MUISC VIDEO AWARDS
MUISC VIDEO AWARDS
Diego Ante
Diego Ante is a Colombian director who has been working for more than ten years in the advertising industry and answering the question of "how to tell stories excitingly?".
He is a self-taught director, so he is constantly searching for how to do things differently and efficiently. Diego's career began as a Creative, working for the BBDO network, allowing him to understand advertising from the inside out. This has built his vision as a Director on what is essential for brands from a business point of view. He's also a painter and illustrator; and has worked as a lead compositor in post-production projects, and the mixture of these areas allows him to create eye-catching projects.
This has allowed him to bring a lot of craft into his projects, thinking about lighting, color, and art direction and making him able to imagine every detail before shooting any scene. His love for music has allowed him to work with clients such as Warner Music Group, directing music videos with a strong narrative background.
In 2022, his music video Poema, for the Latinoamerican duo Las Villa, won the honorable mention as the Best Latin American Music Video in the International Music Video Awards and was selected for the Silver Screenings in the Berlin Music Video Awards. And his music video Amor & Sal, for the Latinoamerican duo Las Villa, won the honorable mention as the Best Male Director in the International Music Video Awards.
He always has in mind what is needed in the different production stages, anticipating solutions from pre-production to post-production, accelerating the dynamics of the team without losing sight of the quality of the final result.
Diego is a versatile director who understands that post-production is a process that adds, catalyzes, and enhances, not a process that corrects. Therefore, within this experience, he is also aware of when to use it and when not to use it without losing the focus on telling memorable stories that generate a strong and emotional connection with the audience.
Lean more about Diego
https://diegoante.com/
https://vimeo.com/diegoante/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14104454/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
INTERVIEW
Music video Poem
Your project has entered our festival. What is your project about?
In a faraway land, long ago, lived two beautiful nymphs. Many years had passed since they last saw anyone lurking around their forest when suddenly, they heard something. They tried to get closer to the noise when they found that two handsome men had lost their path and had appeared out of the mist.
The nymphs, attracted by their beauty, decided to come out cautiously from their hideout and use their magic to lure them away. But, first, they determined if the men could be trusted when they brought them closer. Once they found they were, all the seduction games started. Our nymphs have decided they can love again, so they'll do everything to make our heroes fall in love with them.
You can learn more about this project at https://diegoante.com/portfolio/poema-las-villa/
What are your ambitions with your project?
The idea was to create a project that had a global look without leaving out the Latin culture, we wanted to had a mixture between the strong vocals and music and the idea of letting the world see a new perspective on Latin American music. I think we did a very good job as this project has received a lot of recognition in foreign countries and I think is exactly because of that. It has kept a global view, without leaving behind our culture.
Tell us something about your shooting. What pleasantly surprised you?
Well we had a scene that was in a exterior, and that was how it was planned. But it started to rain heavily and it was impossible to shoot, so we had to think very fast to have a new idea, this was for the beginning of the music video, and that was how we came with the idea of having both Laura and Lucía in a kind of eerie and oniric place, which is where they get to see the two men that are lost in the woods. So as I said before, all this limitations for me, are actually like big bonuses, because they demand you to think different.
What locations did you choose for your project? And why?
We chose a location that could be very versatile that allowed us to have a place where our nymphs lived, but then the road where the two men were getting closer to them, and definitely, the location for the ceremony where you had all of their clones looking at the two guys was a must. So we found a place outside Bogotá with all of these locations, which allowed us to be very efficient as we had to shoot everything in one day.
What expression elements did you use in your project?
This was a project that was very story-driven so we had to think about how we could keep a very appealing image without leaving out the narrative having a low budget and a very small amount of time to shoot (because of the covid limitations). That's when all the work in preproduction came into play, planning every move ahead so that we could be efficient and resourceful. Luckily we had Mr. Wolf Studios as a big ally in postproduction because so many things could be done in post, not to fix the production but rather to enhance it. This gave us options and the possibility to keep throwing ideas that seemed crazier and then being confident that they could be done as we had Mr. Wolf's team behind. This was what allowed us to have multiple clones of Las Villa during the ceremony scene or have a fairy flying around in the music video, which lead our heroes into our nymphs.
