When I try to imagine where ideas come from, my mind initially goes blank. It kind of just “is,” that is, until we examine the full creative process. Let’s take the above video, (will be attached) which I made for my university Student of Color Fashion Show, to encourage models to sign up. The idea itself, seemingly, appeared from thin air, but, in truth, it was twenty years in the making. Realistically, around eight years, when I started stepping into the world of aesthetics, and the creative hip hop scene that inspired the video. Much like my fashion show designs itself, the way the video moves came from the music itself – when the beat drops, where suspense and tension builds, informs and creates the video itself.
Until the video is actually filmed, it doesn’t exist – it’s just an idea. It really began when I hit “record,” right after explaining my vision to my friend who I had chosen to participate. The video, then, became a combination of her acting, our improvisation, and our adaptation to the circumstances of filming & trial and error of what looked the best.
The penultimate step was editing and patching together the video. I tried different apps before settling on CapCut. It was a simple task – try out transitions between the “student” part and “model” part, and make sure the beat dropped during the transition. The vision became a reality – we had successfully conveyed the feeling of being a student and being a model, and had shown a convincing, pathos driven argument as to why students should sign up to model.
Finally, the video was collab-posted from numerous accounts: the fashion show account, of course, as well as the model’s personal account and the club she ran. This was to maximize engagement, and also to spread the word more efficiently across campus. That year, we had a surplus of models sign up.
