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MillimeterTraci Goudie Turns It On
Aug 8, 2002 12:00 PM
To paraphrase an old truth: Behind every good artist may just be another good artist. The CD packaging and a music video for the new Patty Griffin CD 1000 Kisses have been created by Traci Goudie, an emerging force in the music video field.
Goudie, who has her own Texas-based production company, Ghetto Sushi Bowl, threw everything she had into this project. And she has a lot. She designed the CD cover, in part with her still photography; she will direct the music video; and she will provide the visual effects in that video, using her technical skills on tools that range from a Quantel Henry to Mac Photoshop and AfterEffects.
The Griffin CD was released in April. The music video shoot, on Super 16, will begin in mid-June. This is Griffin's third commercial release. The Dixie Chicks' last tour was named after a song of hers that they covered. Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt cover her songs as well.
Goudie has worked with Griffin for awhile and it is the music video director's incremental approach that has made this such a winning union. "She's a true artist of great caliber and, as a person, quite shy so as our friendship developed we did a couple of shoots for my book, for fun, and we felt comfortable together," says Goudie. "I sent my book to her manager and landed the job for shooting the photography for the CD packaging and the design and layout. They started to trust me more and I started to do all of her ads and all of the press photography, a documentary, a little live video that she's selling as merchandise and now the music video."
This is much the way Goudie's career has gone, from one stepping stone to another. She began as a graphic designer then became a photographer, incorporating digital work from her effects background into her stills. A couple of shows opened the door for doing music photography which she parlayed into doing music videos.
"I just specialize in interpreting music into visual imagery, through photography or video or the design of packaging," she says. Goudie shoots film and video for the stills. For the video work, she uses an XL1, recording most of the things she does for a current documentary, and has worked with formats ranging from 35mm to Super 8. In the post field, she trained on a Discreet Flame and is adept with many other effects and compositing packages.
Goudie has been shooting and directing music videos for three years. Her big break was an 11-minute piece she did for the BBC Channel 4 of the indie punk band The Trail of Dead (for whom she had previously done still photos) that led to a video on MTV.
"Here's an example of my favorite part of the job. I was hired by MCA a couple weeks ago to document both on video and stills, Patty Griffin recording a Patsy Cline tribute for them. So I got to go in the studio and be within a foot of her as she transcends and sings this brilliant Patsy Cline song. It was so touching. To be intimately involved with the caliber of artists that I'm getting to work with, I just feel really lucky," says Goudie.
Austin-born, Goudie is atuned to this Texas town's music scene but finds that her clients come from outside as well. The Trail of Dead is Austin-based, but they skyrocketed in Europe, and as a result the need for more imagery arose, and they later signed with Interscope here in the states.
Patti Griffin is a Boston transplant. "It's weird. I've found that even though I live here, the success I've gained has been through channels that have been outside of here. It helps that there is a mystique associated with Austin. It also hinders in a way because it's the southwestern region and a lot of people don¹t associate successful editorial or post or directors with here. It's kind of a double-edged sword," says Goudie. "Sometimes it's really great but other times I'll probably have to prove myself being female and being from the southwest." But not to everyone. Patty Griffin already knows her story and has wholeheartedly signed on.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.