TONY CORELLA
Director • Editor • Photographer
Tony Corella is a multi-platinum, billion-view director, editor, and photographer whose work defines the intersection of high-concept musical world-building, premium commercial execution, and raw human reality.
Operating across pop, alternative, hip-hop, and fine art sectors, Corella has spent over two decades delivering highly engaging visual content directly to hundreds of millions of consumers globally.
Corella’s multi-disciplinary artistic caliber is anchored by high-prestige print, documentary, and digital media milestones. He photographed the official studio album cover for Foster the People’s Sacred Hearts Club, and his striking photography documenting the artist Boots during the production and promotion of his visual album was published as the front-page cover of the New York Times Arts section.
A foundational pioneer of the digital video landscape, Corella began his journey as an early digital native in 1999 learning on the first version of Final Cut Pro, later refining his craft shooting on 16mm and 35mm celluloid at Chapman University.
Selected for YouTube's NextUp program, Corella and collaborator Peter Bragiel directed a massive 26-part expedition travel documentary series canoeing the entire length of the Mississippi River, followed by groundbreaking cinematic documentary expeditions through Jamaica and across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway—effectively carving out the definitive archetype for the modern youtube travel series.
His early roots in non-fiction storytelling began at just fifteen, when his guerrilla comedy short, A Dogumentary, was acquired by HBO Family for their landmark 30 by 30: Kid Flicks series after Corella pitched the network directly via a mailed VHS tape.
In the heavy rock and alternative spaces, Corella is known for executing technically innovative, viral visual rollouts. Collaborating with Bryant Jansen, Corella captured custom 3D portraits of Slipknot for the highly anticipated, official mask reveal surrounding their album .5: The Gray Chapter, deploying a stylized stereo-wiggle animation technique that became a massive viral phenomenon on YouTube.
His live-prestige portfolio includes directing Phoebe Bridgers’ & Niki’s critically acclaimed "50 on 50" live sessions, in addition to The Warner Sound, The Honda Stage, Late Night With Steven Colbert and many others.
In the commercial and corporate sectors, Corella is frequently retained by tier-one global brands to direct and execute high-end industrial assets, large-scale media events, and brand-ecosystem content, maintaining an active portfolio for premium commercial clients including Porsche, Hyundai, and Quince, as well as serving as the technical broadcast director for the legendary web streaming platform Tom Green's House Tonight.
Corella's elite entertainment footprint includes working face-to-face in the edit room alongside Barbra Streisand as her personal editor for her deeply emotional visual tribute to her companion, Sammy. This legacy focus extends to the foundations of music history, having directed and cut official visualizer packages for Bob Dylan to frame his catalog for modern streaming audiences.
He also served a crucial role alongside alternative pop icon Melanie Martinez during her seminal Cry Baby album cycle. Acting as Martinez’s primary co-editor, he helped shape the timeline for nine installments of her self- directed, multi-billion-view visual universe (including "Dollhouse," "Pacify Her," and "Mrs. Potato Head") before going on to co-direct, & produce pipelines for the era's grand finale, "Mad Hatter."
His urban and commercial pop range is anchored by producing and editing the massive 160-million-view classic "Blasé" for Ty Dolla $ign (feat. Future & Rae Sremmurd), directing the 180-million-view global anthem "Hey" for Fais ft. Afrojack, and building whole-album asset environments for artists like Hozier ("Swan Upon Leda"), David Guetta, and Charlie Puth.
Pacing the Psychological Rhythm: As an editor at heart, Corella shoots specifically for the timeline. His work is defined by an intuitive sense of timing—knowing exactly how long to let a frame breathe to build tension, and exactly when to strike with a sharp, rhythmic cut synced to the music.
High-Art Still & Motion Synergy: Corella bridges the gap between static photography and cinematic motion. Whether capturing an iconic album cover, framing a NYT front-page feature, or engineering 3D stereo-wiggle portraits for rock icons, his imagery is meticulously composed to stand alone as an independent piece of art.
From spending months documenting a massive river expedition to running live web-broadcast control rooms and executing high-tier pop visuals, Corella possesses an ironclad creative stamina.
Having operated across early internet streaming frontiers up to massive studio environments, Corella commands complex post-production pipelines—sourcing animation, directing green screens, and blocking tracking plates for digital assets—while maintaining a highly efficient, authoritative directorial presence on set.