Samuel Bayer was a graduate of New York City's School of visual Arts in 1987, in 1991, he moved to Los Angeles and became a popular director during the alternative rock era.
Bayer first launched his career with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a landmark video which MTV has consistently rated as one of the most influential music videos ever made. His hands-on approach to filmmaking so clearly imprinted on his work, Bayer chooses to light, photograph and operate the camera on all his work.In 2005 his video for Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” swept the MTV Music Awards, garnering seven Moon Men including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Rock Video as well as the coveted Viewer’s Choice Award. In 2005, Bayer was also the recipient of the Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award for his work and Cinematography in music videos and was honored in 2006 by the Music Video Producers Association with his second Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2007 his video for Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around… Comes Around” ranked as iTunes fastest selling music video in history and went on to earn Bayer his second MTV Video Music Award for best director.
Other works of Bayer include:
- Iron Maiden
- The Charlatans
- David Bowie
- The Rolling Stones
- Marilyn Manson
- Blink 182
- Aerosmith
- Good Charlotte
- My Chemical Romance
- The Strokes
The Strokes - Heart In A Cage...
This video was shot in the heart of the busy New York City, it is shot in black and white and featured the band members playing in various locations in the city, such as on tall skyscrapers, or, in singer Julian Casablancas's case, the pavement etc. I really like this video (as the strokes are one of my favourite bands) but the idea behind the video. The various camera shots and angles are quirky and effective for example the shot of Julian (lead singer) on the pavement is a close up but on ground level. The contrast between the two ground shots and high raise building shots creates a great effect. What's more, this video clearly represents the band persona, with the use of black and white and the dress code, along with the guitars and instruments etc creates a indie vibe throughout the video. The references of the lyrics are often literally shown in the video for example the reference to the sun there is a shot of the guitarist with the sun rise in the background. Also, the lyrics reflect city life, therefore the use of the crowds rushing past the lead singer has an interesting take on the video, showing the typical New York City everyday.
The use of shots such as close ups and meduim shots of the instruments being played creates a very indie rock style in which this i will include in my own video. Also, the use of the high angle shot when the lead singer is lying on the floor- another consideration for my video- creating intermacy with the audience and singer.
Green Day -Boulevard Of Broken Dreams....
The award-winning music video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", which was directed by Samuel Bayer, depicts the band members after their car has stalled in the desert, and they begin a melancholy walk down a dusty road. Scenes are interspersed with film footage, taken from around Los Angeles, of homeless people and other miserable sights. The video also features performance footage of the band playing the song in an abandoned warehouse.
The music videos for "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" were filmed with a single, continuous storyline — the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" picks up where "Holiday"'s left off, with the last few seconds of "Holiday" audible at the start of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video.
The video features a 1968 green Mercury Monterey convertible that was modified for filming in the "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" videos. The car features a hood ornament in the shape of the hand and heart grenade image from the American Idiot album cover, which was also used in the video for "Holiday". But the "iron fist" was actually used in the video for "Walking Contradiction", when the band members meet at a car towards the end of the video. The band's name is also on the front of the hood in silver letters. The band rode this car to the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.
As shown in an MTV Making the Video special, director Samuel Bayer used unorthodox techniques to achieve the aged look of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video, including using rear projection (as opposed to green screen) and physical damaging the negative: scratching the film with razor blades, pouring coffee on it, and smudging cigarettes on it.
The video of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2005, most notably for Video of the Year. It also won Best Group Video, Best Rock Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography.
