When directors Darren Craig, Jonathan Craven and Jeff Nicholas from integrated creative + production company The Uprising Creative got together with Rihanna earlier this year to discuss a music video for the artist’s new “American Oxygen” single, everyone came away with some very inspired ideas. “We wanted to showcase both the positive and the negative,” the directors explained when the video was finally released widely in mid-April. “The struggles within the country and the ones those outside the country face in coming here; the dark side of the positive and the light side of the negative.”
Well before then, the powerful images of Rihanna performing in front of a giant American flag received international attention when they were used by the NCAA as a central part of the organization’s high-profile on-air campaign promoting March Madness all across the country. The video was officially released exclusively on Tidal in early April, where it ran for a full week before hitting Vevo and YouTube.
With well over 100 million views between Vevo and YouTube alone, the project has obviously drawn in a massive audience. This weekend, it’s up for a coveted MTV Video Music Award, in the Video With a Social Message category. For top category honors, “American Oxygen” is competing against videos for “One Man Can Change The World” from Big Sean featuring Kanye West and John Legend, “Try” from Colbie Caillat, “I Still Love You” from Jennifer Hudson, and “The White Shoes” from Wale.
This is the first VMA candidate in this category from any of the talented folks I’ve had the honor of working with over the years, and it really feels great to see “American Oxygen” being discussed as one of the most important music videos of the year. Everyone behind this project is extremely proud of the nomination, and I hope they’ll have even more to celebrate Sunday night.
Key project contributors included director of photography Isaac Bauman, editor Clark Eddy, producer Nathan Scherrer, line producer Ben Piety and production designer Brandon Mendez. Additional editing was handled by Vinnie Hobbs and Olly Riley-Smith, while visual effects were courtesy of Skulley FX and Ryan Paterson. Colorist Trevor Durtschi of Ntropic handled the final color.
Catch the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards broadcast live on Sunday, August 30, starting at 9pm Eastern, 8pm Central and 6pm Pacific time on MTV. For up-to-the-second updates, you can also visit http://mtv.com/ontv/vma/.
