We’ve had the amazing fortune to work with contemporary artists like Christo, Olafur Eliasson, Michael Craig Martin, Cristina Iglesias, Tai Shani, Pae White, Elmtree & Dragset, Mark Wallinger, Matt Collishaw, Yayoi Kusama and David Tremlett, as well as curators, conservationists and artisans.
And then - collected over a decade like cultural badges of honour - we‘ve spent time filming with some of the most august artistic and cultural institutions in the UK and abroad, including The National Gallery, Museo Nacional del Prado, Museo Sorolla, Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Modern, South London Gallery, Tate Britain, Serpentine Galleries, London Mithraeum, The Creative Land Trust, The Hispanic Society of America, The Arts Council, the Royal College of Art and Central St. Martins.
We probably shouldn’t admit that we prefer working in one sector over another, but - truth be told - making videos about Arts & Culture is what we do most joyfully at NextShoot. Software as a Service videos, bring ‘em on. We’ll give it our all. But, we’re only human and we have our preferences.
With videos related to the Arts & Culture sector the content of each video differs, but there are common denominators. Whichever corner of the cultural landscape you visit, whether contemporary or historical, you find people with a passion for their work and with a strong desire to share their particular vision of the world. Of course, as filmmakers we can relate to this. These artists carry their personal stories into their creativity, which requires contextualising, and their output needs to be placed within a historical framework also. And then there are the techniques of fabrication, from the application of white paint to canvas with bravura brushstrokes in the case of Sorolla, to the transportation of glacial ice from Greenland to London with Olafur Eliasson’s Icewatch.
And through the interactions we have with makers, dancers, performers, curators and critics, we are reminded of the pursuit of truth through Art, reflecting our own efforts as professional filmmakers and simply as humans. And that’s not too shabby for a day’s work.