Diane Martel, the director of innovative and pioneer video clip who has led the visuals for some of the greatest artists of the last three decades, including Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, The Killers and Miley Cyrus, and many others – died Thursday in New York. She was 63 years old.
“Diane died peacefully at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital – surrounded by friends and family – after a long battle against breast cancer,” her family said in a statement. “She is survived by her aunt, Gail Merrifield Papp (wife of Joseph Papp, founder of the Theater Public), her three beloved and faithful cats (Poki, Poppop, Pompom) and many loving friends.”
New York born and high which has become an adult on the city center of the city, Martel developed a talent to make musical clips which were visually striking and filled with fascinating provocations. In 2013, she directed two of the most discussed and controversial musical clips in recent decades: “We can’t stop” by Cyrus and “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke with Pharrell and Ti
Despite the tumult that the two videos have collected, Martel has never blocked eyes. “My shit is on the point at the moment,” she boasted at Roller That year, adding: “I must admit that I like to be provocative. It’s punk, it’s rock & roll, it’s hip-hop. It’s passionate. We are not doing pharmaceutical advertisements.”
Pharrell – who had already worked with Martel before – added: “Diane is like a 17 -year -old girl who never grows. Its creativity continues to evolve. ”
Martel was a dropout of the secondary school who began her career to perform and a street art in the late 80s and in the early 90s. She also worked as a dancer and choreographer, and one of her first major film projects was Reckin ‘Shop: Live from BrooklynA documentary on hip-hop dancers broadcast on PBS in 1992.
The same year, Martel made his first clip, “Throw Ya Gunz”, for the Hip-Hop Hardcore Onyx crew. She worked with many other rap lights in New York in the following years, including Method Man, Gang Starr, Ol ‘Dirty Bastard, LL Cool J and Keith Murray. She also developed a close collaboration with Carey, leading many videos for her over the years, notably “Dreamlover”, “everything I want for Christmas is you” and “My All”.
As Martel’s profile grew up, the extent of artists sought to work with her. Even just a handful of his credits from the late 90s on offers an investigation into the different forms that pop music took by entering and settling into the new millennium: “Genie in a boot” by Christina Aguilera and “What a Girl Want”; “Send it” by Angelo; Khia is “my neck my back (lick)”; Clipse “grindin”; “Like I Love You” by Justin ‘Timberlake; Alicia Keys “If I don’t have” Got You “; “Love Sex Magic” by Ciara and Timberlake; “3” by Britney Spears; The killers “read my mind”; The “conquest” of white scratches; Nicki Minaj’s “Pills n potions”; The years 1975 “Give yourself an essay”; “Obses” by Addison Rae.
Even with Massive Filmography by Martel, 2013 is always released for the visuals defining the moment it designed for Cyrus and Thicke. “Blurred Lines” and “We Can’t Stop” even had a moment of brain creation when Thicke and Cyrus made them as a mixture with MTV Video Music Awards 2013 alongside Dancing Teddy Bears, a finger of foam on the visible level, and therefore, so Twerking. Martel was the creative performance director (and held the same role for the Cyrus suite Bangerz tour).
While the two videos were very provocative, the “blurred lines” became the biggest cultural flash point. The lyrics of the song sparked a pre -metoo debate on sexual violence and consent, emitted sexually explicit video – which featured the Emily Ratajkowski models, Elle Evans and Jessi M’BENGUE – only aggravated.
Martel, for his part, said Grant That she wanted the video to be contrary to “misogynist and funny words in a way where girls were going to dominate men”. She added: “It also forces men to feel fun and not at all like predators. I ordered the girls to look at the camera. It is very intentional and they do it most of the time; They are in a position of power. I don’t think the video is sexist. The words are ridiculous; The guys are stupid as a fuck. [the video] Meta and fun.
(Years later, Ratajkowski accused Thicke of having sexually harassed him on the set, saying in his memories that he caught his “naked breasts from behind”. Martel corroborated the story of Ratajkowski, telling The Sunday Times“I shouted in my very aggressive Brooklyn voice,” what are you doing, that’s it! The shooting is over! “Robin excused himself timidly.
While Martel’s production slowed down a bit in the 2020s, she turned her attention to other activities. In 2022, for example, she was appointed director of Harlan J. Strauss visiting the University of Oregon, where she directed a series of community events and taught a class on clip production. The latest clip that Martel had was for “Ecstasy” by Ciara, which abandoned earlier this year.
Despite her amazing production, Martel was nominated only for the best direction at VMA once: 2005, when she and Francis Lawrence shared the appointment for their work on “Get Right” by Jennifer Lopez.
In an interview of 2003 with AtmosphereMartel has exposed a kind of artistic philosophy, saying: “I am interested in the way in which the wacky videos are at the moment. The art of photography and cinema is often overlooked in favor of repetitive images. What is the chance of directors whenever we have the opportunity to represent culture? How do we dare to serve shit people when hip-hop was born from such a message. Made and not disposable. »»
