Hype Williams

Bio


Harold Williams - also know as HYPE Williams, due to his hyperactive nature as a child


Born: July 1970 (age 41)
          Queens, New York, US

Occupation: Film director, music video director, screenwriter - since 1991 till present.

Graduated from Andrew Jackson High school of Art and Music in 1987. He grew up wanting to be a painter, yet not the traditional sort of Art - He wanted to be working towards the graffiti work.

Hypes first big break came from when he began working with Classic Concepts Video Production. But in 1983 he started his own production named 'Big Dog Films'

Other Work 

He directed his first feature film named 'Belly' in 1988. He filmed it in New York as an urban drama which stars rappers DMX, Nas and the R&B singer from TLC, who all feature in his music videos which could be an easier option for both him and the artists as it could promote their work and also a lower budget for Williams.

He is also a photographer in which he shot the photographs of Kim Kardashian in the December 2007 issue of Playboy magazine.

He has also been a script writer - he wrote the Kanye Wests 'Runaway' film which  was a short 35 minute film directed by Kanye West which included a compilation of songs from Wests album.

Key artists Hype Williams works with

He created a number of music videos for artists such as, The Notorious B.I.G, LL Cool J, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Kelis, Jay Z, Kanye West, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, and many more. Judging from this set of artists, we can tell that Williams only seems to work with the more R&B, Hip Hop, Rap artists which comes out in the style of his music videos.

Style


Looking through many of Hype Williams music videos he has produced, I can see that he doesn't use any sort of narrative or performance, it is literally just the artist standing/dancing there and singing to the camera. But as his artists are mainly R&B, and not rock/metal genre, they don't tend to show a performance, as they are mainly there to promote their image which is normally attractive to make their music more successful as a whole. Whereas in bands/rock music, the camera normally shows the artists with them playing their instruments/equipment to really show off their skills.

His overall typical look uses a lot of colour, which occurs throughout his videos he has produced. For example, in his music video of Kayne West - 'Gold Digger' and Beyonce - 'Video Phone' has a solid colour background with a softer colour being shown in the centre of the background which gives a fading and merging together effect. This makes the artist stand out in the centre of the screen with them normally wearing brightly coloured clothes aswell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwNcNOTVzY

One of Hypes main motif throughout his music videos is placing shots in regular widescreen ratio, with the two bars that are split at the top and bottom. For example, this is used in Beyonce - 'Check on it,' Pharrell - 'Give it to me,' Rihanna and Kayne West - 'All of the Lights'  and Neyo - 'So sick.' In some of these videos where he splits the screen to make two bars, he often uses the bars to represent the main motif in the video. For example, in Neyo's - so sick, he has mountains constantly then himself in the middle. Also uses this effect in LL Cool J - Freeze video, to contradict the lyrics by having roaring fire in the bars to contrast the song title with what is happening on the screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1dUDzBdnmI

Another one of Hypes trade marks in using fisheye lens which was used in Busta Ryhmes - Gimme some more video and Missy Elliott - Can't stan the Rain. Which gives the whole video a sinister and creepy effect as it distorts the camera view around the central focus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHHT7dTmw8U

Music Video Director Case Study

Jonas Akerlund Basic Bio:
• Born in 1965 -56 years old
• He has a son called Elvis and a daughter called Mini.
• Between 1983-1984 he was a drummer in a Swedish band called Bathory.
• He is a director known for his pornographic music videos such as Telephone – Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce and Hold it against me by Britney Spears as well as other controversy themes such as drug use and violence.


Music Video Work
• He has directed a lot of Madonna’s work. Ray of Light won a Grammy award for best music video short form. Other videos he directed were American Life and Celebration.
• This attracted some of his more recent work like Britney Spears- Hold it against me. This video shows her with little clothing, it’s very fast paced and includes loads of different effects. The video is set in space and very surreal. The video provides us with lots of colour.
• Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce “Telephone” also uses lots of colour and the women are dressed in almost nothing.
• David Guetta featuring Rihanna –includes scenes of space at the beginning and includes lots of colour.
• Christina Aguilera-Beautiful is a big contrast to the music videos above. This video includes very dull colour and disturbing scenes such as a anorexic girl and a girl getting beaten up.


Other work
• His short film ‘Spun’ made it into the Guinness book of records for having over 5000 different edits.
• “Try” another short film about a couple of drug addicts who are homeless received a review saying “It was a brilliant film but incredibly depressing to watch.”
• Commercials include – Dior “the iconic lipstick” and other designers such as D&G featuring attractive well known women like Kate Moss.


Accounts of their style
He likes to use a lot of colour in his videos which make the video really fun and interesting to watch. It is also noticed that he uses split screen and uses writing to introduce his video.
He also enjoys using lots of effects which also contributes to making his music videos fun and wacky. None of the videos I watched other than the Christina Aguilera video, Beautiful were normal.

Iconic music video from the pre 1990s...

This song is by Bros, and its called When will i be famous which was show in 1988. I thought this music video was interesting by the way they have used an narrative style into there video in which being the band walking about the streets not really sure what they are doing though. Yet this is often intercutting with the performance of the video, with the camera shots and angle mostly shown on the equipment being used such as the drums and guitar to especially show off the skills that they have. Also, close ups of the main singer which supports the idea of Goodwins theory, which suggests that the band arent only there to advertise and promote there song, but to promote there whole image as a band aswell...and also helps if they are good looking, so if there music isnt too good, most girls will be distracted with their good looks!

Another point to support Goodwins theory is the contraditory of the lyrics and visuals, as the lyrics are mostly about a girl/person asking when they will be famous, yet they think she shouldnt keep mentioning that. But in the video it doesnt really involve anyone that seems to want to be famous...

I think some of effects that they have used in this video we could include in our potential music video with the different colouring, and the style that the video is in with the narrative yet the perfomance going on aswell.