While scouting locations at Heritage Middle School in Berwyn and Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing for the music video for “Space Hustler,” Flow Motion Media took time to educate students about the realities of production.
“Many kids think producing a music video is easy and glamorous,” said Kyle Flaharty, Flow Motion writer and director. “What they don’t realize is that it’s hard work. The hours are long, the competition is fierce and finding the right artist to work with is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Space Hustler,” which is near completion, tells the story of a space pilot’s harrowing adventures imagined by a child sitting in detention. Both schools had rooms that could easily be transformed into a scene where the main character of the story, nine-year-old Sampson Neuman, acts out his fantasy. The singer is Julian Lozano, also known as Sex the Rapper.
“Space Hustler” will be promoted by Pappilon Pavilion Records & Entertainment, a Denver-based record label company.
“The principals at both schools were extremely accommodating about allowing us to use their rooms for our music video scenes,” Flaharty continued. “When they asked us to come back and talk with the kids about the industry, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.”
The students from both schools not only met with Flaharty, but also with Katelyn Zenie who is a producer and project manager and the company’s music video producer, Aaron Palmer.
The group shared their love of video and storytelling, presented a handful of their recent projects, and answered questions about editing, shooting and what it’s like to work in the industry.
According to Flaharty, Flow Motion has been trying to dispel a lot of misperceptions about the video and film industry.
Creating a music video is also not an instant money maker, according to the group. Most of their clients are new artists so their production budgets are often done in a shoestring. Currently the average budget for a music video for new artists range from $2,000-$5,000. More established clients can handle larger productions that can cost between $15,000 – $20,000. Flow Motion has been lucky enough to work with artists who continue to gain large fans, leading to greater demand for their creative/production work.
The one message they emphasized to students at both schools? “Give your 110%. It’s what will make you stand out and the reason why you’ll be invited back.
