Melina Matsoukas: The Greek-American Queen of Music Videos

By Marianna Kourti
Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue, Leona Lewis, Whitney Huston, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dog, Jay Z, Katie Perry…The most famous American pop singers trust their video clips to 30-year-old Melina Matsouka, the “queen of video clips”. Melina is a very popular director, as she creates the video clips of songs which rise to the top of the charts and has become very popular with teenagers. Greek-American Melina studied at the American Film Institute and at the University of New York. “I love music video clips. I like the quick changes and the creativity”, says the self-made girl. Her work is characterized by vivid colors or abrupt black and white pictures. As she observes, expensive equipment is not necessary for a clip of good quality. A good video needs the correct visual effects and an interesting script. Among the forty-five clips she has shot during her five-year career, the one that made her most popular was the hit “Money Maker” for rapper Ludacris. It was then that the production company Black Dog Films appreciated her talent and offered her a contract.  Recently after finishing her video clip “S&M”, Rihanna wrote about the Greek director on her Twitter page: “I spent a wonderful weekend shooting the best video clip I‘ve ever done”.