Music video director Shane Drake talks about his career at the Clipped Music Video Festival

While there are now – very, very rarely – music videos that cost $500,000 to $1 million, Drake says, “Most videos are under $100,000 and a lot of them are under $10,000.”

When he worked with Swift early in her career, he was impressed by her professionalism.

“When she's on set, she's very calm and focused on the task at hand,” he says. “When it comes time to say 'action,' she just lights up. The lights on the Christmas tree come on.

“It's like 'whoa.' “This person is larger than life.” Then it's 'cut' and she's back in her quiet place.”

Drake isn't surprised that Swift has become an accomplished writer and director of her own music videos.

“She gets pictures, she knows what she’s doing and she has a plan,” he says. “So it makes perfect sense that she would direct it. I appreciate that, and I think we're seeing that more with artists now.

“Billie Eilish does it too and I think it’s cool. I’m surprised more hasn’t happened.”

While Swift and Eilish have avoided the all-too-common sexualization of young women in music videos over the decades, Drake believes the dynamic has changed.

“Sex will always sell for better or worse,” he says. “But certain pop artists have integrated sexuality into their brand and the 360-degree impact of what they do, so it makes sense for a music video to continue to do that.”

“We see this in real high-end pop and a lot of the hip-hop world. But when you take an artist and sexualize them out of their context, that's a problem. If an artist is trying to find their way and our solution is, ‘Let’s have sex,’ that’s problematic.”

While the best music videos are often art, Drake says they're essentially commercials.

“The commercial is for the band’s song,” he says. “It's the product we want to sell, so you buy their album, watch their shows and buy their merch. The documentaries [on singers and bands] The ones coming out now are just longer forms of it.”

While some leading film directors have made classic music videos, including John Landis with thrillerMartin Scorsese with Michael Jackson BadDavid Fincher with Madonna Express yourself And Fashion, and Brian De Palma with Bruce Springsteen Dancing in the darkDrake wants to go in the opposite direction.

He has developed film and television projects including a high school drama series, Save our generationabout the emo era in which he grew up.

“I've always said music videos are for young men,” Drake says. “But I've been pretty stunted in the mentality of a young man for most of my life, so it works for me.”

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