Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is a British video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk.
Cunningham has primarily directed music videos for ambient music and IDM groups such as Autechre and Aphex Twin. He has also created art installations and directed short movies. He was approached to direct a movie version of the cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, but nothing came of early discussions. In the 2000s, Cunningham began doing music production work. He has also designed album artwork for a variety of musicians.

The reason why I chose to research Chris Cunningham was because, he directed the music video we gained inspiration from, The Weeknd, Wicked Games, and so I thought it would be appropriate that I use Chris as my research.

                             Videography

• "Second Bad Vilbel" (1996) video for Autechre
• "Back With The Killer Again" (1996) video for The Auteurs
• "Light Aircraft on Fire" (1996) video for The Auteurs
• "Fighting Fit" (1996) video for Gene
• "Another Day" (1996) video for Lodestar
• "Space Junkie" (1996) video for Holy Barbarians
• "36 Degrees" (1996) video for Placebo
• "Personally" (1997) video for 12 Rounds
• "Jesus Coming in for the Kill" (1997) video for Life's Addiction
• "The Next Big Thing" (1997) video for Jesus Jones
• "Tranquillizer" (1997) video for Geneva
• "No More Talk" (1997) video for Dubstar
• "Something to Say" (1997) video for Jocasta
• "Come to Daddy" (1997) video for Aphex Twin
• "Sport is Free" (1997) - commercial for ITV
• "Fetish" (1998) - commercial for NUS
• "Clip Clop" (1998) commercial for XFM London
• "Only You" (1998) video for Portishead
• "Frozen" (1998) video for Madonna
• "Come On My Selector" (1998) video for Squarepusher
• "Engine" (1999) commercial for Nissan. Featuring music by Boards of Canada
• "All Is Full of Love" (1999) video for Björk
• "Windowlicker" (1999) video for Aphex Twin
• "Afrika Shox" (1999) video for Leftfield and Afrika Bambaataa
• "Mental Wealth" (1999) commercial for Sony PlayStation
• "Photocopier" (unreleased) commercial for Levi's
• "Flex" (2000) video installation. Featuring music by Aphex Twin
• "Monkey Drummer" (2001) video installation. Featuring "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels mount" from Aphex Twin's album Drukqs
• "Up and Down" (2002) - commercial for Levi's
• "Photo Messaging" (2003) commercial for Orange
• "Rubber Johnny" (2005) featuring "Afx237 V7" from Aphex Twin's album Drukqs
• "Sheena Is a Parasite" (2006) video for The Horrors
• "Gucci Flora" (2009) commercial for Gucci Perfume
• "New York Is Killing Me (Chris Cunningham Remix)" (2010) video for Gil Scott-Heron
• "Jaqapparatus 1" (2012) robotic art installation performance for Audi City London.
• "Wicked Games" (2012) The Weeknd

Chris directed a Gucci commercial in 2009 and this was the final result for the commercial. The stunning video has very bright and vibrant colours and really stands out from other perfume commercials, the use of optical flares really helps with the effect. Also the lighting used in the commercial makes the actress look like an angel.

This is due to the fact that they have a backlight which gives the actress a golden outline on her hair, which personifies that she is like an angel, and makes you believe that she is an actual angel.