Undoubtedly, the right music selection can be the difference between a viral video reel and a video that falls into the dumpster of oblivion of an Instagram page.
Aaron Gibbes, the head of video production at Artistic Initiative Agency, recognizes music’s vital role in creating an engaging video. Over the years, Gibbes has become a voracious consumer of music, and today, his musically attuned ears are an asset for his work at Artistic Initiative.
“Music is a huge part of my life,” commented Gibbes during a recent interview. “I consume music daily. As soon as I get on my car, I connect my Bluetooth and go through my playlists or explore new music. This is what helps me choose the right music to make the perfect video.”
Nowadays, Gibbes and the rest of the Artistic Initiative team are pioneers of a new form of social media marketing, the agency coined as “High-End Social Media.” Artistic Initiative is breaking the paradigms of traditional social media marketing by translating the vlog-style format of the influencer world into corporate marketing. This innovative approach led this award-winning branding agency to become one of the fastest-growing social media marketing companies in 2021, opening two locations in less than one year in Atlanta, Georgia, and Houston, Texas.
As the head of video production of Artistic Initiative, Gibbes understands that any content creator must be a fanatical consumer of popular culture. For this Curaçao-native creative, his vast knowledge of music has become a critical tool for giving the high-end touch to the videos he creates. Today, the upbeats accompanying the video reels and vlogs produced by Artistic Initiative Agency have become part of the agency’s signature.
In a recent exclusive interview, Gibbes discussed the importance of making the right song selection when editing video reels and vlogs.
Within Artistic Initiative, Gibbes has become infamous for his magic hand for selecting songs and editing videos based on beat. He expresses at times feeling the pressure of upholding the quality that has characterized his videos in the past. Yet, his musical expertise gives him the ability to recognize the right song for each video.
“There are times that it’s hard finding the ideal song for a video, but my background in music has become critical,” said Gibbes. “I used to be a musical engineer back in the day, so I have an ear for music. At this point, I know what feels and sounds good.”
Years of experience have taught Gibbes not to start editing any clip without first selecting the right soundtrack for the video. Using this approach, the song beats become a template that Gibbes can follow to facilitate the editing process, allowing him to meet the face-paced production that characterizes Artistic Initiative.
“The first thing I do to create a one-minute video reel is finding a song,” said Gibbes. “It’s easier to edit on a beat than to edit the footage and then trying to match it to a song.”
Gibbes explains that in editing, music serves the dual purpose of working as a template and setting the video’s tone. The wrong song selection can completely distort the message transmitted in the reel or vlog.
“I see what the event was about and start brainstorming songs,” said Gibbes. “I ask myself, ‘ok, do I need a slow beat, do I need a fast beat, do I need something emotional?’”
However, Gibbes is not afraid of sometimes going off script and challenging established standards. He takes full advantage of the creative freedom that his position at Artistic Initiative grants him to subvert audiences’ expectations by experimenting with different genres.
“Sometimes I try to innovate by picking a beat that technically does not match the video’s subject,” explained Gibbes. “However, it almost always works out, and the end result blows my mind.”
Over the past year, Gibbes and his peers at Artistic Initiative Agency have challenged the canon of social media marketing. With its innovative approach to filming and editing, Artistic Initiative has become the leading figure of a new movement inside the online marketing industry.
Today, Artistic Initiative Agency is working on the development of the Artistic Initiative Academy Project. This multimedia learning experience will teach creative entrepreneurs and business leaders the keys to developing a social media brand and curating content with the Artistic Initiative’s high-end signature touch.
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