When it comes to the promotion of an artist, in any genre, one of the most important elements is the song visual, aka the music video. Videographers have been here since the dawn of lyrics, and with artist evolution we get videographer evolution. Enter into the room Big Chance aka CRG Films. He's the man behind all the visuals for one of New Orleans hottest indy rappers, Lil Dee. If for some reason ur unfamiliar with who Lil Dee is, when u come into New Orleans he's the guy on the billboard welcoming u. Even though CRG Films has only been doing videos a little over a year, u'd think he' been behind the camera for years..his work is that good. As they say, numbers dont lie, and CRG Films accumulating views in the thousands is proof that this guy is a force in the indy visual game..most simply put DUDES A BEAST.
Introduce urself to the people.
I am Chance, most ppl call me Big Chance I am CRG Films.
Where r u from and how long have u been creating visuals?
I'm from New Orleans, specifically the Westbank, and it's been a lil over a year since i've been doing videography.
Is it something that just fell into ur lap or has doing videos been something u've always wanted to do?
Well, it kind of just fell in my lap. I would always tape Lil Dee's performances whenever he performed and I think one day we was just hanging around & somehow someone said I should start doing videos so I think like the next couple of days my first video "Play My Song" ft. Lil Dee, Twinn, & Fatt Kidd aka Filnobep, and people really liked it and said I have a great eye for the camera so i stuck with it.
As Lil Dee's camera man do u come up with all video concepts or is it a colaborated effort?
It really all depends, sometimes I will listen to a song and an idea will pop up in my head I will tell Dee what I'm thinking and go on from there. Other times Dee will have something in his head for a video for a song and then we will brainstorm. So to answer your question, yes it's a collaborated effort lol.
Is there a method u use when coming up with concepts for videos?
It's all in my head, the video will play in my head before I create it. I JUST started writing down my thoughts and creating treatments for videos.
Dee calls u up on Monday and says yo I wanna do a video for such and such song, how long b4 u have the treatment ready and y'all shooting?
A week or two, it all depends on what type of song and what's needed in the video. Location, actors, etc. some videos were on the spot let's go shoot a video right now type of deal lol that "Off The Wall Wednesday 9" happened like that.
When u come from behind the camera and sit down to edit, what is the point that u wanna get across with the video?
Just to make sure it's not boring and matches up with the song well.
What would u say is the hardest task to accomplish as a videographer?
Hmmmm maybe the hardest thing for me is taking out the time to sit down and edit because of the schedule I have with still working a 9 to 5 and traveling with Lil Dee.
Do u feel the videographer gets the verbal respect and recognition he deserves?
Not at all, I don't think people matter fact I know that people don't realize how much time and effort goes into these videos. Many hours goes into editing and planning the videos.
Top 5 directors in ur mind, who are they?
I don't think I have 5 I could give u 3 lol Chris Robinson, Spike Lee and Mikael Colombu.
U've been accumulation mad views on ur videos, how does it feel when u post and come back 2 days later and have over 1000 views?
It feels great, knowing that I'm not just doing this for my health and people really watching and loving my work. It means the world to me.
I've been following u a while on twitter and we frequently chop it up, ur a real down to earth, spiritual and humble dude, how has those characteristics aided u n this "video game"?
I'm easy to talk to i guess? lol I'm not "bigheaded" so it helps for someone like yourself that doesn't know me outside the "video game" to approach me.
I see u recently started promoting ur blogspot, what kind of content can we look for on that site?
U can look for all my videos and photography that I do. Yes I do; I just got into photography as well.
Any advice u wanna give to any up and coming videographers that may be reading this?
The more u do the more u learn, what u put into it u will get back.
If someone wants to contact u for some videos or some event pictures how can they get in contact with u? twitter.com/crg_films or my email crgfilms@gmail.com
As always its good runnin it with u, is there anything I missed that u wanna let our readers know?
CRG Films is often thought of being named after my intials, but it's actually named after my lil brother who passed a couple years ago and I do everything to keep his name alive using CRG Films.
