Music Video Workshop - Ashwin Style

This year, I decided to do the music video workshop a little bit differently.
Last year's successful Nitin Sawhney music video workshop was amazing and exceeded our expectations. Yet, it still lacked that real Qatar vibe.
So, I launched a search for a local band/artist. The flyer for the search featured a photo of Christian and Phil on stage at the first ever DTFF, performing as the Blue Badge Blues Band.
We even got a push from Portugal. the Man as they tweeted about the search!
After listening to nearly 25 tracks (all written, produced, and recorded in Doha), I was sold on the music of Ashwin Renju.
He first sent in a track called "The Falling Star".
The Falling Star by Ashwin
The track starts with a symphonic sound and then slides into a dreamy female vocal by Ancy Thomas. It had me very interested. I wasn't quite sure where it would go and then the beat dropped into an electro funk rhythm with an almost hip hop hook.
It was obvious to me that this guy was either super talented OR he sent me in music from a band that I have never heard of, pulling a fast one on me.
Then he sent in 2 more tracks. Which I later found out, were written and recorded strictly for this "competition".
Call Of The Saints by Ashwin
Nomadination (Leornardo) by Ashwin
I notified Ashwin that he was selected and met Ancy and Ashwin about a week later.
They were incredibly humble, excited, and enthusiastic about the project.
I knew right away.... I made the right selection.

After we had Ashwin in place, we shouted out to the public to get people applying for the workshop. This time the flyer featured a shot of Brit from the set of the Buy Star Bombs "Le Petit Mort" music video shoot we did a few years ago (and still never finished haha).
After 2 weeks of applications, we ended up with about 60 people wanting to learn how to make a music video.
We selected the best of the applications and started the workshop.
With the help of Jackie Salloum, we narrowed down the best pitches to 4.
Those 4 students then pitched their ideas to Ashwin and Ancy.
They selected an idea pitched by Irianna Poulsen, which featured an alien who lands in Doha to search for the chosen few to join his intergalactic band. The video is set to the song "Nomadination".
Sounds crazy.... but it's not really.
It's laced with sci-fi elements inspired by The Man Who Fell To Earth, Tron, and other classic films.

The film is currently in post production.
Here is a sneak peek at the title card for the video:
The film will be screened to the Ashwin, Ancy, crew, friends, family, and anyone interested on Thursday night.
If you want to come see it, please let me know and I'll reserve you a seat.
Otherwise, you will have to wait for the online premiere which will happen around the 15th of June.