Strippers, a drunken Dave Matthews, and being forced to scrub fruit were all on the agenda during a lively discussion with director Dave Meyers during a conference call recently held on the topic of internships.
Meyers, who has directed music videos for Jennifer Lopez, Outkast, Kid Rock and Creed, shared some of his experiences on internships and his career while publicizing the Mastercard Priceless Experience 2005 internship program.
Throughout the call, Meyers emphasized the importance of a good internship and how it can help you in the future. “The best place to start with anything is an internship,” Meyers said. “Pursue internships in the various fields of your interest and that’ll expose you to the types of things you’re interested in doing.”
Meyers noted that his internships weren’t all fun and games. “I was an abused intern – I did 10 internships. I had to wash fruit and photocopy and it was not very well balanced in allowing me responsibility and exposure to things that would help me. I know the value of an internship that works vs. doesn’t work.”
Taking his experiences to a new level, Meyers developed a training ground of sorts within his company to help groom young directors and help them excel in a crowded field, building directors in the fields of commercial and video directing.
While Meyers was talking about internships, he was also asked about his experiences as a music director. He noted that some of his favorite videos, creatively speaking, got little airplay, a byproduct of outside forces interfering. “I really liked Outkast “Bombs over Baghdad” and the Limp Bizkit… that video that featured Pink Floyd The Wall – I got Fred Durst to jump out of a building that was exploding. It ran about two weeks and 9/11 happened.”
But when he syncs with an artist, the fruits are plentiful.
“The only artist I’ve been in synch with is Missy,” Meyers said. “I’ve done about six or seven of her videos, and everyone seems to talk about them when we work together.”
Meyers also shared one of his more memorable experiences on the set. “I guess I don’t know how funny it is, but one of my most inspired stories was while on a Dave Matthews video. He’s such a serious, soulful person. We had him in a dumpster filled with water; the power went out. We had a bottle of Jack Daniels. He drank the whole thing and was telling jokes on set. He’s funnier than half the comedians I’ve seen. He’s a serious, soulful guy doing standup on set.”
When asked why music videos have such consistent themes as cool cars and barely clothed women, Meyers defended how music videos are set up.
“I think that videos, like any entertainment, have themes that exist,” he said. “You go back 20 years and you see rock stars with porn stars. Hip-hop and strippers, rock and porn… there’s all kind of alliances there so I don’t see anything being worse that it was. But I also see an incredible amount of individual expression in hip hop and rock and all the various genres. There’s a lot more daringness because budgets are smaller.”
This is Meyers’ second year contributing to the MasterCard program. While his role hasn’t been fully defined this year, he said he still keeps in touch with some of last year’s participants, especially ones that actively sought him out, got his phone number, and call occasionally for advice.
For Meyers, taking initiative is a major key to success. “You need to communicate your passions. You need to be passionate and learn to propel that passion and allow other people to experience that passion. Don’t ever talk about doing it – just do it. Get out there some way, some how.”
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