2. Who is Spike Jonze?
Born in October 22 1969, Jonze is an American
director, producer, actor, and screen writer, From
the present day to the 1989 he has been active in
his fields. His work includes films, television, music
videos and commercials. Many know Jonze for his
video collaborations with Weezer, Fatboy Slim,
Kanye West, and Beastie Boys. As well as this he was
also known for being the co executive producer
MTV’s Jackass. Currently, he is working as a creative
director for Vice Media, Inc. His work for films and
music videos are know for being off-beat in their
visual storytelling, in particular to their mix of live-
action, puppetry, and animation.
3. Auteur Theory
This theory of filmmaking suggest that the
director is viewed as the major creative
force in a motion picture, the concept
suggest that the one who oversees the
visual and audio elements of a motion
picture is the author of the film rather than
the screen play writer. In terms of this the
overall visual elements such as lighting,
scene length, camera angle and
placement is what conveys the message of
the film rather than the plot line.
4. He Music Genre Focus
Spike Jonze typically works with the rock and
hip hop genre, when filming rock and hip hop
genre the director tends to have more freedom
in terms of what he could include and what he
can’t include in the video.
For Instance in pop music video the it is usually
restricted to love, relationships, and break ups.
Spike Jonze usually has a style of off beat
comedy themes in his video, these theme will
not appeal to everyone there fore he avoids
pop videos and an instead focuses on rock and
hip where he the video is less restricted.
5. Artists Jonze has worked with
Daft Punk
The Chemical
Brother
Puff Dady
Fatboy Slim
Kanye West
Ludacris
Beastie Boys
Lady Gaga
Elastica
R.E.M
Wax
Sonic Youth
The Breeders
Marxman
MC 900 ft. Jesus
Dinosaur Jr.
Velocity Girl
6. Awards
Spike Jonze has won and has
been nominated for many
awards.
• Won Best Screenplay Oscar
for ‘Her’
• Nominated MTV Video Music
Awards for Best Direction
• Won MTV Movie Awards for
Best New Filnmaker for ‘ Being
John Malkovich’
• Nominated for four Academy
Awards for Best Director.
• Won the Golden Globe
Award for Best Screenplay
• Won Grammy Awards for Best
Short Form Music Video for
‘Weapon of Choice’
• And also won three major
awards at the 1999 MTV Video
Music Awards
7. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Otis
Jay- Z and Kanye West constructed this song
upon a sample of Otis Redding’s ‘Try A Little
Tenderness, this song is postmodern. The song
includes Redding’s soulful voice which is rapped
over by Kanye West. The two artist have used
instruments Redding however they have
incorporated there own beat and style to it. The
focus of the video is the Maybach 57 that the two
artist modifies. The pace of the camera at first is
slow matching the tempo of the song we see Jay
Z and Kanye West holding a blow torch and a
saber saw suggesting contrast between violence
and the brand new vehicle. Most of the scenes in
the video are bright and lit with natural light
source with the American flag in front of a
building, the video is located in an industrial lot
that is is mainly in blue. The video is mainly
performance base however there is also a fun
and simple narrative. Jonze tends to enjoying
filming a comical video which is evident by this,
the atmosphere of the music video is laid back
and creates a positive attitude to the audience,
the editing of the video reflects the positive
personalities of both the artists. In this music video
the most predominant shot used is a two shot and
a wide screen these shots wee used to emphasise
the location and to also keep main focus on the
two artists, Other shots that were used includes,
low angle shots, mid angle shots, close ups,
panning, zooming, etc. there was also a hand
held shot were the rappers take the camera and
scream into it.
9. Beastie Boys – ‘Sabotage’
Sabotage is narrative music video based on show
made in the 70’s and 80’s named ‘Cop’. This
music video has incorporated the shows style into
this. The music video consists of car chases and
parkour. There is a large focus on visual comedy,
which is again common with Jonze’s videos. The
video goes against its conventions of a hip hop
genre as it is difficult to determine their
iconography and style as well as the fact that it is
a parody. There are lots of close- ups of the artist
however you do not recognise them due to the
costume used, the close-ups are therefore used to
mock the genre in a comical way rather than
giving a star motif or recognitions. The editing is
fast paced which matches the pace of the music,
the music also echoes the mock violence scenes;
for example there was a heavy drum beat that
was in sync with the explosion in the video. As
there was a large focus on visual comedy, it
allowed Jonze to explore a cliché cop chase that
were typically used in the 70’s cop shows such as
Miami Vice. There is a sense of narrative however
it is very brief and the audience is unable to figure
out the complete storyline. The video is set in both
an urban and upper class American town, the
camera shots in this video consists birds eye view,
high and low angle shot, mid shots, canted angle,
close ups, point of view shots, as well as this
zooms are also used for comedic relief. This music
video is one of Spike Jonze’s famous music video
due to its creativity.
