Music Video Director - Hype Williams

1. STUDY OF A STUDY OF A
MUSIC VIDEO MUSIC VIDEO
DIRECTORDIRECTOR

2. WHY HYPE WILLIAMS?
•Busta Rhymes feat.
Janet Jackson –
What’s it Gonna Be?!
(1999)
•The first time I was
aware I was watching
a Hype Williams
music video.

3. WHY HYPE WILLIAMS?
•What’s it Gonna Be?!
(1999), was one of
the most expensive
videos ever made,
costing upwards of $2
million, and was big
on special effects.

4. WHY HYPE WILLIAMS?

•I found the special
effects really unique
for a music video of
this time. And It
seemed to have
intertextual
references to the
1992 film The
Lawnmower Man

5. WHY HYPE WILLIAMS?
•According to Goodwin one of
the features of music video is a
relationship between music
and visuals
•This video is full of sexual
innuendo, visually based on
the song's wet dream and
wetness imagery. Janet
Jackson is shown in a tunnel
made of liquid and Busta
Rhymes turns into a sperm-like
creature then he floats through
into the tunnel.

6. HYPE WILLIAMS A LITTLE HISTORY
•Harold "Hype" Williams (born
1970; Queens, New York),
earlier known as simply HYPE,
is an American music video
and film director of African-
American and Honduran
descent. Williams first
displayed his work by tagging
local billboards, storefronts,
and playgrounds using HYPE
as his graffiti tag. "That's
probably what stimulated my
interests in colour," he says.

7. HYPE WILLIAMS A LITTLE HISTORY
•This liking of the use of colour is evident in his early
videos such as MissJones - "Where I Wanna Be Boy"
(1994) through to Notorious BIG - Mo Money Mo
Problems Feat. Puff Daddy, Mase (1998) and as recent
as Beyoncé feat. Bun B and Slim Thug - Check On It
(2006)

8. HYPE WILLIAMS – SIGNATURE STYLE
•A signature style used by Williams throughout the vast majority of
his videos, shot mostly with cinematographer John Perez was the
Fisheye lens which distorted the camera view around the central
focus. This was used in "Gimme Some More" (1998) by Busta
Rhymes and "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" (1997) 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.

9. HYPE WILLIAMS – SIGNATURE STYLE
•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, "So
Sick" by Ne-Yo, "Check On It" by Beyoncé, "Snap Yo
Fingers" by Lil Jon , “Wanna Love You Girl” by Robin
Thicke feat. Pharrell - and many others.

10. HYPE WILLIAMS – SIGNATURE STYLE
•Since 2003, 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 colour background with a soft different-colour
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 “Breath” by Blu Cantrell feat. Sean Paul,
"Gold Digger" by Kanye West, "Digital Girl" (Remix) by Jamie Foxx
and Beyoncé's "Video Phone".

11. HYPE WILLIAMS – MUSIC GENRE
•From what I’ve presented here it would seem
clear that Hype Williams chosen music genre is
RnB and Hip-Hop. While researching his
videography I came across some surprising
artists that he has worked with.

12. HYPE WILLIAMS – CHANGING STYLE
•We’ve seen how Hype Williams changes his
style and when he feels something isn’t working
he adapts. He has also tried out using animation
in Kanye West’s Heartless video.

13. SOME OF MY HYPE WILLIAMS FAVOURITES