Working World

Behind the lens

Inside the life of a music video director

By Nuttaporn Srisirirungsimakul, Photographs courtesy of Paween Purijitpanya

Golf on location.

What makes a good music video? Close-up shots of a handsome crooner? Unusual camera angles and spectacular computer graphics? Cute animated cartoons? If your answers are no, no, no and absolutely no way, then you might find yourself disagreeing with Paween Purijitpanya (Golf).

According to Golf, even a mediocre music video with typical crying-in-the-rain scenes can be considered good as long as it can attract viewers� attention. And he should know: As one of the hottest young MV directors in Thailand right now, Golf can count among his credits a nomination for the MTV Southeast Asia Viewers� Choice Awards (2001) for Dome�s �Pa Lao (Outcast)� music video.

ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

So what makes mediocrity acceptable? The secret, apparently, is in sales success rather than artistic merit.

Paween Purijitpanya (Golf).

�Making music videos is all about selling. So on the commercial side, any music video that can sell its singer and song and can make you watch it over and over again is considered a good one,� said the 26-year-old director, whose favourite video right now is Tata Young�s �Dhoom Dhoom.�

Graduating from the department of motion pictures and still photography at Chula�s faculty of communication arts, Golf kicked his career off by directing Arm�s �Sa Muea Rai (Just Kidding)� video for R.S. Promotion.

This first experience was a valuable one � Golf learned that simply issuing instructions from behind a camera isn�t enough to bring out the best in a movie shoot. �You have to built up a good relationship with your crew and learn how to control and work with them,� Golf said.

CREATING CONCEPTS

So back to the original question: What makes a good music video? Or rather,  what makes a successful music video? According to Golf, the first step is to come up with a concept that matches the music.

�Just close your eyes, listen to the song and write down what comes into your mind,� Golf said.

Of course, inspiration can come from elsewhere, including other videos. �You need to be open to new ideas and keep up with what is going on in the business,� Golf said, although he warned against copying.

Even on crutches, the director still needs to be on the scene.

Of course, there are limits to the imagination, not least financial concerns. A major challenge of the job, therefore, is to figure out the best way to deliver ideas within a limited budget and in a given time. And speaking of finances, aspiring video directors shouldn�t take up the job as a get-rich-quick scheme.

�A music video director doesn�t earn all that much money,� Golf said. �Plus it�s a physically demanding job. Every day you have to be out on location, so you need to really love the job to do it well.�

Golf advised anyone hoping to be a music video director to seize every opportunity that comes along.

�If you�re just sitting around doing nothing, how can people know you can make a music video?� he said. �If being a music video director is your career choice, go for it. Show everyone your full potential at every opportunity.�

Vocabulary

crooner (n): a male singer who sings slow romantic songs
mediocre (adj): not very good; of only average standard
nomination (n): the act of suggesting or choosing somebody as a candidate in an election, or for a job or an award
mediocrity (n): the quality of being average or not very good
merit (n): the quality of being good and of deserving praise, reward or admiration
commercial (adj): in this use, making or intended to make a profit
issue (v): to give something to somebody, such as commands
crew (n): in this use, a group of people with special technical skills working together
concept (n): an idea or a principle that is connected with something
inspiration (n): somebody or something that is the reason why somebody creates or does something
demanding (adj): (of a piece of work) needing a lot of skill, patience, effort, etc.