NCA students “Lift” it to the next level – Exclusive Interview

NCA students “Lift” it to the next level – Exclusive Interview 

Q: So first things first: how did you guys start making videos together?
A: Basically this group is headed by three people, namely Hamza-Bin-Tahir, Awais Gohar and Namwar Ayaz. We are best friends and classmates in college. We were initially put in a group for a class project back in our first year and then realised we had this working chemistry between us and most of all we became good friends. So we decided to start a little independent production company called “Retro House Prodcutions”. We found another partner in the form of Sajjad Saleem, he is what we call a shadow partner but is very much a core member and VFX genius and handles all the VFX for all our stuff. We started making videos under this banner plus whatever project we do both inside college and outside, we release it under the banner of our company on social media.

Q: Tell us a little about what you guys have worked on.
A: As aspiring filmmakers our foremost goal is to make films. So most of the work we’ve done together comprises of short films and documentaries. Recently we have started to explore more horizons specially in terms of commercial content and music videos.

Q: What are some your favourite videos and/or directors?
A: All three of us have our personal favorites but there are a few directors who we collectively love and follow, they have generally inspired our work and style, Hamza for example loves Scorcese, Namwar is a Fincher and Nolan fan while Awais loves both Kubrick and Fincher. So its very hard for us to name our favorite films or directors because the list would be too long. We can have a whole interview just on that.

Q: As students of NCA, what pressure do you guys face and on the other hand, what are the advantages?
A: Being NCA students we get equipment from the college that we can shoot on, we can shoot in the department’s studio, we have a college to be used as a location and we can get the help of really talented people from the college, all this saves us a lot of money which we are thankful to the college for. The only drawback is that it gets very hard to manage time with college projects and non-college projects going on around the same time.

Q: Tell us about your debut music video “Talal Qureshi – Lift”? It is being promoted like Students of NCA made a video.
A: We think it is being justly and rightly promoted because it was our college project, we never thought that it would become a commercial project. Before making it we talked to Talal Qureshi and asked for his permission to use his song in our project. Once the video was made we showed it to him and he absolutely loved it. He was supportive enough to make it official.

Q: So as your skills grew, did you guys find it difficult to adjust to the technology and terminology?
A: We personally believe that the learning process never stops especially in this day and age where technology keeps improving everyday. We belive that a huge aspect of being a part of this industry is to keep up with new hardware and software as it gives us new ways to experiment with our art. It can be hard to keep up with the pace of the change but we try our best.

Q: Let’s talk about the creative process behind music videos. How do you guys interact with the Artist to define the story and the look?
A: The creative process of making a music video involves a lot of communication between the artist and the makers of the video as well as among the team of the makers. No filmmaker would want to leave their client and audience unsatisfied. Honestly the ideal scenario for any filmmaker is to be given complete creative liberty and space, as we got from Talal for Lift but we welcome any input from the artist because ultimately it is a joint venture and as we mentioned earlier, communication between the two is very important.

Q: What advice would you guys give to artists who want to make a video? How can they prepare before coming to your Production company?
A: The advice is just something that we do. For those artist who want us to make a video for them, we would advise them to have a clear idea about what they want from the video or at least a clear idea about the feel and visual narrative of the video or if they want to leave it all to us we would request them to have complete faith in us and our abilities. If the artist doesn’t have faith in the filmmakers then it creates a very negative environment which can affect the video in a bad way, resulting in a half-hearted effort from both the artist and the makers.

Q: What kind of budget would you guys recommend for a first video? As everyone expects more in less budget now.
A: For the first time, we wouldn’t suggest going for a huge budget because things can get very tricky with a big budget. Often times new filmmakers waste the budget they’re given because they lack the experience and can overspend on things which don’t require a lot of money. Being student filmmakers, we know how to work in a tiny budget as we have produced films and videos in a small-to-no budget. Such was the case with Lift, we were able to produce an expensive looking music video in a small budget. You have to be very smart about these things during the pre-production phase because there’s always a chance of overspending on equipment so you need to know exactly what you are trying to achieve.

Q: For the ultimate question; what makes a great video?
A: Sadly this ultimate question has no ultimate answer. In fact, the answer is as vague as it gets. There might be a formula for a commercially successful music video but there is no formula to a “great” video because the definition of great differs between the client, the makers and the audience. Our advice would be to do what you feel is right, to stay true to your art and to feel the song itself. No great music video comes without a great track so its very important to understand the feel of the song itself. In the end all you need to make a great video is to have good friends, a good idea and a lot of faith in yourself. That’s what we live by.

Q: How can an artist contact you guys and your production company for a music video?
A: We are very easy to reach. People can send us a private message on our page or can even contact us individually on our Facebook account. We reply to all the messages we get so there’s no chance of missing someone who wants to work with us on a project.

Q: Your comments on PMR (PakMediaRevolution.Net).
A: We think PMR is an absolutely fantastic platform for aspiring artists of all kinds to showcase their work. Specially people like us, we view PMR as an oppurtunity and a platform to speak up and talk about ourselves and our art. The way PMR approaches in promoting artistic content in Pakistan is very strong and smart, and is probably one of the only few platforms there are in Pakistan of such kind. So we thank PMR for playing a crucical role in promoting music and other media related content in Pakistan.

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