Week Four: Director's Research: Melina Matsoukas!

This Information in the paragraph below has been sourced from Wikipedia:

"Melina Matsoukas (born January 14, 1981) is a Greek-Cuban-Jewish-Jamaican American music video director signed to Black Dog Films since late 2006. Previously, she worked with the now-defunct Gorilla Flix. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute and New York University. She did her graduate thesis on music video. Her work is described as, "chalk full of bright colors or crisp black and white images, smooth spotlights, and tasteful retro video models."
Matsoukas says that expensive equipment is not necessary for a quality video and one should never think that way: "A good video has the right visuals, a well conceptualised story and should be exciting and elicit reaction."

We looked at videos that appeared often on music channels like "Starz" to see there popularity. In addition to this we noted that she has worked on a variety of genres and video styles. For example the video "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga ; however, her main genre would appear to be pop. This relates to our video style of indie pop.

Below is a piece of an article published on "watchlooklisten.e-fans.net". It explains about Matsoukas' style and visionary as a cinematographer in a little more detail:

"Visionary: Melina MatsoukasYou know that song on the radio, that doesn’t have a video to accompany it yet? You probably have a treatment for it already; so does music video director Melina Matsoukas. As one of today’s top (and rising) directors, Melina has produced an endless list of videos for a number of major R&B and Hip Hop artists.

Officially starting her career in 2006, Matsoukas has already directed (to name a few) Ludacris’ “Money Maker,” Ali and Gipp’s “Go ‘Head,” Shareefa’s “Cry No More,” Ne-Yo’s “Because of You,” four videos on Beyonce’s deluxe edition of “B’Day,” Eve’s “Tambourine,” and most recently, the masterpiece that is Snoop Dogg’s “Sensual Seduction.”

Her work is chalk full of bright colors or crisp black and white images, smooth spotlights, and tasteful retro video models. All aspects that ultimately capture both the feeling of the song and character of the artist. Melina’s music video work has earned her award nominations and a continuous streams of clients.

Signed to Black Dog Films, Melina’s talent has transcended into movies. She has played to role as cinematographer for 2006’s Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves and 2004’s Skal and was involved in Dollar Van, also released in 2006.

As one of today’s few female music video directors, Melina Matsoukas is breaking down barriers and proving herself to be a true visionary."


The reason we chose to research Matsoukas' work was purely based on her diverse style in the music video industry. It is evident that she has worked with several large names and labels. As explained in the article above she uses the narrative style of a song to develop the video in a new visionary way. Below are some examples of her work:

Lady Gaga ~ Just Dance.



Rihanna ~ Hard.



As you can see from these examples she uses both the tempo or beat of the song to suit the types of shots used. Also, based on the mood or atmosphere of the song she varies the colours used in each of these shots suitabley. Finally, she also uses classic symbols or styles to represent the artist, such as Lady Gaga, she uses an unusual dress style and big glasses.

Done.

Naomi and Rhiannon :)