When Artists Collide – Creating Lights
A unique element of music videos that sets it apart from other multimedia productions is the distinct collaborative relationship it requires. Of course almost all media creations require some sort of collaboration, however this relationship exists in a special way. The creative process of media projects can be diverse, but music videos always begin with a fully fledged audio work and expands from there. Reading an interview with Dawn Shadforth about her collaboration with Hurts’ to produce a music video for their song “Lights” was (dare I say) illuminating (I hate myself). Following the interview, I got a keen sense of how each different collaborator worked as pieces of a puzzle that grew out from a single, all important, central piece.
“After writing the treatment, the process was completely collaborative. For instance Theo came up with the matador/bull theme which worked perfectly and added another layer to the concept. And it meant we could play on that idea in the choreography, the casting and the rest of the styling too.”
Throughout the course of the interview the ebb and flow of creativity became obvious; Theo Hutchcraft (Hurts singer) approached Shadforth with a proposal for a music video, requesting to dance. He also proposed the matador outfit. This was then incorporated into a treatment by Shadforth, realised by Paul Roberts (choreographer), and captured by Robbie Ryan (camera operator). Each player introduced their own stylistic elements to it, but all anchored their inspiration to the music itself. The approval of Hutchcraft on all decisions was crucial.
“Having Robbie Ryan operate camera is like having another dancer on set.”
Shadforth discloses a cordial and trusting collaborative effort in which the talents of each participant added to the product, however it makes me realise that an unfriendly and distant one could result in quite the opposite. A collaboration is a fine balance that holds with it the promise of achieving something greater than the sum of its parts. If the balance isn’t met however the entire project can go under. Throughout the interview I get the keen sense that each individual who was brought in to work on the process was picked for their congruity with Hutchcraft and his vision.
There is this equilibrium of personal creative flare within a group creation that had to be met. To be a great production, each component has to bring some new creative element to the piece, but to be intelligible they have to work in a synchronised fashion to create a cohesive and comprehendible music video. This idea of compatible creativity is incredibly interesting to me as creativity is (at least as I have known it) a very personal thing. It is the artistic element that makes you stand out in the industry, however it has to know when to succumb to the artistic vision of others. This interview made it obvious how well Shadforth understands this push-and-pull dynamic as each collaborator was given the space to breathe, creatively speaking, but was also kept strictly within the overall vision of the project as anchored by the song. I hope that our production can work in this way. That each of our artistic styles and creative decisions can compliment each other rather than colliding with each other and produce something that is greater than what each of us are individually capable of. Because this work is not entirely our own, because we are working to expand on an already existent creative piece, it will be interesting to see how we can use our own creative vision to build on a completed work.
“I really appreciated them asking me directly to be involved, and the freedom to take some time and have the project develop organically.”