Auteur Theory

David Fincher:
1. What Landmark music videos have they made:

David Fincher was born on the 28th August, 1962 (42) is an American director and music director, known for his stylish dark thrillers. He has directed films such as Fight Club(1999), The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network and many more.
He has also gone on to direct music videos such as:

Madonna-“Express Yourself”, “Vogue”, “Oh Father” and “Bad Girl”.

Aerosmith-“Janie’s got a Gun”

The Rolling Stones-“Love Is Strong”

Michael Jackson-“Who Is It”

Billy Idol- “Cradle of Love”

Paula Abdul-“It’s Just the Way You Love Me”, “Straight Up”, “Forever Your Girl” and “Cold Hearted” etc.

2. How were these received? What did the critics say? Did they get any awards?

The video of Madonna’s song Express yourself was inspired by Fritz Lang’s movie Metropolis (1927), which was directed by David Fincher. The music video had a budget of £5million, which made the video the 3^rd most expensive film of all time. The video depicted a city fall of tall skyscrapers and railway line. Madonna in the video played a lady and chained masochist with muscular men appearing as her workers. At the end of the video she picks a man played by model Cameron Alborzian as her date for the evening. Critics noted the video for its exploitation of female sexuality and Madonna’s masculine image in the video as gender bending. Carol Vernallis noted in her book, experiencing music video with diffused light around Madonna was used to mimic the diffusion of sound and make the borders around Madonna appear soft and her body spread outwards. Elizabeth Edwards one of the authors of Visual sense: A cultural Reader said the shot of Madonna crawling on the floor and another image of her watches from a nearby sofa, illustrated the mutation that Madonna’s image was undergoing. She also said that Madonna was acting out self consciousness by watching herself. She also said Express Yourself also gives viewers image references to traditional American gendered and sex icons (male and female) and a new level of irony.

The video of vogue was filmed at Burbank Studios in Burbank, California on 9-10^th February, 1990. It was directed by David Fincher; it was filmed in black and white and recalls the look of films and photography of the Golden Age of Hollywood with the use of artwork by the Art Deco artist Tamara De Lempicka and an Art Deco set design. Many of the scenes were recreations of photographs taken by noted photographer Horst P. Horst including his famous Mainbocher Corset, Lisa with Turban (1940) Carmen Face Massage (1946). Although I wasn’t able to find any critic’s response to the video I found that it won 3 awards from the MTV video music awards for best direction, best cinematography and best editing. It was also received negatively by Horst who said he never gave permission for his photographs to be used and received no acknowledgement from Madonna.

The Oh Father video, was shot in black and white, the video is said to have taken stylistic inspiration from the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane. In 1991, MTV special hosted by Kurt Loder-titled “Breakfast with Madonna” he described the video as the most amazing video and didn’t get any awards.

3. Do they have a visual style? If so how is it achieved throughout their work?

David Fincher’s Visual Style

Madonna’s Music Video: “Express Yourself”

In David Fincher’s music video of Madonna’s song express yourself, Fincher was inspired by Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis (1927) which included an epigraph at the end of the video from the film: “Without the Heart” there can be no understanding between the heart and mind. In the music video, Fincher wished to portray Madonna as a stylish and graceful lady and also a chained masochist, with strong men acting her workers. From this video, Madonna wished to portray a masculine persona. Throughout the video major themes are portrayed such as the deconstructive gender bending approach associated with free play and self reflexivity of pictures in postmodernism. The video also relates to other themes such as feminism and domination of genders and non- distinguishing between classes but also the exchangement of sexual roles within society.

Madonna’s Music Video: “Oh Father”

In Madonna’s music video of her song “Oh Father” which was directed by David Fincher. The music video is shot in black and white entirely and it’s rumoured to be inspired by Orson Welles film Citizen Kane. The music video also contains a scene where a young girl walks towards her mother’s coffin and then the video cuts to a shot of her mother’s mouth sewn shut. This scene is used in the music video to represent what Madonna has confirmed, that it happened when she looked at her mother’s mouth in the coffin. From the music video I have found that it represents themes such as tragedy, death, loneliness etc.

Michael Jackson’s Music Video: “Who is it?”

The music video shows Michael in a hotel room distresses after finding out that his girlfriend has a silver card with the name on of Alex, thinking that his girlfriend is cheating on him. As the story unfolds from the music video we learn that his girlfriend take on different identities for her job. In this video, Michael is portrayed as someone who jealous, concerned and someone that assumes things. The themes portrayed in this music video of the song “Who Is It” is the distinguishment of the female and male roles within a relationship, disloyalty and distingushment of one’s identities.

3. What is David Fincher’s visual style within the music videos he has directed?

David Fincher’s visual style within the music video’s he has directed which include “Oh Father”, “Express yourself” (Madonna) and “Who Is It” (Michael Jackson) seem to include references to film noir, which is a cinematic term used to describe stylish Hollywood crime genre which emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. This era of film noir is associated with low key black and white visual style which has roots from German Expressionist cinematography. Some of the prototypical stories and the attitude of classic noir derive from the Hardboiled School of crime fiction which emerged from the depression within the USA.

The visual style included within the music videos directed by Fincher, include other characteristics of film noir such as there is the use of low angle, wide angle or a Dutch angle. Night for night has also been used as opposed to the usual conventional Hollywood form of day for night. In the videos directed by Fincher, other characteristics such as flashbacks have been used as a cinematic device and the videos also contain first person narration. The videos also contain certain plots, characters and settings etc.

4. What inspiration can you draw from them?

The inspiration that I have drawn from these videos is that David Fincher in the music videos he has directed has drawn from the classical film noir which he has taken from past films such as Metropolis and Citizen Kane. His music videos also draw on themes such as crime, adultery etc basically social issues which evolve around the protagonist within the video. Fincher in his music videos also employs a lot of key devices or features such as first person narration and low key lighting to explore a lot of themes within the music genre he is depicting. What I think would inspire me the most from the music videos that David Fincher has directed, is the way he uses film noir as a basis to support the narrative of the song and the narrative and foundation of the video. He also tries to explore different cultural identities that would be connected or contrasted to the protagonist of the narrative of the video. He also uses unconventional camerawork and not the conventional as he wants people to perceive and interpret that environment or social demands in Marxist or feminist ideologies etc. In Fincher’s music videos he also uses theoretical theories to explain the society or civilisation he inhabits and tries to justify the co-existence of capitalism but also scrutinises it, he does this through references to films such as Metropolis (1927) and through using the landscape and part of the narrative from the film he tries to justify the opinions/theories expressed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and the actors tries to state or explore the social crisis between workers and owners inherent in capitalism, by this he is effectively criticising the future predicament of capitalism’s civilisation.


Here is a link to the critical reception of the video, Vogue directed by Fincher.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogue_(Madonna_song)

Here is a link to some of the videos, David Fincher,has directed:
Madonna-Express Yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVcUzP_O_8&ob=av2e

Madonna:Oh Father:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVvN0QvzTk&ob=av2e

Madoona:Bad Girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUII7DTACf4&ob=av2e

Michael Jackson:Who is it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3CUn1BpGq8

Another music director I thought of analysing, was the former music director, Martin Scorsese who directed the music video attached to Michael Jackson's song "Bad".