DIRECTORS CUTT MEDIA
In The News
​XXL MAGAZINE
Maurice G. Garland Jan/Feb 2008
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Flashing lights a new crop of Directors give videos a fresh direction
Since their advent three decades ago, music videos have become the most influential visual aid in the music industry. They have allowed us to see Melle Mel rap from the "jungle" and LL Cool J crush jelly beans and showed us what to do whenever "Hip Hop Hooray" came on.
But a decade after platinum plaques and million-dollar videos made Hype, Missy, Busta and Puff household names, album sales have slowed. Major labels are reluctant to spend loads of cash on exspensive producers and promotion in a shaky market, and they are equally skeptical about hiring pricey directors for videos. Thus, the video commissioners (the people at the record labels specofocally assigned to work on music-video projects) calling the shots are giving independent directors a chance to show off their talents.
"Albums not selling plays into a lot," says Yolande Geralds, vice president of rock and urban video production at Atlintic records. "If the artist has more then one single we have to stretch the budget to shoot one or two videos. We're doing videos from 50,000 to 100,000 now. We try to max out at 250,000."
Similar to Nelly and 50 Cent being signed to conglomerates like Universal and Interscope, many big names in the video game, like formaer video director F. Gary Gray, Bryan Barber, Benny Boom and Little X, are signed to a large production companies, such as FM Rocks and HSI. The production companies develop and solict work for the directors, charging production fees that are usually 20 percent of the allocated budget. This tacked on to the 10 precent commossion the directors receive. Since these companies have high overhead and salaries to support, they cannot afford to do videos within the ranges that most labels re willing to spend nowadays.
"One of the main reasons why labels are reaching out to new guys is because we have our own production companies," says Kai "Flyy Kai" Crawford, who has directed debut videos for Yung Joc, Gorilla Zoe, Akon and T-Pain. "You dont have to deal with the headache of a big company wanting mo' money, mo' money".
Director John "Dr.Teeth" Tucker agrees. "[Production companies] won't touch a $80,000 video but that rapper might be the hottest out" says Teeth, who got on doing midpriced videos for the late Big Moe, Devin the Dude, Trina and early Swishahouse tracks, including Mike Jones' "Still Tippin'". "The director may want to do it, but the company wont touch it, because they wont get a good cut off the budget."
Independent video directors are deinitely poised to take a larger piece of the pie for years to come. But some directors hope that video quality dosen't decline along with the budgets. "Lower budgets are allowing guys to get a break, so it can be good and bad," says Teeth, a former Sr Producer for Rap City: Tha Bassment who is credited as the creator of the booth. "It has cycled back around to where it started, pricewise, but you risk having a bunch of 30,000 videos on the air with no substance, because a lot of young directors aren't ready creatively." Either way, videos are headed in a new direction, literally.
SMOOTH MAGAZINE
Oct/Nov 2009
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Elements Shine- THE DOCTOR IS IN
You can't fake experience or talent. Those are two things that video director John D Tucker , better known as DrTeeth, has in abundaance. He grew up in Cincinnati, loving music, playing percussion instruments, and singing in church. The man known for his big smile later ended up at Texas Southern University, where he was also a member of an R&B group. While he was putting together tapes of the group's performances, Teeth realized that his real passion was film. He switched his major to telecommunications. after graduation, he started landing jobs directing commercials and assisting on videos.
That's how he met his first notable mentor: director Brett Retnar, who gave Teeth advise that has stuck with him throughout his career. "I asked him how to write a treatment for a video if you dont like the song" Says Teeth. "He said, you cant afford not to like the song. There's always something about the song you can find and write to. I thought about that. If you dont like the song then how can you do justice to the visuals? It aint about your personal opinion; it's all about the image. I love creating images. Thats what makes you a dope director"
But before Teeth became a dope director he worked as a sports producer and video photographer for CBS News affiliate in Houston He went to on to workfor BET, where he produced the award-winning youth Teen Summit. He then became the senior producer of Rap City, where he was instrumental in creating its popular freestyle booth. Along the way, Teeth built lasting relationships in the entertainment industry that helped him start directing videos.
His clip for Mike Jones "Still Tippin" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. He was also nominated for the first Video Director of the Year award at the inaugural BET Hip HOP Awards in 2006. With accolades like that, Teeth can hand pick his projects. Although he works with veterans like T.I, Lil Wayne, Pitbull, and UGK, he also still takes on projects with necomers.
One such artist was Dorrough. Teeth directed his video for "Ice Cream Paint Job," work that scored him another nomination at the 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards. Although finished results were steller, it wasen't an easy task. "When Dorrough got in front of the camera, he was really uncomfortable, "says Teeth."I was able to relax him and help him give me the performance that we got. It took a lot of takes. When he thought he was doing it right, I had to stop him and tell him he was doing it wrong. It's one thing to watch TV and think its easy. It's another thing to do it in front of a camera with 15 to 18 crew people behind it. You have girls dancing around and your mama sitting in a chair, and then the director yells Action! Thats a lot of pressure."
Teeth has also applied some pressure on himself. He and Mike Epps have partnered with Preston L. Holmes, the producer of Hustle & Flow. They are looking for independent investors for a film called Overdraft. It will be the first film Epps has starred in. "this is something me and Mike have discussed, especially being black entrpreneurs. I dont own my projects. The labels hire me andMike dosent own his films. We talked about bringing our talents and business savvy to the table, because we need some more Black Steven Spielbergs around here."
Down Magazine
Barry Codell April/May 2006
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Dr.Teeth- THE VISUALIZER
Whether you known the name Dr.Teeth or not, chances are you've beeb enjoying his work. As the director responsible for Mike Jones smash "Still Tippin" video, as well as numerous other classic Southern videos, the Doctor is now poised to become the Hype Williams of the south -- minus the glitter.
DOWN MAGAZINE: What about your videos do you believe has caused these video chabbels to finally embrace the harder edged images of the South?
DR.TEETH: I try to shoot thr truth in my videos. I don't try to stick no model chick in the hood. I try to find the ghetto stars that you would see around your way. I shoot the truth as it is. I show it how it is when you step out your door.
How do you feel your Houston-brand videos differ from how the South has been depicted until recently
Houston is totally different from what they doing in Atlanta or what they doing in New Orleans. Houston has its own style. A lot of times, directors would come in an give artist a looked based on what cats are doing in New York or what they think generally represents southern music. So, I made a conscious effort to make sure to blend the look with how the lifestyle and culture truly is. I kinda consider myself a gatekeeper for images that come out of the south and make sure those imprints are iconic and truthful.
What else can people look forward to seeing your name attached to?
I just compleated the new Notorious B.I.G video, which is huge for me. I also did the new T.I video with Pimp C and Bun B of UGK. Right now I'm also talkinh to Brooke Valentine. This year I'm showing my range. I can take it to the hood. I can take it to an R&B session. I can do east coast Biggie joint and rock it. Love country and one day I want to direct Country and western visuals. I got these visions in my head from my love of music and I just wanna make sure I can get these things out, so people can enjoy the music.