My name is 300K and I’m a director and cinematographer based in Jamaica. I’ve always been interested in capturing Jamaica outside of what’s typically seen while intentionally creating a vivid and immersive visual experience. I’ve shot music videos for many dancehall artists and have dabbled in creating my own short films. But essentially, I want to create and capture a cinematic Jamaica that has more depth and texture.
Shallow Grung – Govana
Govana’s “Shallow Grung” is easily my favourite video of all time. If anyone asked me to show them a visual that best showcases my creative aesthetic, it would be this, without a doubt. The crazy thing is nothing was solidified until the day we shot. We wanted to go for something really different stylistically, which we were able to achieve here.
When we were on set, we found a room that matched the vibe we were trying to channel, but the lighting was central to selling this and setting the ambience. One of my friends suggested that we shine a light from outside into the room, inside. We did that and liked the results, but it was too early in the day. We had to wait until it got darker so we could get the effect that we wanted. We added a smoke machine to create some depth and that was exactly what we needed to create those really poignant shots. The cinematography, lighting and colour grading really took centre stage with this music video.
Champ – Govana
“Champ” is kind of interesting because the original idea was that I was going to film Govana doing performance shots in a boxing ring. We were supposed to include some other elements like mannequins that were representative of different people, like ‘Badmind’ and he was supposed to fight with each of them. At the same time, we were thinking about ways to sell it. We spent time looking for different boxing rings in Jamaica, but after we’d seen each location, it still wasn’t working out how we had envisioned it.
We finally decided on a place that was the filming location for Contender, an amateur boxing show. We went into the office and I explained that I was a film director and I was interested in shooting here. The person I spoke to was so chill. They didn’t charge us anything, they just wanted to help out, but there was a caveat: we had to shoot that night as they were scheduled to take down the set. We couldn’t do it at that point because we didn’t have all the equipment on us, so we went back to the drawing board.
I was on WhatsApp that evening and saw a status story with someone on a carnival stage, at a party or event, I can’t remember. I saw the flashing lights from the decor and felt that it would be a really good fit for what we were trying to accomplish. In retrospect, the boxing ring idea was good but it didn’t afford for creativity in the way this new idea did. Govana gave me the green light and then decided to incorporate that archived footage to give it this nostalgic and reflective aspect. And that’s how it all came together.
God Will Understand
Akeem, my friend from Florida, was in Jamaica and we were trying to figure out what we could get done in the short space of time he was in the country. We didn’t really have anything concrete planned but with the last few days of his trip remaining, we decided that we needed to do something a little more productive.
We didn’t really have that much resources, all we had were our settings and the people on the block. We spent an entire day on YouTube researching and trying to find points of inspiration, and then we began planning.
We shot the entire thing in a day and a half. The whole point of it was to see how we could improve our ability to frame shots and learn different colour grading techniques. I really like it because of the plot and that we were able to produce it with limited resources. It was definitely one of my favourites and I’m hoping to do more like it, for sure.
Dee Dré – I Will Be Fine
This is probably one of my favourite videos out of the lot because the entire video was effortless. Initially, we didn’t decide to film but because we were on the block and had the camera, everything just came organically. We were about to carry the car to the garage and we decided to document the process and create a music video. It was originally a vlog that sort of transformed into what it is now. I think because it was so authentic, genuine and not forced, I felt very connected to it.
