If your music video reminds viewers a TV show, it's good news if it's a show that costs $6 million an episode to create. One of the most ambitious videos of the year so far, "Reload" by Sebastian Ingrosso, Tommy Trash, and John Martin, with its dragons, action sequences, and… Read More

Mykki Blanco has one of the most unique sounds and images in hip-hop music right now. His latest music video, "The Initiation," features Mykki crawling through the streets, rapping in Latin though a face on the top of his head. Known for his amazing use of visual effects and motion… Read More

Last week, we were all introduced to Ivy Levan through her music video for "Hot Damn," a video that generated a lot of attention, especially for a relatively new artist. Directed by Daniel Carberry, the video depicts Ivy as a powerful female figure and an expert level camera mugger, two things we… Read More

When the same director makes a new version of an already good music video, it’s best to add something special to make sure it stands out. In this case, the director is Pete Lee, the music video is “The Magic Clap” by The Coup, and the something special is Patton… Read More

One of our favorite features of this year’s Los Angeles Music Video Festival was their Life’s a Pitch contest, in which four directors (or director duos) were given the opportunity to pitch music video ideas to the band Five Knives for their song “The Rising.” Of the four directors who… Read More

Director NORTON knows a thing or two about dancing. His video "Killer Shoes" (an unofficial video for "Devotion" by Kap Bambino) features a pair of low top converse dancing aggressively throughout the city. For his latest video, “Dancing Out” by French Horn Rebellion, he hangs onto the dancing, but trades… Read More

All it takes is one music video to make an impact on the industry. Director Carmela Makela knows that first-hand, as her self-funded debut music video for “Ain't Nobody” by Atmosphere has caught the attention of labels, directors, and video commissioners alike. We talked to Carmela about getting to direct… Read More

The last time we talked to director and animator Galen Pehrson, he told us he wanted to make music videos that are “outside of the really, really rigid box that music videos have been set in.” After creating videos for artists like Death Grips and screening his work in museum… Read More

In the music video for “KV Crimes” by Kurt Vile, director Tom Scharpling imagines a world where Kurt is a king with a taste for fast food hoagies, swing sets, and listening to other people play his music. Like most of Tom’s videos, “KV Crimes” features the artist doing more… Read More

Sometimes, it’s a challenge to find the meaning of a music video. It takes several viewing and maybe even some deep discussion with a friend to figure it all out. Other times, there are videos like “Asphyxiation” by Autoerotique, directed by Amos LeBlanc, where you get it right away, and… Read More

Sometimes a video is so weird, that it begins to make perfect sense. That is what happens with “Aunt Betty” by Middle Class Rut, directed by Lance Drake – a video that is so out there from start to finish that when it’s over you just think, “That is exactly… Read More

BANKS has followed up her dark and stormy debut video for "Fall Over" with an equally emotional music video for "Warm Water." The similarities are understandable as she has again collaborated with Dylan Knight, who we got to know after their first release. Again soft lighting command throughout. Together with… Read More

Combining time lapse with stop-motion, the video for “Analog Or Digital” by Wildlife Control required band members Neil and Sumul Shah to perform in a complicated, full-day shoot on San Francisco's Ocean Beach. Most complicated shoots like this might require some convincing by the director to get the band on… Read More

Convincing a family member to be in one of your music videos is actually more difficult than it sounds. Of course they’re supportive, but the only people who usually want to be in front of a camera are the type of people who want to be in front of the… Read More

With all of the compromises that usually have to be made to get a music video finished, sometimes a director just needs to put their foot down. Director Malia James did that when finding a location for the video for "Demon Dance" by Surfer Blood, a dark but funny video… Read More

What would a rapper and a comedian do if you gave them $5,000 and told them to make a music video? If you think the answer would be to get pizza with Childish Gambino, dress up like a chicken, and buy some shiny suits, you would be exactly right because… Read More

The Uncluded, the genre-crossing duo comprised of Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson, has been on a music video tear recently, already releasing four videos off of their debut album Hokey Fright, which was released last week. Likely our favorite video from the album so far, “Delicate Cycle” directed by Ben… Read More

For their last music video, “Wasted My Time” by I/O, director duo BRTHR spent three days running around Long Island, packing in multiple locations with multiple setups all within a short period of time. For their latest video, “Bounce” by Iggy Azalea, they also packed in a lot of locations,… Read More

Right behind Psy on the list of recent artists who have used music videos to propel their careers would have to be Macklemore X Ryan Lewis. Despite being named to XXL magazine’s 2012 Freshman Class, it wasn’t until the success of the video for “Thrift Shop,” and to a lesser… Read More

There comes a time in every music video where the money runs out. Even on music videos with six figure budgets, eventually someone ends up working for free, or for much less money than they deserve and the only thing keeping them there is because they believe in the project… Read More

We’re all inspired by Destiny’s Child in one way or another, it just manifests differently from each of us. For director Austin Peters and the girls from Haim, it came through in location and dance move choices in their videos for “Forever” and “Don’t Save Me.” In these videos, we… Read More

Since being first invented by visual graphics artist Kevin Burg and photographer Jamie Beck in 2009, cinemagraphs have been seen all over the internet on sites like Imgur, Tumblr, and ReactionGifs.com. They even have their own subreddit, which is where we found the music video "Back To Me" by Joel Compass,… Read More

It’s rare for a director to have an underwater mermaid specialist in their back pocket, but that’s one of the luxuries that director Abraham Vilchez-Moran has in his relationship with underwater photographer Chris Crumley. Although this isn’t a feature that works in every music video, when the artist you’re working… Read More

In addition to the music video competition, you will occasionally find music videos represented in other places at SXSW. For example, director/animator Chris Ullens had two of his music videos screen at SXSW this year, with his video for "Sex" by Slugabed as part of the music video section, and… Read More

After the release of the "Alive" video by Krewella, director Bryan Schlam decided to cut together a remix version of the video, for fun, which included some previously planned visual effects by BEMO. These effects, despite being cut from the original video, ended up working out enough for Krewella’s management… Read More