How do you sell a rap album on TV in thirty seconds?

You make the screen sound like the record

An album release needed a TV spot that matched the raw energy of the music and told people exactly what to look for in the store

I produced and directed it

Texture is the sound

The title punches through layers of distressed textures, colors shifting from rust and green to violet and blue

Bold kinetic type hits on the beat, performance and studio clips flash through the grime, an old camera here and there

Nothing sits still, nothing is clean. It's supposed to feel like a photocopy of a photocopy, worn and loud, because that's what the record sounds like

Here is the deal, clean graphics on a rough record lie to the listener. The picture has to feel like the music before a single word is read

Then tell them what to buy

The last frames are pure business, the label logos and the album cover, held long enough to remember

Because what's the point of a great spot if somebody walks into the store and doesn't recognize the cover?

Thirty seconds is tight

Every cut lands on the music, that's the job. Off by a few frames and the whole spot feels wrong, people can't say why but they feel it

So the edit gets built on the beat first and the pictures get placed after

Most bad music spots are cut the other way around, pretty pictures first and the music laid under them later. You can hear it, right?

Same eye, different product

An album cover is a product shot, same as a sneaker or a dress. The job is always the same, make somebody want it and make sure they can find it

That's the thinking I bring to fashion campaigns, where the clothes have to feel like the brand and the brand has to be easy to find

Producer behind the lens

When the producer is the one building every frame, there's no handoff where the energy gets lost, I hear the track and I cut it, start to finish

More music and promo work in the Promo gallery, and the fashion side in the Fashion Videographer gallery

Turn it up, then go buy it

Length: 0 min 30 s · Producer & director: David Victory, VRSET video production, Los Angeles & Orange County

Key moments

  • 0:00 Title
  • 0:03 Textured graphics
  • 0:08 Kinetic type
  • 0:13 Distressed title animation
  • 0:16 Vintage camera clip
  • 0:21 Color texture sequence
  • 0:26 Label logos
  • 0:28 Album cover

See the matching photography in the Promo gallery.

More videos

The full video library

Also on our YouTube channel.

Planning a video or a fashion shoot? Contact David Victory or call (310) 988-6575 in Los Angeles, (949) 873-4551 in Orange County. Free consultation and quote for first-time clients.