Emil Nava is a freelance music director who has directed many music videos for huge artists such as; Jesse J, Calvin Harris, Neyo and Ed Sheeran. He began his career as a runner for different production companies. He started off as a runner for Blink productions and now works as a freelancer for OB management.
After working as a runner, Nava graduated to become assistant director and it would be his responsibility to manage video shoots. Nava then signed to the Academy which is the biggest music video production company, he struggled while working with the production company as the stakes were very high, it was documented by Nava that he was consistently working in the office and always pitching throughout the week. After a strenuous time at the company, Nava left the organisation and joined with a company called 'Between the eyes' and now mainly works with Pulse, a production company situated in London.
Kid British - Our House
Emil Nava's first production was for the Band "Kid British" and their track "Our House" for a budget of £20,000 and the music video was shot in Manchester and only consisted of one full day of filming. The cast involved in the video were local people and were not casted from casting agencies or professional performers. Furthermore, there were only 10 days of pre-production and 2/3 days of post production and editing the video. This demonstrates the tight time scale involved and the making and construction of music videos.
When assessing this video it is clear that the budget was limited based on aspects such as the mise en scene and the lack of items and objects that would knowingly cost a great amount. It was quite a simplistic video filmed in an area that does not appear to be of high prestige and costly in nature. However, what is good about the location and the mise en scene is the fact that it relates well to the lyrics of the song and the general message extracted from the song as a result of this.
Nava on being a music video director
This interview says a lot about the music industry. It shows that it doesn't necessarily matter if you are not completely qualified and you can work your way up from the bottom and Nava did to be successful in this creative sector.
Jesse J - Wild
Jesse J - Wild was filmed by Nava and shows how his career has progressed from that of simplistic and rather low budget independent music video maker to a successful film maker of commercial artists such as Jesse J. When assessing this studio based video, the idea of the video seems to be to place emphasis on Jesse J with a pure white studio background which relates well to the content of the film in the sense that she is talking about her life and where she has ended up and how she has reached fame. Her iconic outfits and the purity of the studio represents the idea of fame and fortune and Nava has done a good job in directing the content of the video in the sense that he incorporates the supporting artists into the video to a great extent and allows the same message to be portrayed through these men.
A combination of different shot types and using at least three different locations between the shots and the editing of the shots to the tempo of the music makes for a successful music video where Jesse J and her supporting artists are represented well and the video depicts their image in relation to the content of the song.
Nava and Adverts
Nava once had a very busy time within the industry, one year he was assigned to shoot 24 videos. When he was working with independent artists and labels, the budget for a music video could be as low as £5,000 to £10,000. This would mean there would be limited amount of freedom when directing music videos and Nava would constantly have to keep in mind the fact that he was working with a budget so some of his ideas might have to be scaled down and not too ambitious.
His largest budget video to date now was a Jesse J music video which had a "price tag" excuse the pun of £160,000. The behind the scenes of this video can be seen below;
Emil Nava also progressed to begin to make advertisements to exult his versatility and progress as a production director. Although his main directing ideas and desires related to music videos. Nava felt the desire to broaden his skill set and direct advertisements for different companies in order to make a greater deal of profit as a freelance director and also gain knowledge and skill in other areas of the industry. Although adverts have a higher budget than that of production, it allows for far less creative freedom which could be a challenge for Nava to adapt to. This is one of the adverts Nava directed and which was televised for the company;
L'oreal Feria 2012 - Dare to be Different
There are features of this advert that mirror that of features found in music videos and more specifically in Nava's work. The studio based personna of the advert can be related to Jesse J - Wild where she was also in a studio and interacting with a camera. There is also quite an upbeat and vibrant soundtrack in the advert where it can be argued that Nava incorporated this to conjure an impacting affect on the audience. This would make the audience remember the video and effectively feel more inclined to go out and purchase the hair product.
Ed Sheeran - You need me
This video is a very effective and unique video. The use of the dark and and slightly illuminated studio allows for the performance of the video to flourish through its simplicity. The unique style of the sign language performed by the assumingly death teenager is an original idea and really makes the video memorable for the audience. This effectiveness is assissted through the witty idea to incorporate inanimate objects within the shots that correspond with the what Ed Sheeran is saying in the lyrics. Furthermore, the interaction between the close up and medium shots is efficient for the nature of this specific video as it keeps supports the idea of keeping the video fairly simplistic. It is clear that the features of this video correspond with other Emil Nava music video's such as Jesse J - Wild with the studio based setting. This would make it easier to identify work that has most likely been done by Nava.
