MTV Video Music Award winner honours Nova Scotia director Andy Hines

A music video director from Nova Scotia says it's an "amazing feeling" that a video he directed won an MTV Video Music Award voted on by fans.

Andy Hines directed hip-hop artist Big Sean's video for One Man Can Change the World, which won Video with a Social Message at Sunday night's awards.

"Thank you for Andy Hines for getting that vision across in the video and making it what it was," Big Sean said as he clutched his first ever MTV Music Video Award.

One Man Can Change the World was inspired Big Sean's grandmother, Mildred Virginia Leonard, one of the first female black captains during the Second World War and one of the first female police officers in Detroit. Hines wrote the concept for the video.

It was an exciting moment for Hines, who nearly missed the moment because he had to go to the washroom.

"I threw my champagne flute up in the air," Hines said over the phone from Los Angeles. 

"It was an amazing feeling, you know, we had a lot of faith in that project. I'm happy to say the fans did too, because it's a fan-voted scenario. So the fans have spoken, which of course means the most."

Hines scored the Big Sean video shoot by networking in L.A. He brought along fellow Nova Scotians to work on the video. Dartmouth editors David Hung and Tyler Ross helped put the final product together. 

Back in Nova Scotia, Hines's parents — who live in Avondale — are thrilled about the win. His dad, renowned photographer Sherman Hines, said he and his wife watched it live on TV.

"I wanted to burst out crying, his mother let a scream out. It was a pretty exciting moment," said Sherman Hines.