Chris Cunningham

Nov 11, 2014
1 min read

Chris Cunningham is a British music video film director and video artist who known for his warped style and disturbing imagery. He has primarily directed music videos for ambient music and electronic acts such as Autechre and Aphex Twin. He has also worked with the likes of Madonna and produced commercials for Guicci.

After viewing several music videos and commercials that have been directed by or had Chris Cunningham’s creative input involved in some way it is obvious to me that he has a distinctive auteur signature style.

The editing he uses is fast paced in nearly all of the music videos he has been involved in. It is possible that he does this as it is a way to disorientate the audience as it creates; confusion, mystification and a non-linear narrative. Another aspect of his style is that he has mise-en-scene that heavily reflects that of the horror genre by using Gothic imagery such as his use of black crows and black clothing in the music video for Frozen. Additionally he makes use of camera shots that are hand held, possibly to create more dramatic, dizzying movement to illustrate the aggression and convey other unsettled emotions through the video.

Gucci: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykXkmVURI-w

Aphex Twin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe-XNav5mWU

It is clear to see that Cunningham uses strange, unrealistic objects, sequences and people, as well as CGI editing used to morph people into horror characters in order to create entropy. This is not entirely typical of mainstream music videos and so it is very easy to spot Cunningham’s distinctive style.