Jonze and Gondry

Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze (born Adam Spiegel) is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film Being John Malkovich (that gave him an Academy Award for Best Director nomination) and the 2002 film Adaptation, and direction of the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. He is well known also for his music video collaborations with Weezer, Beastie Boys, and Björk. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV's Jackass. He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv. He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.



He also co-founded Directors Label with filmmakers Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry.
In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series Jackass and Jackass: The Movie, also directing some of the segments. Jonze has acted in some videos and films; his most prominent role was in Three Kings as the sweet, dimwitted, casually racist Conrad, in which he was directed by friend David O. Russell.


Jonze was also a co-founder and editor of Dirt magazine along with Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, as well as an editor for Grand Royal Magazine and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding. Jonze has many alter egos, including Richard Koufey (alternately spelled Coufey or Couffe), the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group, an urban troupe that performs in public spaces. The Koufey persona appeared when Jonze, in character, filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank"

When he showed Slim, He completely agreed and loved it and organised dancers for Slim's next video "Praise you"

Spike Jonze was part of the Detour-Moleskine project in New York in 2007. The project invites authors to compile and illustrate Moleskine notebooks with experienced knowledge, to provide an intimate insight into the artists' creative process.

With such a background it is not hard to realize why he is such an icon is the the music video industry.




Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise on scene. Gondry's vision and career began with his emphasis on emotion, according to Gondry himself in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life. Much of his inspiration, he says, came from the film Le voyage en ballon.

"When I watch this movie, I dream I’m flying and then I do stories where people are flying. I think it’s directly influencing."




His career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, in which he also served as a drummer. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, who asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour".

The collaboration proved long-lasting, with Gondry directing a total of seven music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes,The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck.These are very well loved bands with very iconic music videos. However Daft Punk had a collection of animated videos where they would tell a story, this was directed by Gondry in Daft Punks Homework (the album) years.









Gondry, along with directors Spike Jonze and David Fincher, is representative of the influx of music video directors into feature film. Gondry made his feature film debut in 2001 with Human Nature, garnering mixed reviews. His second film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, was released in 2004 and received very favorable reviews, becoming one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. Eternal Sunshine utilizes many of the image manipulation techniques that Gondry had experimented with in his music videos.