MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography

Template:Short description Template:Infobox award 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 4 wins. Madonna's videos have received the most nominations with ten. 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.
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Every Breath You Take" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1984">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"The Boys of Summer" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1985">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"The Sun Always Shines on T.V." Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1986">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"C'est la Vie" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1987">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"We'll Be Together" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1988">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Express Yourself" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1989">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1990s

Year	Winner(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Vogue" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1990">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Wicked Game (Concept)" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1991">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort and Daniel Pearl	"November Rain" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1992">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Rain" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1993">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Everybody Hurts" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1994">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname and Michael Trim	"Love Is Strong" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1995">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Tonight, Tonight" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1996">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Virtual Insanity" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1997">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Criminal" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1998">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"The Dope Show" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA1999">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2000s

Year	Winner(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Do Something" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2000">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Weapon of Choice" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2001">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"We Are All Made of Stars" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2002">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Hurt" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2003">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"99 Problems" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2004">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2005">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"You're Beautiful" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2006">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	colspan="5" Template:N/a
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Conquest" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2008">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"21 Guns" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2009">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2010s

Year	Winner(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Empire State of Mind" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Rolling in the Deep" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2011">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Bad Girls" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2012">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname, Jason Koenig and Mego Lin	"Can't Hold Us" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort and Jackson Hunt	"Pretty Hurts" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Never Catch Me" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2015">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"Formation" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2016">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sort	"HUMBLE." Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref name="VMA2017">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Template:Sortname	"Apeshit" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Scott Cunningham	"Señorita" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

2020s

Year	Winner(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
Template:Mtvvma	Michael Merriman	"Rain on Me" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Benoit Soler, Malik H. Sayeed, Mohammaed Atta Ahmed, Santiago Gonzalez and Ryan Helfant	"Brown Skin Girl" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Nikita Kuzmenko	"As It Was" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Rina Yang	"Anti-Hero" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Anatol Trofimov	"We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Mtvvma	Xiaolong Liu	"Not Like Us" Template:Small	Template:Smalldiv	<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>