The Brand-New Wave

The film industry, asserts Simon West, is five years behind the rest of American pop culture. Even so, MTV has been around long enough for music-video directors such as himself to be considered cool. Younger studio executives were MTV kids, he explains. And those who weren’t have come to regard video directors as a bridge to the youth market so central to the industry’s bottom line.

“The largest part of the moviegoing audience is 14- to 24-year-olds, primarily males dragging their girlfriends to see a film,” says West, whose debut feature, the $75-million “Con Air,” opened Friday. “It’s no coincidence that we talk their language, since that’s the music-video market, as well.”

The trickle of music-video directors making the leap into feature films has turned into a wave, accelerated by the track record of David Fincher (“Aliens 3,” “Seven”), Michael Bay (“Bad Boys,” “The Rock”) and F. Gary Gray (“Friday,” “Set It Off”), industry observers say. All of their films were profitable, and Hollywood is eager to duplicate that success.

“Everyone’s looking for safety nets, reasons to justify decisions in case of failure,” says Jerry Bruckheimer, a visually oriented producer who threw his weight behind directors of commercials such as Adrian Lyne (“Flashdance”) and Tony Scott (“Crimson Tide”) before giving West and Bay their first shot. “The studios are now thinking this is the way to go. In the end, though, it’s less about formulas than about talent--and getting noticed. Like screenwriting and editing, music videos have become a way in.”

As the door has opened, several first-timers have walked through. Brett Ratner was handed the $23-million “Money Talks,” a New Line release set for August, and plans to shoot a Jackie Chan movie in October. Gore Verbinski is directing “Mouse Hunt,” a holiday film from DreamWorks. Lionel Martin’s “How to Be a Player” will be distributed by Gramercy Pictures on Aug. 15. Paul Hunter, currently talking with 20th Century Fox about taking on a feature, has signed on to make Quincy Jones’ “Jook Joint” on HBO.

Rap-video director Tamra Davis made her move to the big screen with 1992’s “Gun Crazy” and went on to direct “CB4” (1993) and “Billy Madison” (1995), both of which opened at No. 1. Bay is making it three in a row with Bruckheimer, whose “Armageddon” goes before the cameras this summer; Fincher’s $70-million “The Game,” with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, is due out in the fall. And Gray is plunging into New Regency’s “The Negotiator,” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey--bigger budget, more mainstream fare.

“Four years ago, there was a ‘music-video directors can’t deliver’ stench I had to fight my way through,” says Gray, 27. “Things are easier now.”

Though the stigma has not entirely diminished, music videos are considered an excellent training ground--film school . . . with a paycheck, so to speak. Even novice directors are provided with the latest equipment--and budgets not always of the shoestring variety. Labels fork out between $200,000 and $600,000 for major artists and well into the seven-figure range for superstars such as Madonna or Michael Jackson. Because the stakes are lower, the freedom is greater. And since the directors walk off with dazzling showcases, they no longer have to be taken on faith.

Narrative is more prevalent in videos these days and production values, too, are on the rise. “Music videos are now a template for mini-features,” said Bruce Mellon, whose production company, Original Film, makes both music videos and feature films. “And since most directors work on a tight budget and schedule, they’re trained to think creatively.”

Davis--one of the few female video directors during the 1980s--put this training to use on the set of “Best Men,” an MGM action film with Drew Barrymore and Dean Cain set for an October release. With only $7 million at her disposal, she says, the production was necessarily seat-of-the-pants.

“To give the action a fresh look, I shot some Super-8 footage--the kind you use in home movies--alongside the director of photography,” says Davis, 33. “I intercut that with the rest of the film. The movie looks like a music video in which I’d shoot a performance and splice it with film of a different color-type or grain.”

Bay, 32, calls it “guerrilla filmmaking”--a skill that came in handy making 1995’s “Bad Boys.” Though some viewed him as a first-time director, he says, he’d already put in 500 days on videos and commercials--the equivalent of 10 feature films.

