Archive 2005.02: August 2005 - December 2005 | back to 2005 Archived News

(December 31, 2005 - January 11, 2006)  2005 YEAR-END REVIEW
2005 was a pretty decent year for Paul Hunter.  He continued to do a handful of videos:, about 9-10 videos in the past 12 months, including such highly-rotated clips as Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani), Don't Cha (Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes), and Don't Forget About Us (Mariah Carey).  Paul was also fortunate enough to direct R&B legend Stevie Wonder on his video for So What The Fuss, which had a very unique concept.  It was the first 'descriptive music video', which carries an optional audio track (provided by Busta Rhymes) which describes the visuals on the screen for people with visual impairments.  Paul also did a handful of commercials this year including the controversial BK "Coq Roq" clip, and the recent Virgin Mobile clip featuring Kate Moss.  My favorites this year include Signs (Snoop Dogg feat. Justin Timberlake) and Hollaback Girl (Gwen Stefani).  My least favorites include Don't Cha (Pussycat Dolls) and Can I Have It Like That (Pharrell Williams).  I haven't heard any news on possible projects that Paul Hunter will be involved with in 2006; but as with the past several years, you can expect more great videos and commercials.

(December 21, 2005)  PAUL HUNTER SHOOTS KATE MOSS FOR VIRGIN MOBILE
Paul Hunter has shot a commercial for Virgin Mobile featuring supermodel Kate Moss.  The commercial clip, which was shot this past weekend, pokes fun at Kate Moss's recent drug controversy.  The ad will begin airing on Christmas Eve in the UK.
click here to read the article

(November 10, 2005)  MARIAH CAREY VIDEO PREMIERES
The Paul Hunter-shot video for Mariah Carey's Don't Forget About Us recently premiered.
click here to read an article about the video at MTV.com

(October 15, 2005)  PAUL SHOOTS VIDEO FOR MARIAH CAREY | ARTICLE ON PHARRELL VIDEO
MTV.com reported on Thursday that Paul Hunter has shot a video for Mariah Carey's upcoming single, Don't Forget About Us, this past weekend in Los Angeles.  The track is the first single off Mariah Carey's upcoming re-release of her hit album The Emancipation Of Mimi: Platinum Version, which includes 4 extra audio tracks as well as a DVD featuring 4 videos from the album.  The disc will also feature an exclusive link to the Don't Forget About Us video.  Paul Hunter last worked with Mariah on her 1997 video Honey.  He was originally slated to direct her video for It's Like That earlier this year, but the video was shot by Brett Ratner instead.  The video for Don't Forget About Us is set to premiere on November 1.
click to read article on MTV.com

Here's an article on MTV.com about the just-released Pharrell Williams video Can I Have It Like That (featuring Gwen Stefani).
click here to read article on MTV.com

(October 14, 2005)  ***DIRECTORS LABEL DVD - PAUL HUNTER (?)***
In an article on MTV.com, Directors Label DVD producer Richard Brown mentioned that he plans on doing an offshoot series of directors DVD's focusing on hiphop & R&B music video directors, and singled out Paul Hunter, Little X, and Chris Robinson as the first three directors in that series.  The Directors Label DVD's currently include 7 DVD's showcasing the work of groundbreaking directors in the music video genre.  The first three volumes (released in 2003) feature Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and Chris Cunningham.  Volumes 4-7 were released this past September and feature Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer, Anton Corbijn, and Stephane Sednaoui.  The DVD's include a selection of the directors' best video work, along with short films, commercials, and some behind-the-scenes documentaries, interviews, and commentary.  The company that releases the DVD's, Palm Pictures, also released the Hype Williams video compilation (Hype Williams - The Videos, Vol. 1) back in 2002.
click here to read the Directors Label v.4-7 feature article on MTV.com
click here to find out more about the Directors Label DVD's or Palm Pictures
(thanks to Kevin H. for the info > visit his Gondry site here)

(October 14, 2005)  PHARRELL WILLIAMS VIDEO PREMIERES | PAUL TO SHOOT ONLY 1 WARREN G. VIDEO

The Paul Hunter-directed video Can I Have It Like That by Pharrell Williams feat. Gwen Stefani has premiered on Yahoo! Launch.  Pharrell is scheduled to appear on BET 106 & Park later this afternoon, so I'm assuming that the video will premiere on BET today as well.

