“This clip is one of my earlier recaps in my career. Me and Ujjwal [fellow founder of our production company Art Camp] had gone out to LA for the summer, trapping it out renting a room in a frat house. It was the only cheap way to feasibly afford living there for only three months to get a taste of what the scene would be like before we move out there for good.
I managed to make some connections in Alamo Records and found myself shooting with Comethazine at the Observatory in Orange County.
The following Friday I found that there was a Playboi Carti show on his Die Lit tour, two shows actually back to back sold out in the same room. I pulled up with some friends with the intention to sneak in. At first nothing worked but then I realized I still had the wristband from last week. They were color coded to the day of the week so it was lucky enough for me that I was there exactly a week later.
Security let me slide right in. I even made my way through the crowd and up into the pit with my cameras, security even made way for me to get inside. I somehow was one of the only people in the pit for the whole show, and got my best footage to date from it.
I tried to double my coverage by shooting the second show too, but by the time I got back in line the security team had switched out and they noticed, snatching the wristband right off me. Regardless I was proud of what I came up with and was able to leverage that piece to make some pretty sweet connections out there.”
“This recap was for the last show date of Pump’s ‘Harverd Dropout’ tour in South Korea around a year ago. He was headlining the World Hip Hop Festival in Seoul and apparently has the wildest fanbase there. Before we could even get out of the hotel that night he got mobbed by fans waiting in the lobby, one even ripped his shirt off while screaming.
When we pulled up to the stage as he was about to go on. Little did I know they were doing a huge fireworks display along with the finale of the show and let off a fat volley of test fireworks. Everyone freaked out for a second thinking a gunshot went off in our ears.
I took my place on the side stage of an enormous 7-shaped catwalk out into the sea of fans. Immediately as the introduction track kicks in I get pulled back by security and feel a blast of heat on my face, I guess I was standing a little too close to the pyro line.
I hopped down into the pit at that point but because of the huge catwalk it was a mission to get around, sprinting from place to place. Pump’s performances are super spontaneous and unpredictable; climbing rafters, stage diving off balconies and so on. I was sprinting around a lot. Every news outlet in Korea must’ve been there too. I felt like a running back trying to weave through everyone and elbow my way into a decent shot.
The crowd went nuts and sang along to every word. We were met with the same mob of fans after the festival, even chasing down the sprinter as we drove away, banging on the windows.
All in all between the insane production, the crowd, the atmosphere of Seoul, it all made for one of my favorite recap videos and I got a lot of dope doc content from that trip in the vault too.”
“My guy David Peters & Since The 80s hooked me up with this gig in Eastern Europe early August of last year. I was shooting a recap and a mini doc for Njomza in Pristina, Kosovo, her home nation and host of the annual Sunnyhill Music Festival in which she was performing.
I instantly fell in love with the culture there and the country’s quirks. It declared independence in 2008 so it’s relatively new. If you open Uber it just says “coming soon.” Lucky for me Njomza’s is fluent in Albanian so we could still ride around in the huge taxi ecosystem they have there.
After seeing her extended family and old friends for the first time in nearly seven years, we hopped into another cab and headed to a now abandoned carnival that Njomza had known as a kid. It was perfect timing with the sun just starting to set, giving that dreamy golden hour look with the vibrant backdrop of the old ferris wheel. It ended up being the perfect b-roll we needed to capture that homecoming feeling and really end the recap on a solid note.”
Griffin Olis
is a Detroit native who moved to Chicago in 2016 to study film at Columbia College Chicago. He started out creating short films and documentaries with like minded friends. Eventually, he established the creative collective Art Camp with three others at Columbia in 2019. He has spent the last couple years building connections in the film and music industry, creating tour content, music videos, and short films.