Directors study - Hype Williams

My first director's study is on an American music video and film director Harold "Hype" Williams.
Life and work:

- Hype Williams was given his stage name by writing partner Muse One, who taught him the ins and outs of the graffiti culture.
- Williams is notable for creating a number of music videos for hip hop and R&B artists such as Jay Z and Missy Eliot.
- In 1998, he directed his first feature film, Belly and in 1999, Hype signed a 2 year overall deal with New Line to produce and direct feature films.

Awards
- Hype Williams the Billboard Music Video Award for Best Director of the Year in 1996- The Jackson Limo Award for Best Rap Video of the Year in 1996 for Busta Rhymes' "Woo Hah,"
- The NAACP Image Award in 1997
- The 8th annual MVPA Award for Black Music Achievement in 1997
- MTV Video Music Award in the Best Rap Video in 1998 category for Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It,"
- MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video in 1999 for TLC's "No Scrubs"
- The BET Award for Best Director in 2006 for Kanye West's “Gold Digger”.

Style
- A signature style used by Hype Williams throughout the vast majority of his videos was the Fisheye lens which distorted the camera view around the central focus. This was used in "Gimme Some More" by Busta Rhymes and "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" by Missy Elliott; however, it was dropped by 2003, when he experienced his lowest level of production activity since the beginning of his career as a music video director.
- Another signature style involves placing shots in regular widescreen ratio, while a second shot is split and placed in the upper and lower bars. Videos that use this style include "Diamonds on my Neck" by Smitty, "I Ain't Heard of That" by Slim Thug, "So Sick" by Ne-Yo, "In My Hood" by Young Jeezy, "Check On It" by Beyoncé, "Snap Yo Fingers" by Lil Jon and many others.
- Since 2003, Hype Williams has adopted a signature style combining a center camera focus on the artist or actor's body from the torso upward and a solid color background with a soft different-color light being shown in the center of the background, so as to give a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject. This has been displayed in "Gold Digger" by Kanye West, "Digital Girl" (Remix) by Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé's "Video Phone".

Missy Elliot - 'Rain'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHcyJPTTn9w

Missy Elliot - 'She's a Bitch'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opkRF3UZSJw&feature=channel

Sorry there is no embedded videos are it has been disabled. However, these are the links to it on youtube.

These examples of music videos by Hype Williams have many visual features of elements that have become typical of a big-budget, black music video. William's emphasis on the fantasy landscape comes into play in 'she's a bitch' and 'busta move'.

In 'Rain', there are some direct illustrations of the lyrics (mainly in the presence of rain pouring onto the dancers towards the end of the video) and particularly in the second and third verse where the video is dominated by the relationship between visuals and rhythms. The camerawork, with the use of fisheye lens, has become William's trademark and in the music video, it is used to establish an image of the star as powerful. The sense of the human face looming into the lens, as the background shrinks away, exaggerates a felling of her dominance. Missy's solo dance in the tunnel-like room is accompanied by two giant industrial cogs on ladders swinging either side of her. This contrasts with the rural exterior shots of the final verse which perhaps shows the reality and fantasy of love. In this, Missy is seated on a bright green hill against an unreal looking blue sky, which is like a character out of a nursery rhyme.

In 'she's a bitch', Missy appears for most of the video with a bald head ans in a highly masculine leather and spiky costume. Like the other video, there are links to the lyrics, as in the second verse where she is seen in a futuristic sports car as she sings about driving. Missy seem to display a male persona, strutting through the set, apparently addressing the lyrics at herself. In this music video there is reference to American male heroes from the West, through the cowboy hats Missy and her dancing posse wears as she sings lyrics which clearly reference the language of the Western - "Yippee yi yo, yippee yi yi yay." In the final sequence, a huge dance spectacular led by Missy emerges from the ocean with stormy black clouds overhead. The dancers are on a giant plinth in the shape of the letter 'M' for Missy which is her logo which appears in most of her videos. The crane shots emphasise (and used in 'rain'), the stage-like spectacle of the dance performance, while tracking shots move in for closer shots of the star's face, notably encrusted with jewels, the 'bling' of the hip-hop lifestyle.

Both of these music videos can be read as representations of black female power in terms of performance, camerawork and especially mise en scene.