How would you characterize your work?
I think my work is very strong in its narrative and very story-oriented. It also has a lot from my post-production background, it might not always have a lot of VFX shots, but at least it helps us to keep being efficient as I'm always editing in my head and knowing exactly what we will need at the end. This allows us to shoot more in less time. And finally, I am an illustrator, and I think that view has helped me with art direction. For me, it's very important how we frame a show and to fit the whole composition so that it just makes sense, that it can have a stronger feeling on our main characters, almost as if I was painting each frame.
For what group of spectators is your music video targeted?
I think it's especially for young people falling in love. It talks about that magic of feeling butterflies in your stomach and how you actually feel that you cast a spell on someone when you want them to get closer, or even the other way around when you feel that someone cast a spell on you to make you come closer, you don't understand why but now you don't want to be apart from them. Whoever is feeling in love will find a safe and commonplace in this music video.
At what festivals have you had success?
Euro Video Song Awards, Berlin Music Video Awards, International Music Video Awards, Los Angeles International Music Video Awards, LNDN Music Video Awards, Munich Music Video Awards, Prague International Music Video Awards, Prague Music Video Awards, Music Video Awards (Los Angeles), Rome Music Video Awards.
What motivated you to become a filmmaker?
The possibility to tell stories, but especially the possibility to help others to tell their story. I think that as an illustrator I had the same possibility but filmmaking allows you to develop a little bit more, is not just a moment frozen in time, but it allows you to develop a character, to express their whole range of feelings, and trap the spectator from a different perspective.
What topics do you like to explore in your work?
Human Behavior, magic, self-love, rushed feelings.
What genre do you like to shoot and why?
I like drama a lot because it's very emotional, you get to know your characters and develop them. Also, you give the possibility to the spectator to feel and relate to the people their seeing in the screen. So any possibility of developing a story is a good genre for me.
What project would you like to shoot one day, and what would it be about?
I want to keep pushing the boundaries both in film and music videos, with new narrative styles and a more dynamic approach. So any projects that challenge me to think differently or to create in new ways, are the ones that I'm looking for.
How has COVID affected your film life?
It obviously made it stop all of a sudden at the beginning, but I think that led me to experiment more, to look for new teams and new places to shoot. I had been a film & commercial director, but COVID led me to look into the music industry, and I've loved it to be honest. So, what seemed to be a constraint, became a new path for my career and for my development.
What do you do if you're not thinking about a movie, work, shooting?
I'm reading or playing games, haha. Games have developed such strong narratives that I find them very inspirational because they're not only telling you a story but making you part of it. So that mixture of both worlds, where the story is not only happening but actually happening to you, I think, is the future, and thinking about how I can include that idea in my own projects is what keeps me motivated.
What are your hobbies?
I like to read, I like to write, and I love to learn new things. I'm always looking for new skills to develop. I think it gives me more tools to create new things.
What projects do you plan to shoot in the future?
There's always the idea to direct a movie, so I'll keep working on these short-format stories to keep developing my characters until I find a good project to tell in a longer format.
INTERVIEW
Music video Love & Salt
Your project has entered our festival. What is your project about?
"Amor y Sal" is a song that basically talks about love stories in general, seeing how these are formed and eventually disappear, suddenly they emerge, and then they are shipwrecked. The song talks about the frustration of realizing from the beginning that it wasn't going to work out and that it always ends up falling apart halfway.
The Music Video takes place mostly inside a train, narrating from an imaginary world the different stops which symbolize the stages that life presents us with and the people we meet during those stages.
The video tells the story of this every day that is happening in parallel and happens to many people where we live in a constant movement and meet many people and learn differently from many people, where we fall in love and fall out of love.
You can learn more about this project at https://diegoante.com/portfolio/amor-y-sal/
What are your ambitions with your project?
The idea was to express how love feels in different stages of our lives, how we think we fall in love for a second, and then we realize we have grown in so many ways that now we want new or different things. That's what the train represents: the different stages of life, where we keep moving and defining who we are so that we can define who and what we want in our lives.
Tell us something about your shooting. What pleasantly surprised you?
