Auteur Watch - James Brown

STILL???  Jeebus, how many James Browns ARE there?  Anyway, on to the next one.  So, here's the question: what do him, him, him and him have in common?  ...give up?  Or do you know where I'm going with this?  Oh, you know me too well.
THAT'S RIGHT!  These four links are all for the same James Brown!  A man who wears at least ten hats, best known for Tori Amos music videos, apparently.  Wonder whatever happened to her?  Did she really only work with one director?  No one else got a chance?  Even Peter Gabriel worked with people other than the "Sledgehammer" team.  Ah, it's above my pay grade.
...finally actually looked.  Turns out, many, including Tori herself, had a chance!  But when you wear at least ten hats in Hollywood, do things ever get confusing?  I think the cinematographer hat is most comfortable for this James Brown; I'm just going by the numbers here.  As of this writing, James has 18 titles as cinematographer.  No awards or even nominations yet, but hey, we can't all be John Schwartzmann or Conrad Hall Jr., am I right?  James is going for the Steven Soderbergh / Peter Hyams model (a director who's their own cinematographer, IOW) ... or does he?  I mean, who lensed Yashmak or One Wedding and a Funeral?  But I guess that happens when one has so many hats.  Things get busy, and there's no time for complete originality: one can't help but crib the work of Richard Curtis from time to time.  Personally, I think being an editor would be the worst if you're wearing too many hats in Hollywood.  You know, you're sitting there with the film glue, the fumes are silently creeping up on you, you're sitting there, and you're on the phone, trying to line up schedules for a shot you just realized you need, and BOOM!  You slice the sh... oe leather out of your thumb while cutting film.  I know, there is no film anymore, right?  I guess this kind of thing only happens to the caterers anymore.
But I guess this guy's got the right idea.  When you're working in the world of competitive filmmaking, you've gotta aim for the stars.  Hence the title, Best Dramatic Short... it didn't get nominated for anything, of course, not even a Razzie (TM) (C) (R).  How to break out of that massive, mediocre middle where the average filmmaker thrashes about, like an earthworm on the sidewalk on a sunny day, just trying to get back to a patch of sweet, sweet dirt?  How?