Mark Romanek Essay:

Mark Romanek:

Mark Romanek is an American director whose work includes: music videos, commercials and also feature films. Overall, he has been extremely successful and has won 19 MTV Video music awards and has also won 3 Grammy awards. Mark Romanek has a specific style which is present in the following five videos: ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash, ‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails, ‘Criminal’ by Fiona Apple, ‘Scream’ by Michael and Janet Jackson and ’99 Problems’ by Jay Z. His videos are particularly known for having high concept mise-en-scene and due to the fact that he has an interest in old photography, many of his music videos follow a black and white or sepia affect. To add to this, Romanek’s videos commonly include surrealism and imagery to create certain affects wanted by the artist. The fact that Romanek has various features that he commonly uses within the majority of his videos shows how Romanek, as an artist, follows the ‘Auteur theory’. The ‘Auteur theory’ explains how directors have a specific style, vision and influence in which they like to include within their different pieces of work.

The video for ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash was released in 2003; Romanek within the video has purposely tried to capture the essence of Cash within both his youth and his life at the time, at an older age. The video is primarily performance based as Cash is continuously seen throughout the video singing and playing the piano. To add to this, the video also contains a narrative theme as it includes several clips of Johnny’s memories when he was young and clips of his life within 2003, at the age of 71. The video has a very dark feel and is shot predominantly in black and white, a feature often used by Romanek within his work. Within this video, Johnny Cash is very closely focused on, this is due to the fact that the video itself focuses on his life and shows Cash reminiscing on both the good and bad points within his life. A feature that Romanek typically uses within his videos is the extensive use of mise-en-scene, within ‘Hurt’ the setting of the video is very distinctive with several plates of food, lots of glasses and goblets and it is set in a very traditional and Victorian style mansion. Additionally, due to the fact that the song focuses on the ups and downs within Johnny Cash’s life, the visuals closely match the lyrics as Cash is shown acting both happy and sad and various photographs from different parts of his life are shown within the video relating to the lyrics.

Another of Mark Romanek’s videos is called ‘Closer’ by a bizarre band called Nine Inch Nails, this particular video is concept based as it is simply full of very strange and disturbed images and settings throughout the whole of the video. This video, similar to Johnny Cash’s video is also has a very dark theme and has been filmed with a sepia affect, to furthermore give the video a murky and morbid feel. This video also includes a high concept of mise-en-scene; the video continuously includes several disturbing and unpleasant objects such as, a heart, bugs, animal bones and animals being tortured. Yet another feature constantly used by Romanek within his videos is the focus on the artist, almost constantly within the video the band/artist is seen constantly at both long view and close up angles.

‘Closer’ by Nine Inch Nails, closely relates to another of Romanek’s videos by Fiona Apple called ‘Criminal’. This music video also follows a very sinister theme this is due to the song being about feeling lost and being confused, these emotions are shown within the video by Fiona Apple herself. Fiona performs within the music video, making the video primarily performance based; however, she also acts within the video expressing the feelings of discomfort and bewilderment and follows a narrative. Similarly to ‘Closer’, ‘Criminal’ focuses closely, within the video on specific objects again showing Romanek’s attraction to the substantial use of mise-en-scene. The objects focused on are a camera and a teddy and also there are lots of other characters that feature within this video, again similar to ‘Closer’. Voyeurism is another factor used within this video, the artist, at various different points within the video, is seen through screens to get a different aspect and angle of the artist performing.

The penultimate video of Mark Romanek’s work that I am analysing is called ‘Scream’ by Michael and Janet Jackson, this particular video is among one of the most expensive music videos ever made, and it cost approximately $7 billion to produce. This video is concept based, as it does not follow a narrative but it does also include some performance from the two artists throughout. As the two artists perform throughout, the music video does closely focus of the brother and sister constantly within the video. The video follows a space theme and Romanek has used cinematography to create the several affects used within the video, this video, alike many of Romanek’s other creations also is black and white themed. Similarly to ‘Closer’ voyeurism is also used within ‘Scream’, in particular Michael is focused on predominately within the screens.

The last video is ’99 problems’ by Jay Z, this is one of Mark Romanek’s most famous pieces of work and both he and Jay Z worked very closely together to create the video.  The video is mainly performance based as Jay Z is continuously focused on rapping within Brooklyn in New York, where the video is set, it is also narrative based as many lyrics are acted out by Jay z and fellow characters within the video. The video has very similar cinematography affect to ‘Scream’ as it is black and white themed with very clear cut camera work used, mainly to display the grimy backdrop of Brooklyn in which Jay Z desperately wanted to include.

It is very clear from looking at several of Mark Romanek’s music videos that he does follow the ‘Auteur theory’ and does include numerous factors within every one of his videos. Certain affects such as Voyeurism, mise-en-scene, imagery, surrealism and coloured affects are always used by Mark Romanek. The fact that Romanek uses his own personal influences and creations within his work definitely makes his work differentiate from other director’s music videos and emphasise his own personal style. Romanek, as a director, will want to gain a personal style so that audiences can differentiate his work from other music video producers, making him a famous and recognisable face of the industry.