Rory Kramer is an American photographer and filmmaker best known for directing music videos and his

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

show ''Dare to Live''.

Early life

Kramer was raised in

Tell City, Indiana Tell City is a city in and the county seat of Troy Township, Perry County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is located along the Ohio River. The population was 7,506 at the 2020 census. History Tell City traces its 150+ year old roots to a ...

. His family owns a home in

Clear Lake, Indiana Clear Lake is a town located in the northeast corner of Steuben County, Indiana, in Clear Lake Township. As such, is the northeasternmost community in the State of Indiana. The population was 354 at the 2020 census. History Clear Lake became i ...

Career

When he was 25, Kramer moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, to pursue a career in acting. He began working as a content quality controller for streaming services. After living in Los Angeles for about four years, Kramer began making small

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

videos of his adventures. A friend offered Kramer a job touring with

3lau Justin David Blau (born January 9, 1991), better known by his stage name 3lau (stylized in all caps, pronounced "Blau"), is an American DJ and electronic dance music producer. Early life Justin David Blau was born in Syosset, New York, on Janu ...

and making videos of 3lau's performances. Later, Kramer made a music video for

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

for the song " The Nights" and toured with

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...

. In 2016, Kramer directed the lyric video for

The Chainsmokers The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The electronic dance music, EDM-Pop music, pop duo achieved a breakth ...

' song " Closer". The video reached one billion views on January 10, 2017. On February 4, 2018, the video reached two billion views, making it the first lyric video ever to have this many views. By September 2021, it was the 30th most-viewed video of all time, and the most viewed lyric video of all time with over 2.7 billion views on YouTube. In 2017, Kramer starred in an

show, ''Dare to Live'', which followed Kramer as he went with various celebrities on adventures. In 2020, Kramer co-directed the music video for ''

Stuck with U "Stuck with U" is a song by American singer Ariana Grande and Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It was released through Republic Records, Def Jam Recordings, and Silent Records Ventures as a single on May 8, 2020. Both artists wrote the song alongs ...

'', a duet by

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

and

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a pop icon and an influential figure in popular music, Grande is known for her four-octave vocal range, which extends into the whistle re ...

that won an MTV Award. On January 14, 2021, Kramer took 3,500 photos of Justin Bieber in three locations across

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. A photo showing Bieber crouched in Downtown Los Angeles' 2nd Street Tunnel became the cover photo for Bieber's 2021 album ''

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

''.

Awards

's Moon Man Award for 2020 Best Music Video From Home

Personal life

In July 2018, Kramer was driving his car and speeding on loose gravel when he lost control of the vehicle which spun out, hit a tree, and flipped upside down. His car was totaled and Kramer stated that a speaker in his car prevented the car from crushing him and saved his life. Following the accident, Kramer posted to his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account, stating that he was struggling with anxiety, depression, and his father's diagnosis with cancer, which had led to Kramer's reckless behavior. Kramer married Amy Disser on August 22, 2020, in Clear Lake, Indiana.

Videography

As television actor

Music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Rory American photographers Filmmakers from Indiana Living people Year of birth missing (living people)