Matthew James Thompson is a self-taught filmmaker whose career began at age 13 filming friends skateboarding and learning to edit by destroying his parents’ computer. He has since built a diverse body of work spanning commercials and feature films. Known for his curiosity and collaborative approach, he thrives on constructing stories from scratch.
He has since collaborated with clients including BMW, Nike, Google, Jeep, Squarespace, and Chipotle. His short film for Field Notes Notebooks was praised in AdAge for ‘perfectly summ[ing] up the beauty of life.’ He’s won awards at IAC, Addys, and Hatch, and was featured in Lürzer’s Archive. His collaboration with Derek DelGaudio, ‘Invisible Dialogues’, commissioned by Future of Storytelling, became the platform’s highest-viewed film to date.
Matthew sat down with LBB to discuss his first feature, how he became enraptured with the filmmaking process, and the influence of Ron Currie Jr.
The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Matthew> The music videos from my childhood that I always come back to are ‘Undone (The Sweater Song)’ by Weezer directed by Spike Jonze and ‘Maps’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs directed by Patrick Daughters. At the time there were so many performance videos, these two really stuck out to me.
‘Sweater Song’ is deceptively simple, a single take moving through a performance space but as you look closely the band intentionally is playing off sync, singing away from the microphone, strumming without playing any chords… It’s playful and almost poking fun at the performance videos of the time by calling out the fact that they’re not actually playing.
‘Maps’, firstly is such a great song, but again deceptively simple. A band plays at a high school auditorium, but Karen O’s performance is actually heartbreaking. We don’t try to squeeze in all sorts of backstory, we’re just with them at this moment and I find her captivating.
The restrained camera movement focuses on the band’s performance and how each of them feels isolated while playing in such songs. I just pulled it up to rewatch while writing this and it’s still so great.
The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Matthew> To be honest, I had no idea that this was an industry growing up. To me I just was always obsessed with movies, watching at home or going to the cinema – didn’t matter.
I devoured DVD extras with behind the scenes footage and made skateboarding videos with my friends, attempting to recreate any level of cinema I could. I never made a conscious decision to say ‘I want to do this’ I just always had this burning desire to make things, and the multidisciplinary approach that filmmaking requires really drew me to it.
As far as films go, I remember being a kid and watching ‘Superman’ on VHS with Christopher Reeve. It was made years before I was even born but I loved Superman, and I would watch it over and over.
Once I grew up a bit and learned that of course he couldn’t fly – rather than being disheartened my obsession shifted from Superman to the people who made me believe a man could fly. I became enraptured with the filmmaking process.
The creative work that I keep revisiting…
Matthew> I am a big fan of Ron Currie Jr. and one book I keep coming back to is ‘Everything Matters!’ I also absolutely love the film ‘Never Look Away’ which I have rarely seen on people’s lists but is just so worth watching.
And for my birthday my wife gave me the Fred Again Tiny Desk vinyl which has been on repeat since I got it!
My first professional project…
Matthew> My first professional project was a commercial for the Boston Celtics. I went to college in Boston and was working as an editor at an advertising agency and editing their commercials. I ended up shooting a spec one weekend and showing it to the creative directors, who then offered me the chance to direct the next spots for them.
The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Matthew> This is going to make me some enemies, but the film ‘Anora’. Also ‘Tiny Furniture’. Sorry!
The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Matthew> Oh man but there are so many! I see so many talented filmmakers and it’s hard not to be jealous of them. I’m extremely jealous of the film ‘Sentimental Value’. It's just so wonderful. And I frequently am jealous of the work coming from Niclas Larsson, Gustav Johanssen, Miles Jay, Aoife McArdle… Lots to be jealous of!
The creative project that changed my career…
Matthew> I’m not actually sure, there have been a couple stages of my career firstly Field Notes really helped me push on to start directing commercials. Then Squarespace campaigns I did a few years after that, and most recently I think that my first feature ‘Handle With Care’ has changed my career in the way that it changed me. How I approach filmmaking and collaboration – I just learned so much and feel so much more confident in my choices that I think I’ll always look at my career before and after making a feature, it’s a totally different beast.
The work that I’m proudest of…
Matthew> Bose and Goodwill. Bose because we had such a cohesive and healthy relationship with the creative team that what started as a very ambitious project went incredibly smoothly and we were able to get so much more than we thought just through seamless collaboration.
And Goodwill because it’s not often you get to work with a brand who stands for something so positive and pure. Each person at Goodwill wholeheartedly believed in the mission of the company, that’s rare. It was amazing to feel a part of that mission and help tell their story.
I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Matthew> I mean, lots of projects! But I don’t turn my nose up at old work, they were good for what they were, you learn something on everything and advertising work is amazing because it allows you to hone your craft and make money so you can go off and make your art.
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Matthew> Goodwill for the reasons I listed above, and also my feature ‘Handle With Care’.