites and blacks, with minor hues of purple interacting. Chris Cunningham used glassworks for all the FX in this video. Glassworks does a wonderful job of blending the actual robot with Bjork’s face. But really, it appears the process was even more complex than that, as Chris Cunningham in an interview with American Cinematographer.

Positve feedback I quoted from YouTube:

"Such a well made video clip, whether you like the song or not"

"She's dealing directly with her own bisexuality and trying to open the worlds eyes to the fact that regardless of what a person chooses is their desicion. As a christian I don't agree with homosexuality but I will never hate someone for it. That would mean I hate a few of my friends for being gay. I love the song falling in love with the artist everytime I hear Bjorks music. I'm a new fan hahahaha"

"WOW this video is so cool!"

"Chris Cunningham is a fucking genius"

"BEAUTIFUL! BEAUTIFUL! Bjork is one of THE best music artists EVER!! this video is majestic. it's a masterpiece! i love it!"

"This movie really went there... although I find the message very enlightening."

"one of the best videos and songs EVER>>. just let your self feel it"

Negative Feedback from YouTube:

"ehh,the video isn't that cool,but the song sure is!"

"like the song, not so much the video"

After looking through 4500 comments not only from youtube I believe that this video was a great success. Cunningham gave his audience wanted they wanted.
I have found researching Chris Cunningham very interesting. His work is unique and distinctive to his audience. His perspective upon the world is twisted, he expresses that throughout his work.