The 125-Plus People, Places and Things Ruling the Rock & Roll Universe : Rolling Stone

BEST VIDEO DIRECTORS

Jonas/Francois

Jonas/Francois are the bridge between Kanye West and his rivals. Last year, the Parisian filmmaking team directed the breakthrough video for Justice's "D.A.N.C.E.," a much-blogged-about clip where the letters and graphics on hipsters' T-shirts shape-shift. When "D.A.N.C.E." was nominated for MTV's Video of the Year along with Kanye West's "Stronger," it was a face-off between nemeses: West had been at odds with Justice ever since they beat him for Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards and West stormed the stage to rant about the injustice. So before Jonas/Francois hit the awards ceremony, Justice's manager gave them a pep talk. "He would show us Justice's award, like a sign for good luck," says Francois, 25. "He'd say, 'Bring another one to the office.'" Jonas/Francois didn't win, but they got a better prize: West asked them to direct the video for his song "The Good Life" — it features him wandering through their childlike cartoon backdrops, scribbling around his head in Schoolhouse Rock-style fonts. Now even Madonna has snapped up Jonas/Francois: in their new video for her single "4 Minutes," she and Justin Timberlake appear as animated superheroes trying to save the world. So how are these two former art-school kids handling the leap to the major leagues? "We used to have video clip projects with real budgets," says Jonas, 25. "That story makes us smile now."