VIDEO PREP - MEETING AN INDIE KOREAN SINGER

It feels good being back on the "freelance" grind so to speak. It means that there's plenty of time to concentrate on personal projects that have been kept on the back burner. For one, I need to finish a short movie to be posted on the channel. In the meantime, I am prepping for other videos - a sort of mini-documentary sketches focused on artistic individuals based here in Seoul. Today, in fact, I went to meet an indie musician.

As a rule of thumb, I always meet my subjects and get a sense of what kind of people they are, see how that can be reflected in the style and visuals of the final product.

The weather was fantastic. Not so chilly and the autumn hues are blooming. We agreed to meet a spot which is a short 10-minute walk from where I live. The artist is called Uza (https://www.instagram.com/uza_off/). I've been a fan of hers for quite some time now, so I was nervous meeting her on friendly terms. Luckily enough she is a very sweet person, very keen to collaborate on the video I'd like to make about her. Together with a friend of hers - also an artist in her own merit (https://www.instagram.com/sahpo.art/) - headed towards a cafe' close by, spent most of the afternoon talking about anything and everything.

I'll have you know Seoul has got quite the number of quaint coffee shops with impeccably designed interiors. This was one of them, and I had my eye on it since forever. Finally visiting did not disappoint. I had a hot sesame seed latte - trust me, it tastes so much better than it sounds. So aromatic that Koreans have a word for it, which is difficult to translate - 고소하다 (gosohada). Think the smell of freshly baked sourdough bread, or, in this case, toasted sesame seeds - that kind of feeling.

We continued our discussion at Uza's studio. She has just moved in a new place and was looking forward to inviting us to see it. You can actually see a copy of her latest album above the record in the photo above. Judging by her LP collection, she seems like a fan of Genesis and Phil Collins. It was actually quite interesting seeing sleeves written in Korean characters. Even the song titles were translated.

All in all, it was a day well spent getting to know the person behind the artist. At least for me, it always helps me visualize and organize those visual ideas into a coherent plan for the day of shooting. I'm excited again to get going!

This Wednesday, in fact, I'll be shooting our friend @iodacasamia. He's quite the interesting subject himself! I'll update on how that goes too :)