First Ed Sheeran now Beyoncé. Maybe you should try your luck and get some cash..
Indie film maker Matthew Fulks who works for Kentucky news channel WDRB said Beyoncé ‘copied his ideas’ for her hugely popular Lemonade trailer.
According to his complaint, Fulks says Beyoncé stole nine visual segments from his 2014 short film, Palinoia. He also claims that similarities are even shown in the arrangement and the coordination of these particular elements. The official letter of complaint reads “The number of aesthetic decisions included in Plaintiff’s Palinoia Work that are parroted in Defendants’ Lemonade Trailer demonstrates that the Lemonade Trailer is substantially similar to the Palinoia Work’’. See what you make of the document by reading it in full here.
It is believed that after Fulks was asked to direct a video for New York band MS MR, Sony and Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment team were given access to the film.
We took it upon ourselves to check out the similarities. Shockingly, the features contain a significant amount of troubles. Beyonce may be in trouble with this one. However, copyright is forever a bitch. It’s often so difficult to distinguish actual copyright from influence. Fancy giving ‘Palinoia’ a watch? Click here.
You can see the similarities in the pictures below.
Chicago born film-maker Nelson Carvajal had previously drawn out similarities of cult references which Beyoncé had obviously used to help stylise the full length feature of Lemonade. He dedicated a paper to Lemonade of which he pointed out the influence of big names. For example Twin Peaks director David Lynch was said to have a huge influence on the way surrealism was captured and shot throughout Lemonade.
The paper is just an observation and a recognition of great work which has simply inspired Beyonce. Carvajal told Dazed and Confused Magazine that he feels that the cinematic cult influences get overlooked when they really should be studied. He noted that viewers would ‘’rather find out who ‘Becky with the good hair’ is instead of learning who the hell Jonas Mekas is’’. Carvajal went on to merit Beyoncé and her team for respecting great visionaries however ‘’it knows to borrow and appropriate a good chunk from other works without going off the deep end’’.
For whatever reason, this story is yet to blow up much to the likes of poor Ed Sheeran. Beyonce’s status and wealth makes her seem untouchable and unshakable, even if the lawsuit does go ahead. The fact that Microsoft Word auto-corrects the e in B’s name to have a little hat speaks for itself.
