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The Directors in association withLBB Pro
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The Directors: Melle Branson

31/01/2025
Production Company
Melbourne, Australia
73
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The TRUCE director on making a "talking dick", a 19-part doco with Nike and TikTok, and playing a character through rap

Melle Branson spent her youth poring over her parents’ wedding photos and VHS tapes, hooked on the nostalgic pangs that swelled deep and empathic feelings.

Ever since, she has been harnessing the emotive power that media has to help shape public perceptions and drive positive action. Identity, family, and culture are core themes that thread through every part of Melle’s practice.

Her directorial work sits at the intersection of authenticity and art, bringing together real-life narratives with stylised performances to captivate, inspire, and influence the masses.


LBB> From the outside, you seem strong on building communities and little families around your productions. Is that a deliberate approach? 

Melle> I mean, 100%. Like, obviously! Every single project I do is about fostering collaboration from the ground up. And I will always try to build a team that is fitting for the project or is going to be in people's wheelhouse, and things that I know they’re going to be excited about, because that ultimately makes better work for everyone. We've got to have fun, if anything. 

I'm always trying to prioritise supporting BIPOC and female filmmakers. One of the first national campaigns that I ever directed was to do with pregnancy. I was wearing a shirt that I always wear that says "Pro-Woman" on it.

At the end of the shoot, the makeup artist came up to me and said, "Thank you, you're doing it for all of us." I was taken aback and didn't quite realise what she meant until I looked around and realised that every person in the agency team, the client team, and the camera department were men - the only women were in roles like wardrobe, hair, and makeup.

To have that put in my face, I was pretty blown away and at that point, I made it a priority that as long as I have the ability to pick and choose my team, I'm always going to put underrepresented voices to the front. Especially for projects that are about underrepresented perspectives and experiences - that's just a no-brainer.


LBB> What's your most important working relationship in making an ad? And why?

Melle> It's a love triangle between me, my producer, and DOP. It’s important to me that my DOP shares a common visual language, and that they genuinely care about the story.

And as an empathetic Cancerian, I value a creative producer who can be my emotional support and hype girly/guy, whilst also being a whip cracker, pushing me to give it everything.


LBB> Gen Z is a term that comes up a lot when people reference your work. How do you feel about that? And why do you think that is?

Melle> I think a lot of the things that I grew up on are trending with Gen Z. So that has probably helped me be in the right place at the right time, at this point in my life, with everything I’ve experienced and am able to draw on.

I’ve always been fascinated by subcultures - I grew up deeply obsessed with hip-hop, graffiti, and skate culture, making films with a mini DV camera and shooting disposable 35mm film cameras. It’s nostalgic for me, and I think Gen Z love the aesthetic quality to it.


LBB> Let's talk about your Angel City Nails project. How did that come about? And what were you exploring there?

Melle> I’d been wanting to do a project that I could put dialogue, performance, and humour into. So this came about when my nail artist, Toko, told me about her new cuticle and fragrance oil - it was so addictive that people were sniffing their nails in public.

I thought that was a hilarious idea that could be translated into some fun films.

I reached out to Annie Sullivan, who I love collaborating with, and we bounced ideas around and co-wrote the scripts. We wanted to make them as silly, fun, and ridiculous as we could because we had complete freedom and trust from Angel City to do whatever we wanted. 

My favourite is the Office edit. When I said to Annie ‘Let's make a talking dick’, she just thought it was hilarious. 


LBB> Which piece of work do you feel shows you off the best and why?

Melle> Working with Nike in partnership with TikTok on a 19-part documentary was a peak career moment, and an opportunity to bring all of my storytelling worlds together thanks to Amplify and Pretty–Soon®. The Roll Up for WA campaign - Nostalgic Moments also holds a special place because of everything that was going on at that time.

We were looking around at what other campaigns were doing all around the world, and there was so much fear. I wanted to give the audience credit and approach it with empathy. I was so grateful to have the client’s full trust in my vision, allowing every aspect to align including the song choice of ‘What a Wonderful World’.

Pulling together an authentic UGC style with an emotive narrative thread - this really speaks to me because it makes me feel so nostalgic, which was the whole point of the campaign.


LBB> You work across short-form documentaries and your advertising. They can be distinctly different genres. What appeals to you about both?

Melle> To me, they’re inextricably linked.

I approach documentary projects with the same mindset as I would an ad, and I’m always trying to bring a sense of realism and authenticity to commercial projects. I love working on brand projects because I thrive in a team and being able to help creatively solve a problem.

When it comes to my docos, I see them as character focused 3D portraits - they have this other dimension of being able to portray someone in a way that's beautiful and captivating and reflects who they are through my eyes.

Ultimately, what appeals to me in both genres is storytelling. The idea of engaging audiences and guiding them through a narrative to whatever it is we’re trying to do, whether that’s making them buy something, or something meaningful like changing their behaviour or seeing the world in a particular way - I find this power quite intoxicating. 


LBB> Let’s chat about laying down a rap song for your Content Kings piece.

Melle> I guess I knew what I wanted for the project. I had the bars in my head, and the only way I could get them out was for me to jump in the booth! I just had so much silly fun with it, getting to play a character and explore this other fantasy persona. I may or may not have written and recorded another track, which may or may not be dropping this summer. This is literally my plan B, if I don't make it in ads...

Seriously though. In a sense, hip-hop has always been a subtle influence on my filmmaking, brand persona and creative expression. Whilst I don't necessarily think my style overtly resembles hip-hop aesthetics, I undeniably resonate with its values of authenticity and pushing boundaries to connect through storytelling.


LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open and collaborative with the agency and brand, whilst also protecting the idea?

Melle> I think it’s important to have up front open communication on each project about what the creative dynamic will be, because it’s different on every job.

There are times when the agency and client have full trust and are like, 'Just do your thing'. Other times, I'll stand up for stylistic or narrative elements, and I’ll die on the hill knowing I’ve pushed for what I believe in.

But you pick your battles, right?

The agency knows the idea and the client better than I do, and often there’s so much that I’m not privy to, so I just trust in that, and don’t have an ego about decisions that are out of my control. I’m very aware that I’m doing a job, and that we’re a team.

Ultimately I just want to collaborate. 


LBB> What are you working on next?

Melle> I've been shooting a few stills campaigns lately, which I'm absolutely loving - getting to apply everything I've learned about production and storytelling into a single image is a refreshing challenge. I'm also gearing up to start working on my first narrative short film - a passion project that Annie Sullivan and I have been developing. More on that soon!

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