MUISC VIDEO AWARDS
MUISC VIDEO AWARDS
Mitpar Films
Mitchell Parks, also known as Mitpar Films, is a music video director from Northern California and has been releasing visuals with music artists from all over the state for the last 3 and a half years. In 2021, Mitpar received the North Bay Videographer of the year award, and in 2022 proceeded to win "Best Rock Music Video" for the "Quest Clown - Fallin' Away" music video, and also landed a 1WorldMagazine placement in the same year. With one of his most recent videos, "Insanity by JG and B. Lyrical"receiving "Best Hip Hop Music Video" and earning him the "Best Male Director" title at the Euro Video Song Awards, he's definitely someone to keep an eye on!
INTERVIEW
Music video J.G - INSANITY ft. B. Lyrical
Your project has entered our festival. What is your project about?
This music video is supposed to portray the title of the song itself; "Insanity". The sword, the mask, chess in the woods while it's raining. I feel like a lot of people would call us insane for shooting it how we did, bringing a bunch of battery powered technology out in the rain and plugging microphones into trees in the middle of Lake County. Seems pretty insane.
What are your ambitions with your project?
My ambitions were to put out a cool and unique video, which I think we did. The festival was the only next step I could think of and even that was a new development very shortly after the video was released. JG, B. Lyrical and I were all very excited the entire time while being a part of this festival.
Tell us something about your shooting. What pleasantly surprised you?
What surprised me during shooting is how fitting the rain actually was for our chess shots. Every time we were about to start rolling, the rain would start, JG and B. Lyrical would play chess for three or four minutes, and by the time they had played for about 10 minutes, the rain water was resting on the board, so it felt like another fitting layer to add in the video. Who plays chess on a rock in the woods while it's raining?
What locations did you choose for your project? And why?
JG and B. Lyrical actually came to me prepared with the locations we used in the video and I'm glad they did because they worked perfectly for us in the end. We shot right outside of a hiking trail in Kelseyville for a "Wrong Turn" movie feeling, not even being that far into the woods, but there are these "insane" guys running around rapping, wearing masks, cooking something in a pot and swinging a sword around. Then we shot right in the middle of downtown Main Street Kelseyville, mostly for B. Lyrical because he wanted to utilize a location that was the opposite setting of the woods during the day, so we shot in the middle of the road in the middle of the night with building lights and Christmas lights lighting up the road.
How would you characterize your work?
I would just characterize it as music videos. I just decided to start submitting them to festivals to get an even broader audiences reaction to them. They're still music videos, they're just being seen by eyes that haven't seen them yet.
For what group of spectators is your music video targeted?
It's targeted towards anyone who wants to see a visual version of the song. I'd say it's more targeted towards the underground rap fans, but obviously that doesn't stop anyone else from watching it.
At what festivals have you had success?
This is the second festival I've actually ever been a part of. In September of last year, Quest Clown, Aidan Healy and I won "Best Rock Music Video" at the International Music Video Awards. After we got the news that we won, it just made me want to make more videos and work with more people, because you never know where the project will take you, and you're always going to make memories along the way.
What motivated you to become a filmmaker?
I was always into the filmmaking process when I was a kid, I ended up taking a 4 year specialized class for filmmaking and decided to keep expanding on what I learned after I graduated. When I was younger I didn't necessarily have any specific motivation, but now I can safely say it's simply what I enjoy doing and the end result is always satisfying and relieving.
What topics do you like to explore in your work?
I don't know if it's topics specifically, but it's the weird, different visuals that these artists and I can come up with for their videos. Music is always changing, so the visuals have to as well.
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.
