Tony Petrossian

Tony Petrossian is an acclaimed director of commercials and music videos. Today, he is best known for his work in television advertisements and music videos. He has directed spots for brands including McDonald's, Nike, Subway, Zoo York, Beeline, Sony Ericsson, the Environmental Defense Fund and others. Petrossian has directed music videos for such artists as Rise Against, DMX, Three Days Grace, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine, Serj Tankian, and many others.

Early and personal life

Tony Petrossian was born in 1975 in Tehran, Iran to Armenian parents and moved to Europe during the unstable years of the Iranian Revolution. Young Tony grew up in Los Angeles and quickly garnered an affinity for film making. At the age of twelve his father brought home a video camera. And he's known to have spent the entire night locked in his room fiddling with the camera’s ‘single frame recording’ function emerging with a 30-second stop motion animation piece in which his G.I. Joe figures beat the hell out of each other.^{[citation needed]}

At age thirteen, Tony Petrossian jumped into full blown 3D animation with the ‘Lightwave 1.0.’ software. At 18, he attended university at UCLA - majoring in English Literature. Petrossian then attended Law School at USC. After passing the California Bar Exam, he pursued directing music videos full time, ultimately transitioning into television commercials and short films.

Petrossian's music video & commercial directing career

Petrossian signed with Rockhard in 2002. Since then, he has created groundbreaking music videos for many artists. The music video for Kenna's "Freetime," co-directed & edited by Petrossian, garnered MTV VMA nominations for Best Director & Best Editor. Petrossian's Three Days Grace video "Never Too Late" was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2007 Much Music Video Awards. His Slipknot video for "Vermillion" won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival in 2006. And his video for "Before I Forget" won Slipknot their first and only Grammy for "Best Metal Performance." In 2008, Petrossian's music video for Serj Tankian's "Empty Walls" won Rock Video Of The Year at the 17th Annual MVPA Awards. In 2010, Roadrunner Records counted down their top 10 videos of all time and Petrossian's "Duality" music video for Slipknot topped the chart at #1. Petrossian's "Through Glass" music video for Stone Sour followed close behind that at #4. Back in 2005, having found success in music videos, Petrossian began creating innovative TV commercials for some of the world's most well known brands. In 2012, Petrossian signed with Rhythm + Hues for commercials in the US.

Videos

• "Duality" -- Slipknot (2004)
• "Firestarter" -- Gene Simmons (2004)
• "Vermilion" -- Slipknot (2004)
• "The End of Heartache" -- Killswitch Engage (2004)
• "S.A.N.T.A.N.A." -- The Diplomats (2004)
• "Before I Forget" -- Slipknot (2005)
• "I'm On A High" -- Millionaire (2005)
• "No Tomorrow" -- Orson (2006)
• "Beast and the Harlot" -- Avenged Sevenfold (2006)
• "Bright Idea" -- Orson (2006)
• "Graduation Day" -- Head Automatica (2006)
• "Tears Don't Fall" -- Bullet for My Valentine (2006)
• "Through Glass" -- Stone Sour (2006)
• "Pain" -- Three Days Grace (2006)
• "Liar (It Takes One to Know One)" -- Taking Back Sunday (2006)
• "Eyes of the Insane" -- Slayer (2006)
• "Prayer of the Refugee" -- Rise Against (2006)
• "Never Too Late" -- Three Days Grace (2007)
• "I'm Not Jesus" -- Apocalyptica feat. Corey Taylor (2007)
• "Empty Walls" -- Serj Tankian (2007)
• "Fake It" -- Seether (2007)
• "Scream, Aim, Fire" -- Bullet For My Valentine (2007)
• "Sky Is Over" -- Serj Tankian (2008)
• "Rise Above This" -- Seether (2008)
• "Breakdown" -- Seether (2008)
• "Never Too Late" -- Three Days Grace (2008)
• "How We Do It In The A" -- Lloyd featuring Ludacris (2008)
• "What You Look For" -- Sam Beeton (2008)
• "You Better Pray" -- Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (2008)
• "Not Meant to Be" -- Theory of a Deadman (2009)
• "Careless Whisper" -- Seether (2009)
• "If This Is It" -- Newton Faulkner (2009)
• "The Crazy Ones" -- Stellar Revival (2012)

Commercials

• Futuroscope - "Robotic Seats" (Paris, France)
• Nike - "Beijing Ballers" (Beijing, China)
• Zoo York - "Tough" (New York, NY)
• Zoo York - "Spread The Word" (New York, NY)
• Environmental Defense Fund "Grounded" (Los Angeles, CA)
• Subway "Fence" (Charlotte, North Carolina)
• Dannon Danimals "Into Thin Air" (New York, NY)
• Beeline "Sea of Communication" (Kiev, Ukraine)
• Beeline "Wakeful" (Moscow, Russia)
• Beeline "Hockey" (Moscow, Russia)
• Beeline "Tattoo" (launch into Cambodia) (Bangkok, Thailand)
• Beeline "Baby Chickens Rave Party" (co-wrote & directed)(Los Angeles, CA)
• Beeline "Baby Chickens Rock Concert"(wrote & directed)(Los Angeles, CA)
• Sony Ericsson AINO global launch (Barcelona, Spain)
• Sony Ericsson SATIO global launch (Barcelona, Spain)
• Sony Ericsson SPACE HOPPER INVASION viral film (Barcelona, Spain)
• Beeline "Baby Chickens Skydiving"(wrote & directed)(Los Angeles, CA)
• Beeline "XRAY" Ring Back Tones (Bangkok, Thailand)
• Beeline "Magnetism" (Bangkok, Thailand)
• Beeline "Baby Chickens Skateboarding" (wrote & directed) (Los Angeles, CA)
• Nike "Change Sport" (Taipei, Taiwan & Singapore)
• Alexander Keith's Beer "Moving Walls" (Prague, Czech Republic)
• Alexander Keith's Beer "Conveyor Belt" (Prague, Czech Republic)
• Beeline "Bigger n Kooler" (co-wrote & directed)
• McDonald's "Real Fruit Smoothies / Paint Ball War" (Los Angeles, CA)
• McDonald's "Photos" (Los Angeles, CA)
• Beeline "Faces" (wrote & directed) (Los Angeles, CA)
• Minute Maid "Lion Dance" (Shanghai, China)
• Beeline "Pool Party" (Los Angeles, CA)
• Beeline "Hit The Waves" (Los Angeles, CA)
• Coca Cola, Burn Energy Drink "The Cap" (Los Angeles, CA & Moscow, Russia)
• Anti Drunk Driving Campaign / T.Dept.Of.Trans. / "Backseat" (Nashville, TN)
• Cape Cod Chips "Seagulls" (Los Angeles, CA)
• McDonalds "Pinatas" (Los Angeles, CA)
• Key Bank "Beach Balls" (Los Angeles, CA)
• Singtel "Surprise Pop Performance" (Singapore)
• Lance Crackers "Keepin' it Real" (Los Angeles, CA)
• Nokia "Asha" (Kiev, Ukraine)
• Sportmaster "Snowman" (in progress)
• Sportmaster "Snowball" (in progress)

References

External links

• Taking Back Sunday's "Liar (It Takes One To Know One)" video directed by Tony Petrossian"