Director Case Study

Francis Lawrence - Is a successful Music video and Film director. Working in the business since 1993 Lawrence has directed numerous films, commercials and songs including the award winning Lady Gaga song 'Bad Romance' and enjoyed success directing 'I Am Legend'.

Researching about Lawrence I discovered he has covered many genres of music with a list of over  20 substantially successful artists such as Shakira, Missy Eliot and OK Go.  Lawrence uses very provocative imagery and has successfully altered the image of many A-Listers causing them to appeal to a wider audience. For example, in Britney Spears video "I'm a Slave 4 U" , Lawrence managed to transform Britney's girl next door image into something more overtly sexual, showing her promiscuously dancing in a crowded sauna. The strong, memorable images that Lawrence projects for his clients is a necessity to success. I hope with the correct image I could reach a broad target audience and still access niche markets.




Lawrence directed The Black Eyed Peas song 'Let's Get It Started' in June 2004. The video takes place in a night time setting in an urban area. With the whole band, particularly Will.I.Am, performing extremely fast-paced energetic dance moves while singing the song. During this various objects fall in the background (including a grand piano), these smash against the ground in varying effects and speeds (especially in slow and fast motion and even in reverse). This idea of energy and excitement is something I would like to incorporate into my music video as I aim to make my video as visually exciting and interesting as possible as to engage my audience.




Lawrence uses suspense within OK Go's video 'Get Over It' to exaggerate the musical 'Drop'. This adds elements of comedy and also an extra element to the music that you would not get if just listening to it. He juxtaposes the energy of the bands performance with the tranquil and relaxed way in which they later play table tennis, the immediate cut between them at 1:55 creates comedy and suspense for the consumer as they find themselves having an intake of breath for when the music starts again. I would want to incorporate something like this into my video as to encourage my audience to watch the video for a better experience than merely listening to the song.