Director Of Unreleased Majical Cloudz Video Says The Weeknd Ripped Him Off
Director Mitch Moore has accused the Weeknd’s Grant Singer-directed “Can’t Feel My Face” music video of ripping off an unreleased video he made for Majical Cloudz. In an Instagram post from yesterday containing shot-by-shot comparisons of the two clips, Moore says that, while the video never came out, “the production was large, and many feedback emails were sent out with private uploads of the edit.” He claims that someone from the Weeknd’s camp must have seem them because “the resemblance is too uncanny” between the two videos. Here’s the short clip that Moore shared to support his accusation:
Here’s Moore’s original comment (see below for new addition):
about a year ago, I directed a video for Majical Cloudz. Because of creative differences, it never came out. But the production was large, and many feedback emails were sent out with private uploads of the edit. It’s come to my attention that some body at the helm of a certain mega popular video must have seen one or more of these unreleased edits. The resemblance is too uncanny. My mind is a mansion of creativity, so this petty theft is nbd to me. BUT I’M STILL CALLING THE POLICE!! 😜😜😜😜
Of course, both of these videos are pretty unoriginal in concept and execution, and it’s unclear from Moore’s evidence how much of a narrative similarity they may share. In the Weeknd’s video, Abel Tesfaye is doused in alcohol by the audience and eventually lit up in flames; so far, all we’ve seen from the Majical Cloudz video is footage of Devon Welsh singing in a night club.
And, as an Instagram commenter points out and is readily apparent to anyone who has seen the film, the color grading in the Weeknd’s video seems to be an homage to a famous scene in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet:
And here’s another Lynch scene, this time from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, that echoes the crowd shots in both videos (at 3m15s):
If you’ve ever seen a movie or a television show that features a scene of someone singing in a nightclub with an audience, chances are that they’ll look pretty similar, too. Which is to say that no one is particularly original! It’s all part of the (un)creative process.
The Weeknd’s camp has not responded to these claims, but his new video for “Tell Your Friends,” also directed by Grant Singer, came out yesterday.
UPDATE: Moore has added an additional note to his Instagram:
Good god now I have to make an addendum cuz of p4K et al!!! I’m NOT calling out any specific body including that video’s director. BTW neither idea is original, and I’m not defending my work here. But the mise en scene of the shots and their function within the scene were too uncannily parallel. Third parties alerted me to this fact. I posted for two reasons. One: The Shania gag was HILARE!!! Two: The moneyed folks in the mainstream waste so much money trying to make half-hearted copies of work originally pioneered by gifted artists who I know personally. Plagiarism and brain drain happens even at the most shadiest of bcc: levels y’all…The fashion/production/management world is small. Again, idk nor idc if this actually happened in this case, but I MUST SAY – the gank-giddy decision making of the “creative directors” (or whatever u call them) is silly because these folks know how to find the gurls. They could save so so so much money and get more impactful end products if they came straight to us instead of hiring a middleman with the word “savvy” on their resume. I just don’t get it. *goes back to storyboarding
UPDATE 2: Majical Cloudz has distanced himself from the director in a series of tweets:
for the record I didn't accuse The Weeknd of stealing our video lol, this is laughable. Our original video idea was very generic
— ??J¡¢?? ?????? (@majicalcloudz) August 25, 2015
The person who made that foolish claim was a video director we briefly worked on something with before going our separate ways
— ??J¡¢?? ?????? (@majicalcloudz) August 25, 2015
for the record I wouldn't even care at all if there was any resemblance, but there isn't and our idea was unoriginal anyway
— ??J¡¢?? ?????? (@majicalcloudz) August 25, 2015
A video director we didn't particularly enjoy working with for a brief period in 2013 doesn't speak for the band! haha
— ??J¡¢?? ?????? (@majicalcloudz) August 25, 2015
omg there's a scandalous article about this up on pitchfork, and I haven't even seen the Weeknd's video… shaking my head
— ??J¡¢?? ?????? (@majicalcloudz) August 25, 2015
For Any Concerned Journalists: I have made no accusations to anyone whatsoever, the director of an aborted project is dragging me into this
— ??J¡¢?? ?????? (@majicalcloudz) August 25, 2015
(L)aughing (O)ut (L)oud
— ??J¡¢?? ?????? (@majicalcloudz) August 25, 2015
