EF- Director Case Study - Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is an English born video music and film director, he was born 1970 in Reading Berkshire. Over the years he has directed many music videos and films, his first directorial debut was in 1997 when he directed the music video for "Come to daddy" by Aphex Twin  currently Aphex Twin are known for soundtracks to films such as "Four Lions" , "Blade", "Marie Antoinette" and "Children of men". 
The video Cunningham directed "Come to daddy" was praised and raved about but also banned by many people in the business due to violence in the video, it was also banned in japan for being offensive to Mentally ill patients. 


The accompanying music video (released in October 1997) was directed by Chris Cunningham and filmed on the same council estate where Stanley Kubrick shot many scenes in A Clockwork Orange.^[6] The scene is shot around Tavy Bridge Shopping centre, Thamesmead, which was demolished in 2007.^[6]The video opens with an old woman walking a dog in a grimy, industrial setting. The dog urinates on an abandoned television lying on the pavement, causing it to sputter unexpectedly into life. This unleashes an evil spirit, accompanied by a gang of small children, all of whom bear James' grinning face and who appear to inhabit the abandoned buildings. The children go around wreaking havoc, trashing an alley and chasing a man into his car. The demon (played by Al Stokes^[7]) emerges from the television, screams in the woman's face, then gathers the children around him. The music video was positioned number 35 in 100 Greatest Scary Moments. - Source Wikipedia  

Cunningham then went on to again direct another Aphex Twin video for the song "Window licker" in 1999 with Warp Records. He also directed the video for Bjorks "All is full of love" in 1998 this won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough video and was nominated for a Grammy for the best short form music video. It was also the first ever music video to win a Gold Pencil at the D&AD awards. 


Videos for Aphex Twins, " Come to daddy" and "Windowlicker' are perhaps his best known. Cunningham also directed the video for Madonna's "Frozen" which became an international hit and won the award for "Best special effects" at the 1998 MTV Music Video Awards. 

He has also directed commercials for companies such as Gucci, Playstation, Nissan and 
Orange.