Customer Reviews

Director's Label Series Boxed Set: Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer, Anton Corbijn, Stéphane Sednaoui

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a box set including all new FOUR DVDs with the work of grand music video auteurs.

Where the first series released included the impressive work of Chris Cunnigham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze, this new series features Stephane Sednaoui, Maark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer and Anton Corbijn.

THE WORK OF DIRECTOR MARK ROMANEK
Jay Z - 99 Problems (director's cut)
Linkin Park - Faint
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Audioslave - Cochise (director's cut)
No Doubt - Hella Good (director's cut)
Mick Jagger - God Gave Me Everything
Janet Jackson featuring Joni Mitchell and Q-Tip - Got Til It's Gone
Fiona Apple - Criminal
Nine Inch Nails - Perfect Drug
Beck - Devil's Haircut
Weezer - El Scorcho (director's cut)
Eels - Novocaine for the Soul
Sonic Youth - Little Trouble Girl
Michael & Janet Jackson - Scream (director's cut)
Madonna - Bedtime Story
R.E.M. - Strange Currencies
G. Love & Special Sauce - Cold Beverage
Nine Inch Nails - Closer (director's cut)
David Bowie - Jump, They Say
Madonna - Rain
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Keith Richards - Wicked as it Seems (director's cut)
En Vogue - Free Your Mind
kd lang - Constant Craving

Special Features
-A brand new documentary featuring Beck, Jay-Z, Rick Rubin, Michael Stipe, Janet Jackson, Trent Reznor, Anthony Keidis, Gwen Stefani, Keith Richards and others.
-Romanekian: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Robin Williams discuss Mark's work.
-Making of 99 Problems

Interviews and Commentaries
Individual artist and director commentaries for all the music videos.

52 Page Book
Includes photographs by Mark Romanek and Spike Jonze interview with Mark.

THE WORK OF DIRECTOR JONATHAN GLAZER
Music Videos
Radiohead - Street Spirit
Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity
Richard Ashcroft - A Song for the Lovers
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
UNKLE - Rabbit in Your Headlights
Blur - The Universal
Radiohead - Karma Police
Massive Attack - Karmacoma

Commercials
Wrangler - Ride
Guinness - Surfer (extended)
Guinness - Swim Black
Guinness - Dreamer
Volkswagen - Protection
Stella Artois - Last Orders
Stella Artois - Whip Round
Levis - Kung Fu
Levis - Odyssey
Barclays - Bull (with Samuel L. Jackson)
Barclays - Chicken (with Samuel L. Jackson)

Interviews and Commentaries
Including Nick Cave, Richard Ashcroft, Jamiroquai, Denis Lavant, 3D, Blur and James Lavelle.

Films
Sexy Beast (excerpt) - You're the Problem
Interviews with Ray Winstone and Sir Ben Kingsley
Birth (excerpt) - Central Park
Interviews with Nicole Kidman, Danny Huston, Harris Savides, Milo Addica and Jean Claude Carriere.

Tramp: Paul Kaye

52 Page Book
Includes photographs, sketches, storyboards and interviews.

THE WORK OF DIRECTOR ANTON CORBIJN
Music Videos
Propaganda - Dr. Mabuse
David Sylvian - Red Guitar
Echo and The Bunnymen - Seven Seas
Golden Earring - Quiet Eyes
Echo and The Bunnymen - The Game
Depeche Mode - Behind the Wheel
Joy Division - Atmosphere
Joni Mitchell with Peter Gabriel - My Secret Place
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
U2 - One (director's cut)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Straight to You
Depeche Mode - Walking in My Shoes
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
Henry Rollins - Liar
Metallica - Hero of the Day
Metallica - Mama Said
Depeche Mode - Barrel of a Gun
Depeche Mode - It's No Good
Herberg Grönemeyer - Bleibt Alles Anders
Mercury Rev - Opus 40
Mercury Rev - Goddess on a Hiway
Joseph Arthur - In the Sun
Herberg Grönemeyer - Mensch
U2 - Electrical Storm
Travis - Re-Offender
The Killers - All the Things That I¹ve Done

Stuff
Beck and Dave Grohl - MTV Promos
U2 - The making of 'Electrical Storm'
Some YoYo Stuff - Excerpt from a film about Don van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart
Travis - Love Will Come Through (A home made video with Fran Healy)
Depeche Mode - 'It's No Good' tour projections
Palais Schaumberg - Hockey (Anton's first music video)
Front 242 - Front by Front
NotNa - A documentary about Anton

Interviews and Commentaries
With U2, Depeche Mode, Travis, Samantha Morton, Metallica, Nick Cave, Echo and The Bunnymen, Mercury Rev, New Order, Joseph Arthur, Kurt Cobain, Herbert Grönemeyer, and others.

