Mark Romanek is a music director born in Chicago. He credits seeing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968 at the age of nine and again during its rerelease in 1973, with inspiring him to become a film director.
He released his first film, Static, in 1986. It was co-written with and starred Keith Gordon as a man who claimed he had invented a television set capable of showing a live picture of Heaven. In 2002 he wrote and directed One Hour Photo with Robin Williams.
But it is in music videos, where Romanek has something special. One of his earliest works was with Nine Inch Nails and their song “Closer”. The video was an instant hit among their fans since it capture the essence of the band. The video has been described to be disturbing, demented and demonic. Judge for yourself.
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He worked again with Nine Inch Nails on their video “The Perfect Drug”.
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In 1996 Romanek won his first Grammy Award for Best Short Form Video for “Scream”. It is also the most expensive video to date, with a cost of $7 Million Dollars. YouTube disabled embbedding on this video, so click here to watch it.
Romanek won his second Grammy two years later, again with Janet Jackson, for her video “Got ‘Til It’s Gone.”
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He also worked with guys like David Bowie and his “Black Tie White Noise”
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In 1994 he worked again with David Bowie, this time to do “Jump They Say”.
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In 2001 he did a really iconic video with Mick Jagger….”God gave me everything i want”. It was that video where the camera is attached to the hips of the person and shooting from the front.
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In 2002, he shot Audioslave’s “Cochise”, where there was a extremely long pyrotechnic explosions where people in the San Francisco Valley thought were under terrorist attack. Way to go Mark.
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During 2002 he joined forces again with Nine Inch Nails to shoot “Hurt” a Johnny Cash cover. The video has been hailed by many critics and fans alike as the most personal and moving music video ever made. The video was nominated for seven VMAs, winning one for cinematography, and also won Romanek his third Grammy.
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As always I am leaving my personal favorites for the best. The reason I got into Romanek’s work is because of these three videos. There is nothing else I can say about them. They are just great.
Lenny Kravitz – Are you gonna go my way?
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Madonna – Rain
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Beck – Devil’s Haircut
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One, the last little pearl. He is the dude behind the Apple Ipod Commercials. Yes, all of them.
From This one
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To This one
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Check his work here.
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