A Complete Guide to The Director's Label Series

Director's Label Boxed Set Vol. 1	Vol 1: The Work of Spike Jonze	Vol 2: The Work of Chris Cunningham
Vol 3: The Work of Michel Gondry	Vol 4: The Work of Mark Romanek	Vol 5: The Work of Jonathan Glazer
Vol 6: The Work of Anton Corbijn	Vol 7: The Work of Stéphane Sednaoui	Other Music Videos and Documentaries

Interviews with the Directors

Anton Corbijn

Stéphane Sednaoui

Mark Romanek

DVDs included in The Director's Label Boxed Set Vol. 2

Vol. 4: Work of Director Mark Romanek

Artists who’ve worked with him describe Mark Romanek as "meticulous" and "demanding." Yet, the biggest names in the business have clamored to work with the mercurial helmer, because they know he'll make them look good: Madonna ("Rain"), No Doubt ("Hella Good"), etc. Along the way, the Grammy winner has been behind some of the world's most famous--and infamous--videos. On the groundbreaking side, there's Lenny Kravitz's exhilarating "Are You Gonna Go My Way," which made the musician a star in one fell swoop. On the controversial side, there's Fiona Apple's teasing "Criminal," Nine Inch Nails' macabre "Closer," and Jay-Z's apocalyptic "99 Problems"--the latter two in director's cut editions. In another class entirely, is Romanek's heartbreaking video for Johnny Cash's "Hurt." More than a promo, it's an elegy for a legend. Despite an interview with Robin Williams, this collection otherwise overlooks Romanek's features, One Hour Photo and Static.

Vol. 5: Work of Director Jonathan Glazer

British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer began by directing pop promos and advertisements before transitioning into features. His video style is crisp and clean, yet vaguely menacing. There's always more going on than meets the eye--a quality carried over into his films. Like Kubrick, he's partial to Steadicams and empty hallways. Massive Attack's "Karmacoma" even features twins straight from The Shining, while Blur's "The Universal" cops from A Clockwork Orange, so he's not exactly shying away from the influence. Glazer's commercial style, on the other hand, is more wide-ranging, less easily identifiable. His ambitious ads for Guinness, Levi’s, etc. bring out his playful side in a way the videos do not. Interestingly, oddball actor Denis Lavant (Beau Travail) shows up twice, in the creepy clip for UNKLE's "Rabbit in Your Headlights" and the "Last Orders" spot for Stella Artois. This Director's Series edition also features excerpts from Sexy Beast and Birth.

Vol. 6: Work of Director Anton Corbijn

Known as much for his photography as his videos, Anton Corbijn has produced some of rock's most memorable images. Long associated with Depeche Mode and U2 (that’s his iconic shot on the cover of Joshua Tree), the Dutch director has worked with a diverse array of acts, including Joy Division ("Atmosphere"), Nirvana ("Heart-Shaped Box"), and Metallica ("Hero of the Day"). This collection captures over 20 years of wit and style, with influences ranging from surrealism, expressionism, and elegant European auteurs like Fritz Lang, Wim Wenders, and Ingmar Bergman (especially The Seventh Seal). Like many of the best video makers, Corbijn takes his cues more from the music and personality of the artists than the lyrics. The striking video for David Sylvian's "Red Guitar," for instance, features the singer, an old man, and a young boy--no red guitars anywhere. That about sums up Corbijn: often slick, occasionally bizarre--always unpredictable.

Vol. 7: Work of Director Stéphane Sednaoui

According to Bono, "He’s much cooler than anyone in his videos." That’s high praise indeed as French filmmaker/photographer Stéphane Sednaoui has conjured up many of music’s hippest clips. Glitter, mirror balls, metallic paint--if it glows, shines, or sparkles, you can bet he's incorporated it into one of his projects. Sednaoui's background in fashion permeates every production, so it's no wonder he's worked with such stylish performers as Bjork and Garbage's Shirley Manson. (Like Anton Corbijn, celebrity portraiture is also part of his purview.) Fortunately, his are more than pretty pictures, but concentrated capsules of mood, as in his melancholy meditations for Massive Attack ("Sly") and Tricky ("Pumpkin"), and movement, as in his ecstatic explorations for the Red Hot Chili Peppers ("Give It Away"), U2 ("Mysterious Ways"), and Bjork ("Big Time Sensuality"). And yes, trivia buffs, that's Sofia Coppola in the bad trip video for the Black Crowes' "Sometimes Salvation." --Kathleen C. Fennessy with Ryan Boudinot

Customer Reviews Average rating - 4.0

Rating - 5 Date: 2008-01-14
Content: 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.
Summary: Another amazing collection by the Directors Label

Rating - 5 Date: 2007-09-22
Content: 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.
Summary: A Must Have!!!!

Rating - 3 Date: 2006-01-05
Content: 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.
Summary: Not nearly as good as the first set

Rating - 1 Date: 2006-01-01
Content: 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.
Summary: Don't Get Robbed Like I did...

Rating - 5 Date: 2005-12-14
Content: 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!
Summary: so much there!