52 Page Book
Includes Anton's photos and drawings.

THE WORK OF DIRECTOR STÉPHANE SEDNAOUI
Music Videos
Mirwais - I Can't Wait
Tricky - For Real
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue
Mirwais - Disco Science
R.E.M. - Lotus
Björk - Possibly Maybe
Alanis Morissette - Ironic
Tricky - Pumpkin
Garbage - Queer
Tricky - Hell is Around the Corner
Massive Attack - Sly
Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds
Björk - Big Time Sensuality
Björk - Big Time Sensuality (new night version)
Black Crowes - Sometimes Salvation
U2 - Mysterious Ways
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
NTM - Le Monde De Demain
U2 - Discotheque (new director's cut)

Extras
Walk On The Wild Side - Short film inspired by Lou Reed's song
Army of Me - Animation inspired by Björk's song
Acqua Natasa - Short film featuring Natasa Vojnovic
Reve Reche - Stéphane's first short film attempt

Interviews and Commentaries
34 minutes and 29 seconds of interviews including Björk, Bono, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Michael Stipe, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shirley Manson, Tricky and more.
Stéphane's presentation at New York University Film School

52 Page Book
Diary of photos, storyboards, sketches and comments.

I went ahead and reviewed each disc individually -- just because the work of these directors is too diverse to be described in one 300 word review....

Here's what I think about this series vs. the first one. I liked the first series very much, and thought the whole idea was great (not knowing that they were going to continue the series). However, the second boxset is bigger, bolder, and regardless of others say, has comparable if not better material than the first. Jonze, Gondry, and Cunningham are great directors, but in no way do they sit on a pedestal above guys like Anton Corbijn or Mark Romanek, no way. I was less familiar with Stephane Sednaoui than the other directors, but even his work is spectacular in its own way (it's much different than the other directors, very French).

There's one thing in particular that sets the Directors Label apart from other video compilations: diversity. Instead of just packing every director who's worked with Radiohead into a series, several talented directors from very different schools are brought together. This allows us to compare and contrast their styles, techniques, and everything else that puts a film/videography/cinematography/etc nut in heaven. The only thing that series is missing is some directors in the Hip Hop realm, and Palm announced that they'd be adding a new installment for these directors next year.

If you're not familiar with the Directors Label Series, find a friend who owns some of the discs or rent a couple of them, otherwise you'll kick yourself if you buy one first and end up craving the boxset. And honestly, the only way to truly appreciate this series is to have all the directors, their unique styles, and their material together -- it's an experience.

This collection is by far the best collection of music video directors and their work in music, film, and tv. A collection to get that will one day be very valuable.

I highly commend the whole director's series for the love and care gone into each disk - both packaging and actual product.
For me however this latest series is only intermitently interesting - there's too much here that doesn't inspire repeat viewing - surely the whole function of a great music video.

Here's my view of the whole series:

Spike Jones - 2/5 Clever video's which often lack heart. Sometimes the video's seem let down by sloppy execution.

Michel Gondry - 5/5 Incredibly original, a creator, the best of these video's are simple brilliant puzzles.

Chris Cunningham - 5/5 Moody films with master photography and sometimes unbelievable editing. Bjork's `All is Full of Love` is just possibly perfect.

Anton Corbijn - 1/5 Sorry, I don't understand the appeal of Anton's work - his photographic style seems one note and these video's seem to have been done for the money. (Can someone enlighten me to what I'm missing here???)

Jonathan Glazer - 2/5 While there are a few stunning moments of this DVD the video's seem to be pitched more to delight designers and other ad-men. The music often seems secondary.

Mark Romanek - 3/5 Video's that always look beautiful, however only on a couple do the images and music combine to become transendent - most notably Johnny Cash's Hurt Video which is both simple and stunning.

Stephane Sednaoui - 4/5 An expert at marrying images to the music - often with noticeable sensuality. Contains my two favourite video's from the current series - Mirwais's sexy `Disco Science` and a short film based on `Lou Reed's `Walk On The Wild Side`.

Great Collection, but you have to watch in several sessions to appreciate. I think the 1st in this series was better.

This boxed set is 100% the best hands down. It contains the most classic and perfectly executed works from Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer, Anton Corbijn and Stephane Sednaoui. They each come with a flawlessly printed booklet detailing interviews and conceptual information pertaining to each video by the artists. The quality of the videos is superb and I can only hope that they will soon be available on Blu-ray format. I highly suggest this boxed set to anyone looking for inspiration or simply for a great watch.

The title says it all. If you love artistic, high quality, brilliantly directed music videos, then you must add this to your collection. Books accompany the DVD set and they are also of high quality. Overall, I'm very impressed and would definitely recommend this box set to anyone. I purchased the other box set with Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze and love that just as much.

Incredible!. I found this set at the V-Mega store in SFO. It was set up on the demo wall. I stood there and watched until my legs went numb. Artistic value is very high. I have been kind of turned off by music videos the last few years but this changed my perception of what is out there now. Even the commercials were very entertaining and well thought out.
I was going to skip them, glad I did not.
Merry X-Mas!

I have not watched every single video in the package (because I got bored of them). But I feel qualified to make a short review.

The first set was so good you could actually invite friends over and enjoy some Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham together. Not so with this set. The videos are not crowd pleasers, and the videos here are generally more pretentious, especially those from Anton Corbijn (photographer turned video director). In the interviews you will see artists freely admitting they have no idea what such and such video is about. If you don't like symbolism, you are in for a "Bumpy Ride."

It seems like I am watching some of these videos for a college class in music video history, like "this was the first video to ever use soft focus", or, "this was the first music video that uses Slow Motion." So like another guy already said, they pale compared to what is on MTV right this minute.

If you were a fan of the first Volume because of the creativity and how these directors were pushing the envelope, I would suggest not spending your hard earned money here on volume 2. All of these videos lack imagination, I hope that Volume 3 will have more interesting directors, frankly, I was bored, You could turn on MTV and see better videos than this garbage. I am raing this Item "1 star and that is due to the good packaging design, and not the content.