The idea of faking a train in an interior was hilarious because we had to create a way to simulate that the train was moving. I always had the idea of having light coming through the windows in a way that it could show that we were moving, and that's when the lighting department came up with the idea of having all those mirrors turning at the outside of the "train", constantly moving to simulate that the train was actually moving forward, even giving the illusion that we entered tunnels at some points. Also, the first scene where we have Laura and Lucía being "sucked in" by the sofa, was very fun to shoot because the effect was all practical.
What locations did you choose for your project? And why?
We had to fake a train so we needed a space that allowed us to construct everything inside. We also had a time constraint and a budget constraint. So we had to look for something that would work for us rather than us working for the location. We were blessed to have an amazing team in the art department that was ready to create everything we needed beforehand.
What expression elements did you use in your project?
This project was completely handheld for the train scene, as we had to feel the wagon's movement when there wasn't any movement. We used mirrors on the outside of the wagon, which were constantly turning to give that feel of movement at the inside of the train as if we were actually speeding up, and sometimes playing with the lights to simulate getting in a tunnel or under a bridge. This gave a lot of options and rhythm to the edit. And it was awesome to keep that hot feeling inside the train, even though we were shooting in Bogotá in a very rainy season.
I think this allowed us to be faithful to the Latino essence without compromising the cinematography.
How would you characterize your work?
I think my work is very strong in its narrative and very story-oriented. It also has a lot from my post-production background, it might not always have a lot of VFX shots, but at least it helps us to keep being efficient as I'm always editing in my head and knowing exactly what we will need at the end. This allows us to shoot more in less time. And finally, I am an illustrator, and I think that view has helped me with art direction. For me, it's very important how we frame a show and to fit the whole composition so that it just makes sense, that it can have a stronger feeling on our main characters, almost as if I was painting each frame.
For what group of spectators is your music video targeted?
I think it's especially for young people. Our introductory scene is very powerful and captivating. Then the development in the train is talking about the different stations where you could get off the train, but you decide to keep loving.
At what festivals have you had success?
Euro Video Song Awards, Berlin Music Video Awards, International Music Video Awards, Los Angeles International Music Video Awards, LNDN Music Video Awards, Munich Music Video Awards, Prague International Music Video Awards, Prague Music Video Awards, Music Video Awards (Los Angeles), Rome Music Video Awards.
What motivated you to become a filmmaker?
The possibility to tell stories, but especially the possibility to help others to tell their story. I think that as an illustrator I had the same possibility but filmmaking allows you to develop a little bit more, is not just a moment frozen in time, but it allows you to develop a character, to express their whole range of feelings, and trap the spectator from a different perspective.
What topics do you like to explore in your work?
Human Behavior, magic, self-love, rushed feelings.
What genre do you like to shoot and why?
I like drama a lot because it's very emotional, you get to know your characters and develop them. Also, you give the possibility to the spectator to feel and relate to the people their seeing in the screen. So any possibility of developing a story is a good genre for me.
What project would you like to shoot one day, and what would it be about?
I want to keep pushing the boundaries both in film and music videos, with new narrative styles and a more dynamic approach. So any projects that challenge me to think differently or to create in new ways, are the ones that I'm looking for.
How has COVID affected your film life?
It obviously made it stop all of a sudden at the beginning, but I think that led me to experiment more, to look for new teams and new places to shoot. I had been a film & commercial director, but COVID led me to look into the music industry, and I've loved it to be honest. So, what seemed to be a constraint, became a new path for my career and for my development.
What do you do if you're not thinking about a movie, work, shooting?
I'm reading or playing games, haha. Games have developed such strong narratives that I find them very inspirational because they're not only telling you a story but making you part of it. So that mixture of both worlds, where the story is not only happening but actually happening to you, I think, is the future, and thinking about how I can include that idea in my own projects is what keeps me motivated.
What are your hobbies?
I like to read, I like to write, and I love to learn new things. I'm always looking for new skills to develop. I think it gives me more tools to create new things.
What projects do you plan to shoot in the future?
There's always the idea to direct a movie, so I'll keep working on these short-format stories to keep developing my characters until I find a good project to tell in a longer format.
