Akiva Schaffer - Director Research

Name - Akiva Schaffer

Videos Directed -

Eagles of Death Metal
-I Want You So Hard (Boys bad news)

We are Scientists
-After Hours
-It's a hit
-The great escape
-Nobody move, Nobody get hurt

The lonely Island
- I'm on a boat
- Jizz in my pants
- Dick in a box
- Lazy Sunday
- Natalie Raps
- Like a boss

Background:
Akiva Schaffer works on the american tv show, Saturday Night live as one of the writers .
He has also won an emmy for his work in helping produce the song "Dick in a box".

He is part of a comedy trio called The Lonely Island, who create comedy music and videos, they have become a huge success recently with the most successful of the songs, with having over 54 million views on the song "Jizz in my pants" and over 29 million for "I'm on a boat", becoming some of the highest viewed videos on youtube currently.

He also directed a film called Hot Rod (2007) which he starred in along with the other members of The Lonely Island.

His Styles that I find impressive:
He can create a music video which contains humour within the song, even if the song has no relation to the video, however manages to blend the two together so they work.
There is one video which he directed, "Nobody Move, Nobody get hurt" by We are Scientists, where a bear is chasing the band with the band looking terrified that a bear, or a man in a purposely cheap bear outfit, is chasing after them. Creating a good humour for a song, keeping the viewer entertained.

My favourite video that he has directed is "I'm on a boat" because it fits with the song, everything that is mentioned in the song has been cleverly created within the video at the time it is being sang. It also contains aspects from other music video's of its Genre, that the band are parodying, such as the "glamorous" lifestyle that is often portrayed in music videos of the songs genre, with the inclusion of them splashing champagne out of the bottle while wearing sunglasses.
There is also an inclusion of them mocking ordinary life, giving the impression that everything is spectacular just because they're on a boat, while showing the person that wasn't picked to go on the boat ride having a rubbish time carrying on with normal life.