Film Junk Poll: Who is the Best Music Video Director Turned Movie Director?

Posted by on January 22nd, 2010   Filed under: Polls

pollmusicviddirector

It used to be seen as a bad thing for a director to come from a music video background, but over the past decade or so, we’ve seen all kinds of amazing feature films coming from talented music video directors. With Marc Webb recently inheriting the Spider-Man franchise and people buzzing over Spike Jonze’s short film at Sundance, I thought it might be a good time to have a showdown between some of the highest-profile directors who got their start directing music videos. It’s up to you how you want to judge your vote, but I would suggest considering both the quality of their videos and their filmography. As always there are plenty of notable directors not on this list, so feel free to list some of your other favourites in the comments below!

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  • Napalm

    David Slade should be on the list for Hard Candy!

  • Nate

    Who the hell voted for Michael Bay? I want names!

  • Ian

    Really tough. Gotta give it to Gondry. He has managed to create more creative videos and still made a handful of movies that I enjoy on multiple levels. Science of Sleep was hit and miss but Eternal Sunshine and Be Kind Rewind are both great.

  • Ben

    Sorry, if we’re talking about actual directing ability then none of these compare to Fincher.

  • swarez

    Ridley and Tony Scott should be on that list. They started out as commercial and music video directors.

  • Buster

    If we’re going by this list, then Fincher is definately on top. And I agree with Nate, who the hell voted for Michael Bay?

  • KeithTalent

    I bet Reed voted for Bay.

    I voted for Fincher.

  • Marc

    Dave Fincher for the win by far. I mean look at his filmography, it speaks for itself!

  • cannibal

    david FINCHER fucking loses because of the worst video in history: NIN “only” neve rmind all that shit paula abdul

    mark webb is so shit, that i cant listen to any music he directs, its that bad rip. green day:)

    uh, this is a stupid question, music vid directors are tools

  • Nick Robertson

    Fincher – the one and only.

    @cannibal – I didn’t understand ANY of your above post except for the last line and I don’t agree. You have to learn somewhere and there isn’t a correct way to become a filmmaker though I do find more respect for someone who learns to crawl and walk in film.
    Music videos are useless, pointless things anyway.

  • Goon

    I think Gondry is the best music video director, but as a film director I have to go with Fincher, he elevates every project he grabs just by his involvement. Jonze has made my favorite film of anyone listed (Adaptation) and I expect big things out of Garth Jennings (and think both of his films to date are underrated/underseen) however yep, gotta go with David.

  • jamey

    i used to have a recurring dream of fincher fucking Gwyneth Paltrow in the sloths room. so yeah fincher

  • swarez

    Len Wiseman should be on the list as well.
    He directed my band’s video.

  • Brendan

    What, McG didn’t make the cut?
    I’m kind of being sarcastic, but really, he deserves consideration as much as anyone on that list. By comparison, Marc Webb has only directed one feature film. McG has the Charlie’s Angels films, We Are Marshall & Terminator Salvation. I’ve only really seen the director’s cut of Terminator (which I thought was pretty good), but I understand his other films did pretty well.

  • Scott

    Clearly Fincher is the greater film director, but I never cared for most of his music videos.

    Spike Jonze was my choice, because he’s as great a film director as he is a music video director. I’ve yet to see anything he’s worked on that I haven’t enjoyed.