Defining Your Path: Profile on Grammy Award Winning Director Dave Meyers
As a creative, if you’ve ever felt like you had to be something and every fiber of your being day and night revolved around this one thing, chances are you’ll ask yourself if it’s truly right for you. If that scares you, just rest assured that not everyone knows exactly who they’re going to be right away. Even your idols are still trying to figure it out, trust me. The path toward your creative goals isn’t a path at all, it’s a highway of intertwining roads that‘ll probably throw you into a lane that you’d never expect to be in. Today creatives wear many hats and it’s harder and harder for us to boil down all of our skills into just one title – like photographer, videographer, writer, or director. The good news is we no longer need to and we’re allowed to figure it out along the way, kind of like Dave Meyers.
Your Path Can (And Probably Will) Change
You may not know Dave, but you definitely know his work. Meyers is best known as a Grammy Award winning Director of iconic music videos that have undeniably shaped music and pop culture since the 90s. His notable works include Grammy Award winning videos for both Missy Elliot’s “Lose Control” and Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.” However, he didn’t always work with the biggest players in music like Outkast, Jay-Z, Blink-182, Rihanna, Travis Scott, and Billie Eilish, to name a few. Early in his career, making music videos wasn’t part of the plan. Sure he’d picked up a camera with his friends and filmed a music video or two in high school but film caught his eye at an early age. At 17, Dave began working at a local cinema in Berkeley, CA before going off to Loyola Marymount University to study film production and philosophy. Although music had always had a great influence on him, it was Star Wars that made him realize the magic of cinema and gravitate toward the art form.
Don’t be Afraid to Adjust
Fast-forwarding post film school, Dave worked at both Paramount and Fox to pursue a career in film before a run-in with director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) changed the trajectory of his entire career. When they crossed paths, Van Sant told Meyers to practice shooting movies through music videos. Dave had directed a number of movies by the early 2000s and was consistently being offered commercial work, but it wasn’t until he started shooting music videos that he found his calling card. The MTV generation had just fizzled as YouTube made its way onto the scene and changed how music videos would be made, from budgets to video treatments to the artist’s vision.
“The MTV days were about fitting in, and now it’s about standing out.” - Dave Meyers
His path seemed linear - film school, work at a large studio, make films. It was the influence that music had on him early in his life that would meet him full circle, enabling him to find critical acclaim in the music video industry. The rest is history.
Now let’s take a look at some of the techniques and visuals that are staples of a Dave Meyers music video: Here’s Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 music video for HUMBLE, with some of Meyers’ most widely recognized visuals.
HUMBLE – Kendrick Lamar
The first thing you’ll notice is the color. The complementary tones give the video a cinematic feel – in the car the greens in the shadows against Kendrick’s skin tone along with the crushed blacks in the backseat create that look which is heavily supported by the grandeur of the set. Each scene can act as its own piece because of the powerful set design, just take a look at the homage to the Last Supper. His videos wouldn’t be the same if the environment didn’t act as a character in itself. Whether it’s the church, the crate yard, or the underpass by the LA river, a steady push out from the camera is used to reveal the environment and draws our eyes immediately to the subject. The most stunning effect, and the one you probably remember most from this video is the shot of burning heads where Kendrick stands in a white hoodie while those around him in black have flaming ropes tied to their heads. These types of effects are staples of Dave’s as he likes to bend the rules of real life to create visual pieces. Camera movements he likes to use like the jittering side to side effect at the Last Supper and the crane-like robotic movement on the shot of Kendrick at the underpass create a new dimension that’s just unsettling enough that it keeps the viewers on their toes.
Travis Scott – Highest In The Room
In this video, Dave’s visuals create a different world all within the confines of the frame. The hyper-realistic look quickly morphs into a video game style world as the graphics at the open take the camera inside Travis’ mouth and accentuate the animated feel. This is a direct reference to Travis’ Astroworld amusement park in houston whose entrance is through the mouth of an enlarged model of Travis’ head. This look is completed when the camera moves into a wide profile shot of Travis and a purple figure in a Street Fighter-esque battle. You can see the similarity to the HUMBLE video in the cinematic color and high contrast. He also utilizes spatial depth in the opening as Travis is highlighted walking into the building and the faceless figures are separated and motionless as he walks between them. In every shot Travis clashes with his surroundings and our eyes are drawn to him. In classic Meyers fashion, signature FX creates another dimension and we see that in the sparks that fly from Travis’ eyes as he leaves the elevator. To bring it all home, dave uses another technique that you’ll see on many of his collaborations with top artists and that’s translating the visuals directly to the lyrics. Here he ends the video with Travis at the top of the building walking along the metal planks to a final shot, quite literally making Travis the Highest in the Room. We recognize at the end that the entire video was Travis’ journey to the top, beginning at the bottom.
in the end the dots always connect
“What keeps me up at night is the infinite possibilities of the stuff bubbling around in my brain… I can’t see my own vision. You might be able to, but I can’t. I just see my inspiration.” - Dave Meyers
To date Dave has directed over 200 music videos and is one of the most respected names in the industry. Bringing his film focused mind to the music video scene has cemented him as a visionary and a trailblazer, but he’s not satisfied. He’s still interested in making movies and does commercial work as well – do you remember that famous 2004 Apple silhouette commercial? That was directed by Dave. So next time you’re second guessing yourself, realize that even the greatest didn’t end up where they are by moving in a straight line. There isn’t always one path – sometimes you find what you’re best at while you’re chasing something else, but in the end the dots connect all the way through no matter how many times you change direction.