JH
Three Practitioners
Director X (Julien Christian Lutz) is a Canadian music video director. He was born and raised near Toronto, Ontario and has his own clothing brand called X Fit.
Lutz has been noted for his high budget, visually distinctive music videos for popular music singles including videos for R. Kelly, The Wanted, Kanye West, Usher, Jay-Z, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Fifth Harmony, Iggy Azalea, Little Mix and many more. He is currently represented by Luti Media. In 2015, Director X founded his own production company, Popp Rok, in Toronto.
His trademark is using the letterbox format which makes the music video feel more cinematic for the audience. Instead of solely using black bars on the top and the bottom of the frame to frame the image. Many videos by Director X feature the bars either opening horizontally or vertically to reveal the video and closing either vertically or horizontally like a letter box, hence the name being the letterbox format.
An example of a music video which he has recently directed is ‘Sky Walker’ by Miguel ft. Travis Scott.
Mark Romanek is an American filmmaker whose directing work includes feature films, television, music videos and commercials. His most notable music videos include ‘Hurt’ (Johnny Cash), ‘Closer’ (Nine Inch Nails), ‘Can’t Stop’ (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), ‘Bedtime Story’ (Madonna), and ‘Scream’ (Michael & Janet Jackson). These music videos have won him 20 MTV Video Music Awards including Best Direction for Jay-Z’s ’99 Problems’ and he has won three Grammy Awards for Best Short Form Music Video which is more than any other director.
After a few years writing screenplays, Romanek decided to focus on music videos and signed on with Satellite Films, a division of Propaganda Films. One of his notable videos was for the Nine Inch Nails song ‘Closer’. Its critical acclaim was only matched by its controversy, with many people saying that the video was disturbing and demonic.
An example of a music video which was directed by Romanek is ‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift which was premiered on 18th August 2014.
David Andrew Leo Fincher was born on August 28, 1962 is an American director and producer, notably for films, television series and music videos. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network.
As a music video director, Fincher has won two Grammy Awards for Best Music Video, for his work in ‘Love Is Strong’ by The Rolling Stones and ‘Suit & Tie’ by Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, and three MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction, he is one of the most awarded directors in the category, alongside Spike Jonze. He also earned back to back MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction in 1989 for ‘Express Yourself’ and in 1990 for ‘Vogue’. In 1990, he earned three of the four available nominations in the Best Direction category.