Looking at a music video director: Francis Lawrence

Francis Lawrence has always been one of my favorite directors. He's directed some major hits like "I Am Legend" and "Water For Elephants" which are two films that i have always loved. He was born in Vienna, Austria and moved to Los Angeles at the age of three. The first music video shot with him as head director was Tidal Force - A Man Rides Through. He quickly became known for his original and imaginative music video scripts and visual directing style. He has now directed a massive range of music videos for major artists.

P!nk - Just Like A Pill

This video always intrigued me. I first saw it on singstar when i was much younger than i am today. I felt the video brilliantly captured the feeling of loosing yourself (drug induced or not) and the performance that he gets out of pink is just fantastic. The video remains constantly eye catching and seems to flow with the disjointed sounding song so perfectly.

Green Day - Warning

In this video you continue to get a sense of Francis Lawrence's style. He loves confusing the audience in terms of placement in the scene, keeping attention and at the same time not causing you to suspend your disbelief and get too immersed in the digesis and listen to the track instead. He also loves the bad boy image, as is seen in the shot where the protagonist is running in a swimming pool under a clearly marked "do not run sign"

Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body

I chose this video because it differs so much from the first two. However, you can still see Francis Lawrence's style peeking through. The video plays with the placement of the audience in the small space of the lighted room. The high key lighting and grungy look are also common across these videos. However the genre of this song requires more dance troops and choreography than the first two which were primarily performance based pop rock.

Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For?

this is another song I first saw on singstar (which is where I first found Francis Lawrence) This video contains his beloved transition, his lighting styles, strange juxtaposed images and use of super imposing the same person into a shot twice. I love all his videos because they are all so different and yet so similar. He never looses the things he loves yet keeps each artist unique. If I am able to replicate just a few of his styles and looks  into my videos I will be very happy.