Word: mtv
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Last year music videos seemed to be an exhausted form. Shows like MTV's Beavis and Butt-head (which was recently canceled) made ironic sport of them; programs like VH-1's sporadically clever Pop-Up Video (which displays trivia-filled text about videos as they play) seemed to suggest that they were too tiresome to endure without supplementary information. Still, last winter MTV, which had begun to tilt toward Jenny McCarthy-helmed nonmusic programs, announced that it was recommitting itself to videos and would play 10 to 20 additional hours of music programming every week...
...MTV's ratings are still going down (they slipped 7% in the second quarter of this year), but thanks to the increased play videos are receiving, there's a new wave of directors on the way up. The network has been de-emphasizing alternative rock recently and searching for other forms to replace it, creating an opportunity for directors with a strong, clear vision to bring performers from other genres to widespread attention. The world of videos is high stakes. Gina Harrell, head of video production at Elektra Records, says her label spends about...
Several newcomers, most notably Williams (who did Mary J. Blige's lush clip Everything), Paul Hunter (Erykah Badu, Sean "Puffy" Combs), Jonathan Glazer (Radiohead, Jamiroquai) and Floria Sigismondi (Marilyn Manson, Tricky), have risen to the challenge. As a result, the directors themselves are becoming MTV stars. Williams and Hunter have almost become brand names; each has a colorful, highly recognizable style, and hip-hop stars--and even some alternative bands--are rushing to work with them. All four of these directors are up for multiple awards at next week's MTV Music Video Awards, and all four are starting...
Interestingly, some of the directors are contemptuous of the field in which they've risen to the top. "Music videos are largely rubbish," says Glazer, whose video Virtual Insanity, for the trippy Euro-dance group Jamiroquai, is nominated for a record 10 MTV awards. Says Sigismondi: "I don't watch [MTV]. I'm really not up on what's trendy. I'm in my own little world...
...course, Hollywood is calling. In the past few years other video directors have made the jump from MTV to feature films; David Fincher, who created videos for Madonna, went on to direct Seven and the forthcoming thriller The Game. Sigismondi says movie scripts have been "flooding in," but that she hasn't chosen a project. Williams is developing a live-action Fat Albert feature for Bill Cosby. Hunter has signed to direct a film for HBO, and Glazer is working on the movie Gangsta Number One. But none of them have yet decided to leave videos for movies permanently. Says...