“Because I was working with a $17-million budget--and no support from Columbia--I was forced to use a lot of music-video tricks,” says Bay, who has worked with Aerosmith, Tina Turner and Meatloaf. “Though I had two great actors, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, the studio was convinced that black stars wouldn’t sell. On top of that, the crew didn’t believe a video guy could cut it . . . they were waiting for me to put the camera on a skateboard. I was very nervous since, coming from videos, you basically get one chance out.”

The film, as it happened, took in a hefty $142 million worldwide and brought 12 movie offers in its wake. But even after “The Rock” grossed $348 million worldwide, Bay says, he still gets limited respect.

“I despise it when people call me a ‘just a video director,’ ” says Bay. “There’s such snobbery in this business. Though the car chase in ‘The Rock’ was rooted in videos, I see myself as a ‘new generation’ kind of filmmaker with the ability to cross over into different media.”

If Bay is sensitive about being labeled, Ratner points out that, early on at least, it helped. Since video directors are now credited for their work, he says, those with a number of high-profile artists in frequent rotation can develop a following.

“I was lucky,” says Ratner, 26, who made his name with videos for urban artists such as Heavy D and Public Enemy. “The day my first video ran was the first day MTV started putting the director’s name on screen. My timing was perfect in feature films, too. Studios are tired of big-name directors commanding huge fees and demanding total creative control.”

Music-video directors are a great way of sidestepping the “$6-million directors,” New Line production president Mike De Luca concedes. But the skills, while transferable, aren’t exactly the same.

“The great unknown is how they deal with actors, pace and story,” says the executive, whose company was responsible for “Friday,” “Set It Off” and “Seven,” which grossed more than $300 million worldwide. “Music-video directors get tremendous amounts of money to shoot three minutes . . . but film requires more discipline.”

Staying power is the challenge, the directors agree. Films are a marathon and videos a sprint. And since videos are about “visual” rather than “story,” style over substance is the primary trap.

“Music videos are less linear, more montage-based, so you need to take that hat off and put on another,” said Verbinski, 33. “Ninety minutes of high-concept imagery are an onslaught, a disaster . . . restraint, I’ve discovered, is a learned tool. Directors coming from TV and theater have the opposite challenge: Though they get fascinating performances, their work tends to be claustrophobic and uncinematic. The trick is finding the balance.”

Videos can be salvaged in the editing room, the directors note. In movies, however, there’s no safety valve. “There’s no continuity in videos . . . you can jump around all over the place,” Davis says. “In features, you can’t throw in a close-up of a musician stomping on a guitar--you have to film a scene.”

Working with actors, is less of a stretch, they contend, since one also communicates with talent--and juggles egos--in music videos. “Rock groups are as difficult a bunch as you’ll come up against,” Mellon says. “Each band has four or five different personalities and you have to cater to each.”

Given a choice, he’d opt for actors, says West, who has worked with recording artists such as Mike and the Mechanics and David Gilmour. “Some musicians feel uncomfortable stuck in front of a camera,” he observes. “Others are out of their depth trying to be De Niro. I hear that a Madonna or a Sting can be a really good actor . . . but most musicians just snarl at you, looking like ‘Melrose Place.’ ”

Paul Hunter, a hot music-video talent. Like their feature-film counterparts, they come up with shot lists, create storyboards, are accountable to clients, and put in 12- to 18-hour days.

“Hollywood views video directors as free spirits--shooting like crazy and stringing images together,” says Hunter, whose work for R&B;/pop singer Erykah Badu was just selected the Music Video Assn.’s best R&B; video of the year. “And because rock stars rarely get up in the morning, they assume that we don’t either.”

