Melodie McDaniel is a still photographer and film director who works with equal fluency between the worlds of fashion, music, fine art and commercials.

As a teenager, she worked on a kibbutz and apprenticed under an architectural photographer at Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, After graduating from the Art Center College of Design with a B.F.A and M.F.A degree in fine art photography, Melodie found her first professional success producing photos for album artwork and music editorials for a diverse group of musicians including, Patti Smith, Smashing Pumpkins, Cheryl Crow, Susanne Vega,REM,Cat Power,Pharrell Williams, Fugees, My Morning Jacket, Lilly Allen among many others. This led to further and continued photographic work.

After her first self-produced short film a two minute experimental piece titled Saving The Eskimo (1994)-caught the eye of Nike executives, Melodie directed a PSA for the brand title What if There were no sports. which featured Michael Jordan. Soon after she found herself directing music videos for celebrated artist including Madonna, The Cranberries, Porno for Pyros, Mazzy Star, Blonde Redhead, Annie Lennox, Patti Smith. In 1999 she directed her first documentary, Little Jimmy Scott:Why Was I Born.

To date, Melodie has directed a number of TV Commercials over the years for a diverse clientele including Nike, Target, Miller Genuine Draft, Wrangler, Chrysler, Google, Levi’s, Coach,Yahoo, Uber,Facebook, among many other brands.

Melodie continues to work as a photographer, and her images can be found in magazines such as Rolling Stone, Interview, Paper, Vogue Homme, Aleim ,AT Large, Man About Town, GQ, Arena, L’Uomo Vogue, and Another Magazine for whom she completed an experimental film portrait of musician/actress/style icon, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Her black and white portrait of Angelina Jolie was featured on the cover of Time Magazine 5//27/2013

Melodie has traveled to Rwanda and Ethiopia shooting stills for the Nike Foundation called The Girl Effect, and directed a short film for HOLA, (Heart of Los Angeles), sponsored by Barney’s NY, which is an after school program for under served youth in the MacArthur Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. She has exhibited her fine art photographs in Los Angeles, the two most recent being American Spectator 2015, and Daring to Claim the Sky, which documents the equestrians of the Compton Junior Posse, whom she has been following and documenting for over 3 +years. Her still photography can be found at www.melodiemcdaniel.com, and her commercial, music video, and film projects can be found at www.thedirectorsbureau.com.

Melodie is currently based in Los Angeles

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