Music Video
Growing up in recording and photography studios and living the life associated with same, led to the first music video. Made during the baby days of MTV, wherein no top twenty or even credits for the producer / director existed, Mexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo stayed in heavy rotation for six months. Over the decades, Delia has worked with great musicians of varied genres.
Some of the music videos presented here are accompanied by brief notes from the director. To review additional MUSIC VIDEO work by Francis Delia, please visit his YouTube page by clicking the YouTube icon on the home page.
Nothing Bad Every Happens To Me by Oingo Boingo
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
How Soon We Forget by
Colonel Abrams
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Somebody's Watching Me by
Rockwell
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Dancin´In The Ruins - Starship
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Director of Photography - Amir Makri
"For the follow-up to Shooting Shark, Dancing in the Ruins, Sandy Pearlman, poet, song-writer, music producer and longtime manager of BOC, gave us another swing at the "first heavy metal band". Concept: documenting a subterranean punk-skate society. It appealed to Sandy and company, so we gave it a go. Incomparable visualist, DP Amir Mokri, quelled my burst of exuberant micro-management on a shot of world-champion skaters sailing slow-motion through a shaft of natural light with a kindly inflected suggestion, "Francis, go get a coffee and come back in ten minutes." Feeling his powerful vibe, I complied. When I returned, Amir motioned me to the apple box behind the high-set camera. I climbed up to view the in-progress rehearsal of airborn skate punks. It was immediately clear that the imaging was in good hands."
Sara - Starship
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Director of Photography - Frank Byers
"The Starship threw a big party in the town they seemed to own: San Francisco. Hundreds crowded the place to exult over the success of "We Built This City". That night, Mickey Thomas, drink in hand, squeezed past me through the crush of partyers, intoning three words that planted the seed of our next collaboration: "Black and White!" Images that instantly appeared in min were those of legendary depression photographer, Walker Evans. From there, the music video I wrote with buddy Gil Evans was conceived. Disappointments: RCA Records refusing to pay Gordon Willis $25,000 for a week of photography. Not getting a date with Rebecca DeMornay. Pleasures (among many): Working with gifted DP Frank Byers who did a great job. Working with Gracie, Mickey, Craig and the entire Starship team including manager Bill Thompson. "
Psychotheraphy - The Ramones
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Director of Photography - Dominic Sena
"The Ramones wanted the guy who did Mexican Radio so they sent me unmixed audio cassettes from their current album. A few weeks later, I walked into a room at the Hollywood Holiday Inn on Highland where the Ramones had just arrived for the filming the next day. Another couple of weeks found Jo Bergman, video queen at Warner Bros., sitting at the flatbed in Kert Vandermeulen's cutting room on Melrose, watching the finished cut. She reacted in her distinct New York accent with, "It's very strong." Her only request: "Would you mind cutting the rats? Bob Regehr hates rats!" Having no wish to upset a Warner studio exec, I reluctantly had the close up of rats crawling over bare feet in the opening montage removed. The video was immediately rejected by MTV for reasons never explained. I've always suspected the lighting. After the Ramones one real shot at a top forty record was dead, MTV added the clip, even using their own edit to promote --- you guessed it: MTV!"
Mexican Radio - Wall of Voodoo
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Director of Photography - Francis Delia
"Wall of Voodoo rehearsed down the hall from the Hollywood Blvd. photo studio I owned and operated with my associates. Stanard asked me to direct the music video from their album: Call of the West. Ever the art-dog, Stan wanted a music video that favored not hair band preening nor T & A but rather the kind that might catch a crew member eating a salami sandwich near the edge of the frame or perhaps his own head protruding from a burnt meatloaf in a style David Lynch might OK. Ergo, Mexican Radio, the video. At first no one seemed to know what to make of it. The video guy at IRS Records tried to reject it on ground that TV audiences would mistake the white noise (deliberately used as a transitional device) as "something wrong with their television". Miles Copeland ran into me at the LA Comedy Store a few weeks later and called out to me, "That video is a masterpiece!" Miles delayed realization seemed to confirm that it would not be rejected after all."
We Built This City - Starship
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Director of Photography - Frank Byers
"I got a call from Bill Thompson who managed The Starship. They flew me up to S.F., the city the former Jefferson Airplane seemed to own. I wanted to re-visit the style of my first clip, Wall of Voodoo's Mexican Radio wherein we'd visit music cities all over America and shoot in the same semi-verite' style used for MR. Bill snapped off that approach fast, "Won't happen... I've got to get them on tour as soon as this record is mixed!" I came back with, "I'll do it all with special effects." In a pre-CGI world, I had no idea of what I would do, but they bought it and we got the gig." WBTC earned us a platinum record and nomination for Video of the Year.
Shooting Shark - Blue Oyster Cult
Produced and Directed by Francis Delia
Director of Photography - Dominic Sena
"I've been lucky to work with some of the best cinematographers to practice the art. Incomparable DP, Dom Sena, future director of Swordfish and Gone In Sixty Seconds, worked his usual magic with BOC's Shooting Shark, a cryptic tale from a Patti Smith-penned lyric. Our odd interpretation written for me by pal Nicholas St. John where occult incarnations seem to interact with the exploits of another unlucky loser obsessed with a broad. Violence looms for our hero, his lost love near but so far away in a parallel universe which is really right downstairs: the Shooting Shark Saloon depicted in master exterior with the help of a glass matte painting. The resolution involves a shape-shifting magic man, feral female dancers, a disembodied alter ego head and a steadicam sequence in which a stunning female converts to a goat while the oddness of the hero's life is reflected by the oddness of his thoughts and dreams. And who are those lizard women approaching a Unicorn ridden by a pteradactylesque humanoid?"