Research in to Directors

By Fearghal McGlincheyResearch into Directors

David FincherDavid Fincher, American film director, was born in Denver, Colorado in 1962. He is a film producer, television director, television producer, and music video director. He started his first major industry job at George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic, during which he worked on big productions such as Return of the Jedi (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Fincher led commercials and music videos for the likes of Aerosmith, Paula Abdul, and Madonna. He is most famous for the award winning films he has made such as, Gone Girl, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network. He won critical acclaim for the movie Seven and this made the relatively unknown Fincher one of Hollywood's hottest young directors. He has also worked extensively with Madonna directing several of her music videos including Express Yourself Oh Father, Vogue and Bad Girl. But long before making it big in Hollywood, David Fincher helped to shape the style of MTV directing music videos for some of the most iconic stars in the business. He earned back-to-back MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction in 1989 for Express Yourself and in 1990 for Vogue. In 1990. He is responsible for the video for the Grammy Award-winning track Love Is Strong by The Rolling Stones. As a music video director, Fincher also won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z. He is well known for the following quote which sums up how passionate he is about his job - People will say, "There are a million ways to shoot a scene", but I don't think so. I think there're two, maybe. And the other one is wrong.

Mark Romanek Mark Romanek, American filmmaker, was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Roy H. Park School of Communications, Ithaca College with a degree in Cinema and Photography. His surname means "Little Roman" in Polish and Czech. He has directed films. music videos and advertisements. His music videos cover a wide range of artists over a long period of time. Some of his most popular music videos are: Hurt Johnny Cash, Scream Michael and Janet Jackson, Rain - Madonna and Shake It Off Taylor Swift. His work has earned him at least 20 MTV music awards, and 3 Grammys for best short form music video, the most of any director. It is said that Romanek was so deeply affected by Cash's cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt", that he offered to shoot the video for free. Upon doing so, he sent the video to Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor, lead singer, was reportedly so awestruck emotionally on seeing the video interpretation, he had to leave the room and recuperate, as he was moved to tears. The video itself features footage of a decrepit Cash at the flood ravaged House of Cash Museum with footage from Cash's personal collection of himself in his youth. Romanek got his start in 1985 directing a dramatic comedy called Staticabout a man who develops a machine that allows you to see photos of heaven, but when no one believes him he decides to hijack a bus of senior citizens in hopes to gain the worlds attention. After a few years writing screenplays, Romanek decided to focus on music videos and signed on with Satellite Films, a division of Propaganda Films. His subsequent work has come to be regarded as among the best , and he is known for his gritty style and vibrant, dirty colour palette. One of his notable videos was for the Nine Inch Nails song Closer. Many people criticised the video for being disturbing and creepy, as it featured beating hearts, miniature skeletons and a crucified capuchin monkey. He won his first Grammy for the video Scream with artists Michael and Janet Jackson. The afore mentioned 2002 music video for Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt won him his 3rd Grammy. One of his most recent successes was the major video for Shake It Off with Taylor Swift. Swift said she wanted to work with Romanek for years because, in her opinion, hes directed some of the most iconic videos in history.

Jake NavaJake Nava, born in North London, graduated from The University of Westminster, is the award winning director of music videos and TV commercials. Nava collaborated with Beyonc on Crazy In Love, Single Ladies, - recently listed by the Times at position number 3 in The 25 Most Influential Music Videos of all time- If I were a boy and Beautiful liar. Nava is well known in the world of music videos, with top artists, such as Kayne West. Lana Del Ray, Britney Spears and the Arctic Monkeys, not to mention Adele, choosing him for their music videos. Entertainment Weekly named Nava the fifth best music video director of 2011 for his work in the videos Someone Like You by Adele and Monster by Kanye West. Nava has also directed advertising campaigns for global companies such as, Armani, Puma, Diet Coke, Guinness, Bacardi and HSBC. In 2011, he gained another award for his Lucozade advertisement which was placed in the top 10 TV & Cinema Ads. Nava's is well known for his views on the anti-gun campaign to reduce inner city gun crime. For this he received three D&AD nominations and was able to use his influence to reach a wide audience.