The MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography is a craft award given to both the artist as well as the cinematographer/director of photography of the music video.
From 1984 to 2006, the award's full name was Best Cinematography in a Video. After a brief absence in 2007, the category acquired its current, shortened name in 2008.
The biggest winner is Harris Savides with three wins. Pascal Lebègue, Daniel Pearl, Mark Plummer, and Scott Cunningham follow with two wins each. The most nominated director of photography is Daniel Pearl with nine nominations, followed by Jeff Cronenweth with seven. Beyoncé has won the most awards in this category with four wins. Madonna's videos have received the most nominations with eleven. Ryan Lewis is also the only performer to have won a Moonman in this category for his work as a director of photography on the video for "Can't Hold Us" in 2013. Jared Leto ("Hurricane") is the only other performer to have been nominated for his work in this category.
Recipients 1980s Year Winner(s) Work Nominees Ref. "Every Breath You Take" "The Boys of Summer" "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." "C'est la Vie" "We'll Be Together" "Express Yourself"
1990s Year Winner(s) Work Nominees Ref. "Vogue" "Wicked Game (Concept)" and Daniel Pearl "November Rain" "Rain" "Everybody Hurts" and Michael Trim "Love Is Strong" "Tonight, Tonight" "Virtual Insanity" "Criminal" "The Dope Show"
2000s Year Winner(s) Work Nominees Ref. "Do Something" "Weapon of Choice" "We Are All Made of Stars" "Hurt" "99 Problems" "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" "You're Beautiful" colspan="5" "Conquest" "21 Guns"
2010s Year Winner(s) Work Nominees Ref. "Empire State of Mind" "Rolling in the Deep" "Bad Girls" , Jason Koenig and Mego Lin "Can't Hold Us" and Jackson Hunt "Pretty Hurts" "Never Catch Me" "Formation" "HUMBLE." "Apeshit" Scott Cunningham "Señorita"
2020s Year Winner(s) Work Nominees Ref. Michael Merriman "Rain on Me" Benoit Soler, Malik H. Sayeed, Mohammaed Atta Ahmed, Santiago Gonzalez and Ryan Helfant "Brown Skin Girl" Nikita Kuzmenko "As It Was" Rina Yang "Anti-Hero" Anatol Trofimov "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" Xiaolong Liu "Not Like Us" Daniel Landin Confessions II – The Film
Cinematographer Statistics Multiple wins 3 wins Harris Savides
2 wins Daniel Pearl Malik Sayeed Mark Plummer Pascal Lebègue Scott Cunningham
Multiple nominations 9 nominations Daniel Pearl
7 nominations Jeff Cronenweth
6 nominations Christopher Probst Martin Coppen
5 nominations Harris Savides Thomas Kloss
4 nominations Scott Cunningham
3 nominations Adam Newport-Berra Benoît Debie Dariusz Wolski John Perez Karsten "Crash" Gopinath Malik Sayeed Mark Plummer Nikita Kuzmenko Pascal Lebègue
2 nominations André Chemetoff Checco Varese David Devlin David Johnson Declan Quinn Elias Talbot Evan Prosofsky James Hawkinson John Mathieson Jonathan Sela Ken Barrows Larkin Seiple Marco Mazzei Michael Bernard Mike Southon Oliver Stapleton Pau Castejón Paul Laufer Peter Mackay Rina Yang Rob Witt Rodrigo Prieto Rolf Kestermann Ryan Helfant Santiago Gonzalez Shawn Kim Stephen Keith-Roach Toby Phillips Tony Mitchell Xiaolong Liu
Artist Statistics Multiple wins 4 wins Beyoncé Madonna
3 wins Jay-Z Kendrick Lamar
2 wins Ariana Grande Green Day
Multiple nominations 11 nominations Madonna
8 nominations Kendrick Lamar
7 nominations Ariana Grande Beyoncé
6 nominations Ed Sheeran Taylor Swift
5 nominations Lady Gaga
4 nominations Adele Eminem
3 nominations Aerosmith Billie Eilish Camila Cabello Coldplay Green Day Jay-Z Katy Perry Lana Del Rey Michael Jackson Missy Elliott Rihanna Thirty Seconds to Mars
2 nominations Alicia Keys Bryan Adams David Bowie Don Henley En Vogue Eric Clapton George Michael Metallica Miley Cyrus No Doubt Olivia Rodrigo Radiohead Red Hot Chili Peppers R.E.M. Shawn Mendes Steve Winwood Sting Stone Temple Pilots The Smashing Pumpkins The White Stripes U2 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
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