Week 2’s reading is an interview with the director Dawn Shadforth who has been making great British pop videos for nearly two decades. Throughout the interview, Shadforth continuously mentioned ‘collaboration’ in the music video production for Hurts’ Lights. The process of the production was completely collaborative. She spoke about the collaboration with the director of photography Robbie Ryan and with the artist Theo. Ryan is a famous cinematographer who knows how to play with cameras. Shadforth said that Ryan likes a bit of crazy dancing where having him operate camera is like having another dancer on set. As the chorography in this music video is one of the focal point, Shadforth assuredly wants Ryan to be her partner. Another collaboration with the artist Theo, Shadforth mentioned that Theo is not only the signer but also a filmmaker. Theo came up with many ideas regards to the concept and choreography. Through the discussion, Shadforth and Theo had a good collaboration and had an amazing piece of work.

Another collaborative example would be my presentation on Drakes’ Hotline Bling music video analysis. In the interview with the director Director X, he said that ‘I like doing my own thing, but I also like it when an artist has a clear vision for themselves and you can focus on molding that idea into a full working piece. It becomes a partnership.’ This shows how Director X and Drakes respect to each other and have an effective collaboration on the production.

Before we started Media studio class, we ever had a lecture on collaboration in Media 1. It always reminds me that communication is vital in a team. A good collaborator not only contribute their own effort but also listen and respect to one another. For our group work, we first have to collaborate between our team. We should have a good communication and learn something from others. Then we can approach to the artist and cooperate with each other. When there is teamwork and collaboration wonderful things can be achieved.

Reference

Ducker, E 2015, Director X on Making Drake’s Dance-Crazy, Meme-Ready ‘Hotline Bling’, Rolling Stone, viewed 14 November 2017, <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/director-x-on-making-drakes-dance-crazy-meme-ready-hotline-bling-20151023>.

Knight, D 2015, Dawn Shadforth on Hurts’ Lights: “Haven’t we all been there?”, Promo News, viewed 13 November 2017, <http://www.promonews.tv/interviews/dawn-shadforth-hurts-lights-haven%E2%80%99t-we-all-been-there>.