It was announced in September that Paul Hunter was to shoot 2 upcoming videos for Warren G.  Well it seems that Paul will be only shooting the second video, In Case Some S*** Go Down, in the near future.  The first video, Get U Down (Part 2), was shot by Paul's younger brother, Kevin Hunter.

(September 29, 2005)  PAUL SHOOTS NEW PHARRELL WILLIAMS VIDEO

MTV.com reported that Paul Hunter shot a new video for Pharrell Williams's new song, Can I Have It Like That, this past weekend.  The theme behind the video is that an organization (FBI? CIA?) is putting surveillance on Pharrell: tapping his phone, taking photos of him with telephoto lenses, etc.  Weird camera angles add to the paranoia; throughout the video Pharrell knows people are watching him, but he doesn't care.  Gwen Stefani makes a cameo in the video as the mysterious girl that Pharrell is talking to on the phone.
click here to read article
(thanks to Cihan for the info)

(September 8, 2005)  2005 MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS | MTV VMA NOMINATED VIDEO ARTICLES
THICKE VIDEO UPDATE | NEW COMMON & WILL SMITH VIDEO PREMIERES | 2 UPCOMING WARREN G. VIDEOS

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past month.  However, lots of Paul Hunter-news to report today.

The 2005 MTV Video Music Awards were handed out on August 28.  Of the 6 nominations that Paul Hunter-directed videos received, only 1 video was won.  Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl video won for Best Choreography (choregrapher: Kishaya Dudley).  In the days leading up to the awards, MTV.com posted special "behind-the-video" articles, featuring interviews with the directors & artists about the nominated videos.  Here is what Paul Hunter had to say about his inspiration for the videos for Snoop Dogg's Drop It Like It's Hot and Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl:
click to read article: "Snoop's 'Drop It' Makes Art Out Of 'Goofing Off': VMAs Behind The Camera
click to read article: "Pharrell Was Supposed To Battle In Gwen's 'Hollaback': VMAs Behind The Camera

Back in July, MTV.com reported that Paul Hunter had shot a video for R&B singer Thicke's upcoming video Wanna Love You Girl.  However, it has recently been reported that Hype Williams was hired to re-shoot the video in Santo Domingo in mid-August.
click here to read about new Thicke video in the Hype Williams News section

Paul Hunter has directed a video for the new Common track Be.  The video is playing more like a long-form commercial, as it prominently features its cast wearing clothing from the new Michael Jordan brand Lifestyle.  The video was filmed in Brooklyn and features NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Quentin Richardson, and Terrell Owens.  It also features an apartment made to look like Jordan's childhood home in Brooklyn.  The video premiered over the weekend of August 27-28 on BET and will run as a clip.
click here to view Common's Be video in streaming format at the official Michael Jordan website
(thanks to Wendell for the info)

The Paul Hunter-directed video for Will Smith's Party Starter premiered yesterday (August 7) on BET's 106 & Park.  The video featured mostly CGI-backgrounds that collapsed, shuffled, and rebuilt back up.  (the same CGI effect used recently in the Rob Thomas video Lonely No More and the Stylewar-directed IKEA commercials from last year).  The video features Will Smith partying in different settings and with different types of crowds including an apartment/loft, a rock club, and even country line-dancing.  There are some similarities to the Paul Hunter-shot commercial clips for the HP/iPod "Mash Up" ad campaign that ran last year.

Electronic Urban Report (EURweb.com) reports that Paul Hunter is set to direct videos for the first two singles off of Warren G's upcoming album In The Mid-Night Hour.  The videos will be for the tracks Get Ya Down (featuring B Real of Cypress Hill) and In Case Some S*** Go Down (featuring Mike Jones).
click here for article at eurweb.com