“Formation” not well formed

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Beyonce reigned the Super Bowl halftime show just a couple weekends ago, and after posting the music video of her new song, “Formation”, the day before the game, she seems to be on top just like she usually is. Although this may be true, director Abteen Bagheri and producer Chris Black noticed that some clips of their movie, “That B.E.A.T.”, were shown in the “Formation” video. The film, “That B.E.A.T.”, was a  documentary made in 2012 about the music and dance in New Orleans.

According to Bagheri, Beyoncé and the director of the music video, Melina Matsoukas, had asked for the use of some of his film but he didn’t grant them access. The “Formation” music video shows clips from the movie, trying to exemplify the busy life that is New Orleans. The music video itself is supposed to show her Louisiana and African-American roots. Both producer and director felt ripped once they saw the video and noticed their movie clips in it. Unfortunately for Bey, it seemed easier to steal some film from a movie instead of just heading to New Orleans herself. According to Bagheri, “I’m not mad. It’s the sad reality of the music business. Doesn’t affect my friends’ and my work, but not cool.” He posted that on Twitter on the sixth of February. In contrast to Bagheri’s tweet, his producer Chris Black tweeted something completely different. “Why Melina gotta use clips from our doc?!? Was the budget not big enough to spend a week in New Orleans and actually build with the people.” Black also wrote this on February sixth, the day that the “Formation” video was released.
According to Melina, the ordeal was sorted and each party has parted ways from the mishap. This being said, you can see how easy it is to be accused of plagiarism and being accused of ripping someone of something they have already made. Hopefully next time, Beyonce will be a little bit more careful.