Activities
- Pre-production
- Production
- Post Production
Client
Year
About.
Winning by Kenwa was his debut music promo and was released in late June 2021 when lockdown was coming to an end and the weather was hot, but the shoot took place at a very different time of the year on a snowy January evening in Sandwich, Kent.
Klaxon’s Creative Director, Liam Smith, had worked with Kenwa, also known as Kane McArthur, on a few passion projects in the past, such as Kenwa’s single ‘On Top’. They decided to collaborate together and create a music video for an upcoming debut single release, Winning by Kenwa.
The mission.
Klaxon Creative’s objective was to show the grassroots beginnings of this young aspiring artist as he works his day job, getting stress from his boss (the actress is actually Kenwa’s mother) and working various positions in the pub until he has finally made it to the top at the end of the video, where we see a biblical homage with Kenwa celebrating his success of Winning with his friends around him together on a table. The video shows Kenwa transitioning from role-to-role with every change becoming more and more successful in-line with his lyrics and dreams of being at the top and fighting to get there.
Building the concept.
Process
Klaxon’s Creative Director Liam Smith spoke at length with Max Edmed, Director of Photography, about what kit would be ideal to give us the look we wanted. Initially, we were going to use a Ronin 2, however Ben Eeley and Ollie Cipres agreed to join the team, which allowed us to use a Steadicam, meaning we had more flexibility with the shots we could take. For choice of camera, it was a close race between an ARRI or a RED camera. In the end we decided to go with the ARRI Alexa Mini LF, we paired this with a set of Atlas Orion Anamorphic lenses to give us the widest possible field of view.
As Kenwa walks through the pub from shot-to-shot, the music video appears to continue to each scene seamlessly without a cut. This gives the impression that we are seeing his transformation happen in front of us as we watch the video.
To create the music video Winning by Kenwa, Klaxon Creative brought in crew from London and Kent. It was at the height of the pandemic and therefore it was essential to observe Covid regulations to the letter. This was a new experience in itself, making sure all the crew had been tested and wore the appropriate PPE. At one point the police arrived during the shoot to check we were following guidelines and they were sufficiently happy with our risk assessments and protocols.
Execution
We shot the music video in the Kings Arms Hotel, Sandwich, Kent. Pre-production planning was completed by Liam and Emily Close. Emily had met Kenwa on the Dazed X Gucci commercial which Kenwa featured in with Arlo Parks.
Once we had a strong concept and a plan in place, Liam and Emily recced the location, and worked closely with Max to create a shot list. After the shot list was complete, the team began working out the logistics of the shoot, which included; schedule, budget, risk assessments and more.
On the day on the shoot, we arrived in the afternoon with the intention of filming through the night. We did this so that we could have full control over the lighting and play with creating moonlight and warm fiery tones.
We wanted to acknowledge Kenwa’s British roots, in order to convey this, we shot in the King’s Arms Hotel which emphasises traditional British culture as well as subtly using a colour palette of red, white and blue throughout the video. The team thought this would provide a contrast with the contents of his lyrics and message that highlights his dual heritage.
The shoot wrapped at 2:00am, this is when the editing process began. Due to the production being so well orchestrated, the post-production phase was vastly simplified as we had a clear plan from the start and each shot already had a specific time and place.
For the purposes of the production, Kenwa provided us with a rough version of the track that was to be finalised at a later date. However this didn’t cause delay to the completion of the project and we were able to drop in the mixed and mastered version of the track from Producer Brokeboibeats and Mix Master Lines who added some additional layers to the track to compliment Kenwa’s lyrics.
Results.
The music video for Winning by Kenwa came together really well and we are very happy with the outcome. This work couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work of all the below individuals and the huge pool of talent we had at our disposal to pull this project off. Klaxon Creative values all the contributions from the team that together created such a professional and well built music video. It is the skills and talents of each person that we have listed below that made this project work, Klaxon Creative couldn’t have done it without you. We thank you and look forward to collaborating again in the future. Kenwa decided to release Winning on the first anniversary of a BLM protest march that he organised that had over 3000 participants. The music video premiere was an exclusive event took place at Elsewhere, Margate.
Testimonial.
"Klaxon and the team made a music video that I couldn’t even have imagined. The story and the way it worked with my music has moved me and I’m so glad Klaxon worked with me on this video."