I have been thinking about who I want to collaborate with and at this point it seems natural to approach musicians who want to have visuals created for their work, through this I will gain experience working with clients and collaborating. I created a proposal for the project as that is what I will have to do at the end of this unit and it will be interesting top see how my work developed.
‘Developing the Music Video as a Collaborative Art form’ aims to provide a unique creative direction service for musicians looking to visually communicate their concepts in a contemporary way whilst keeping up with the growth of the media. Through bridging the gap between music and other creative practices, this project aims to further develop the music video as an art form, resulting in a portfolio of work which crosses over a variety of genres and a collaborative network.
My clients are up-and-coming musicians who are looking to develop the visual artistry of their craft and are aware of the importance of honing young creative talent, particularly in the current political climate. Spanning across 12 months, I aim to complete at least one piece of digital media a month, recruiting and working with at least twelve clients and collaborative groups. By intersecting music and film, the project combines will recruit collaborators with various skills resulting in the production of innovative pieces of digital media used to accompany and promote the client’s music as well as provide the creative team involved with production experience and a future network of collaborators.
This project is twofold in the sense that I will use my skillset as an Art Director, but I will also be delivering ongoing collaborative opportunities for visual artists in the early stages of their career development. This platform for collaboration is aimed at young creatives who wish to develop their portfolio and work on contemporary projects outside of a university setting. I want to focus on creating a strong portfolio of work, as this will be valuable for all creatives involved. I will spend time seeking out further publishing and marketing opportunities for the various work we create, ideally resulting in additional collaborations and partnerships.
The process I will use to execute this project involves establishing a unified way of communicating an idea or narrative. The end result will be executed to a highly professional standard, ensuring a cohesive vision from start to finish. I will be developing concepts alongside the client; from brainstorming themes and references, mood boards and storyboarding, to sourcing/motivating a team. I am very proactive and take pride in my resourcefulness and ability to make things happen, particularly as a working-class woman. In between my BA and MA I constantly sought collaborative opportunities to enhance my learning. Alongside my day job I completed internships to develop my marketing and advertising skills and reached out to various designers, sending out proposals I had constructed for brand campaigns. I executed multiple creative projects for various fashion businesses and curated art exhibitions and community workshops. From this I realised my passion lies in creating artistic opportunities within society, hence this project!
The idea for this project was initially devised when I returned from my BA in London and saw so much potential in my peers, but such a lack of opportunities. This project will attempt to bridge the class divide and provide more collaborative opportunities for creatives who live outside of London. I know first-hand how incredibly hard it is to maintain a creative career when you have to work a day job to financially support yourself. I am extremely passionate about the potential creative talent which goes undiscovered and would like to help address this problem.
Whilst communicating with multiple musicians and music promotion companies, I identified a significant gap in the market in terms of visual communication for contemporary recording artists who are not yet at a commercial level but are successfully progressing with their music. I have been aware of the similarities between fashion film and music videos for a while and during my MA I conducted research into the overlapping of these genres and potential for collaboration, resulting in the proposal of this project.
In terms of the development of music videos, there has been a rise in the production of visual albums over the past 4 years, however the collaborative requirements for such a production spans across multiple mediums (including videography in many formats, choreography, costume, make-up and hair for film, set design, AR/ CGI etc). Additionally, the way society consumes media has changed at an incredibly fast rate, which is something that only production companies with massive budgets have explored so far and the competition is extremely corporate. This project aims to respond to these changes whilst offering musicians the opportunity for more collaboration with undiscovered innovative visual communicators, developing networks and contributing to communities of practice.
Personally, my ultimate passion is storytelling through visual language. I realised recently that communicating a narrative is so much more fulfilling and effective when done so within a collaboration. I enjoy developing a concept from start to a fully realised finished product and being able to do this professionally would be a dream come true. Overall, the personal impact of this project will be monumental, this project will be a massive professional step and contribute towards my career as a creative director, whilst allowing me to further develop schemes for unrecognised creatives outside of London.
I have been an active member in the both the art scene and the music scene and am constantly surprised at the lack of cross collaboration and frustrated with its unutilised potential. This project aims to develop the music video as an art form, utilising contemporary media and combining various collaborators and their talents which, if successful will expand a network across multiple mediums. The clients will gain an opportunity to further expand their musical concepts and in terms of long-term impacts will, through collaboration, build a network of fellow creatives – something which I think is incredibly valuable within the industry. The wonderful thing about collaboration is the reach, it draws in the audience of each individual involved; providing this project and its participants with a significant opportunity for career growth.
Throughout this experience I will learn what it is like to manage my own business and be able to offer collaborative opportunities to talented innovators. I will know that this project is successful if I can effectively direct and produce innovative media for a number of musicians, whilst developing this collaborative network of artists whilst expanding our portfolios of work and pushing the boundaries of our creativity.
Leading on from this project, I hope that all involved will take away positive experiences and a practical understanding of working as a team as well as the importance of cross sector collaboration outside of a university setting. In terms of reporting back on this project’s success, I will be documenting the journey of this project on social media channels which, in turn could provide us with more partnerships. I hope to be able to develop my community work and perhaps even develop partnerships with UAL and other universities to expand on the collaborative creative potential.