A number of feature film directors have turned the tables, venturing into video. Spike Lee, a fan of the New Jersey Rap Group “Naughty by Nature,” shot their “Hip Hop Hooray,” a 1993 cut from Tommy Boy Records. After winning an Oscar for his “Sling Blade” screenplay, Billy Bob Thornton went to Arkansas in mid-April to shoot “Aunt Avis” for Widespread Panic, a second-generation hippie band with whom he’d stayed friends after shooting their video five years ago. And on May 19, actor/director Steve Buscemi (“Trees Lounge”) completed a video for Mercury Records’ “spoken word artist” Maggie Estep.

The music-video contingent is also keeping a foot in both camps. Bay did a video for Aerosmith earlier this year; Hunter recently directed the late Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” video; Ratner just turned around a $750,000 job for the underground rap group the Wu-Tang Clan; and “MMMBop,” the Hanson cut for which Davis did the video, is now the No. 2 single in the U.S.

“It’s important to stay connected to the new generation--the consumers and the ‘voice,’ ” says Gray, who just finished videos for Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. “That’s where a lot of people go wrong. They becomes snobs and lose touch.”

After years in commercials, West may be “dusting off the leather jacket and putting on shades,” doing a video for a song in “Con Air.” Hunter, in contrast, would like to move on. “Though I’d like to stop making videos, the studios keep asking to see your ‘latest,’ ” he says. “They want to be sure that you’re hot.”

Even hot music-video directors rarely land the big-budget, prestige movies, however. Most cut their teeth on niche, youth-oriented fare. (“All of my main characters have been under 30,” Tamra Davis says.) And since these offers generally don’t conform to the Game Plan, some very tough decisions must be made.

Ratner turned down the $5-million “How to Be a Player,” a hip-hop movie about a guy juggling a host of girlfriends, in favor of “Money Talks”--an action-comedy starring Chris Tucker, Charlie Sheen, Paul Sorvino and Heather Locklear. Not just because the “Player” budget was about a fifth its size, he says, but because all of its characters were black.

“ ‘Money Talks is a more mainstream movie with some black stars--like ’48 HRS,’ and ‘Beverly Hills Cop,’ ” Ratner says.

Though Gray segued successfully from “hip hop” to mainstream, Hunter is holding out. When it comes to quality and marketing, he says, these low-budget offerings aimed primarily at African American audiences don’t measure up.

“It’s interesting that they chose Michael Bay to do ‘Bad Boys’ starring two black comedians,” he says. “I’m waiting for the day that they choose a Gary Gray or a Paul Hunter to do a cop movie with Brad Pitt and Christian Slater. Still, when I see Gary [Gray] directing Kevin Spacey and Samuel Jackson, I know something’s happening.”

Lionel Martin had his reasons for taking on “Player,” which, according to Gramercy, is testing very well in the urban markets. Good production values are even more important to that audience than positive imagery, he notes. And by working from the inside, progress can be made.

“I tried to take what could be viewed as a sexist comedy and give it some integrity and street sense,” says Martin, 39, who has directed videos for Toni Braxton and Boyz II Men. “Having five producers breathing down my neck was an adjustment, particularly after having creative control in a video company of my own. But unless we stand up for what we believe, it will be the blaxploitation thing all over again.”

A measure of self-interest is also involved, Martin says, since a director loses big when the product isn’t good.

“We’re seen as sharp, flashy video guys who make $4-million films that take in $40 million,” he says. “People are trying to capitalize on the proven market for black films. The danger is that when a movie doesn’t work, the machine spits us out . . . and they blame it on us.”

Perception is everything, Bay adds, so the failure of one video director affects them all. Like all of the directors interviewed, he forecasts a backlash--or, at best, a leveling off.

“People look at Fincher and myself and assume that anyone can do it,” he says. “It’s tougher than they think. [Director] Tony Scott told me that if the floodgates open too far and music-video directors fail, the door is going to close again.”

“Con Air” is a high-stakes proposition--for him and his colleagues alike, West agrees: “It will take only two or three of us to blow it on big-budget movies for the business to fall out of love with us for a few years.”