Local Video Production Agency GRAIN Curates For Naiise

A production agency comprising three creative individuals, GRAIN aspires to tell extraordinary stories and poignant narratives of the human condition through visuals because “telling stories is why [they] wake up everyday.”

The three videographers, each a specialist in their own arena, believe that design is universal and all around us – and most certainly deeply ingrained (pun intended) in their daily work. The creative collective tells us what their favourite picks on Naiise are, and why (we need drinks, we need coffee, and we need a throne to get inspiration on). Read more about what they do and their sources of inspiration, below the jump!

1) Tell us more about yourself and what you really do?

We're a creative collective called Grain and we love telling stories through the medium of film. We are a young crew that continuously find a reason to create films which have a human connection and which are able to form lasting relationships with the people who cross our paths. From commercial works to personal projects, we always find fresh ways to do things. We still have quite a journey to go on, so we're excited to explore and to meet people from all over the world. In a way, telling stories is our way of making sense of the world.

2) 3 Things you love and hate about your job?

Love: We get to create and be creative every single day; We get to meet so many different people and have them share their own unique stories with us, both on and off camera; We love the fact that we make so many human connections with people from all walks of life, learn about them and appreciate them for who they are, be it clients or just people part of the creative crew

Hate: Sometimes we have to go through a lot of administrative work, and we go through them like zombies; When it's in the middle of the night, you've rendered and exported your work, and you realise you misspelled something in the credits; When clients tell you "This is really nice, but can you change it?"

3) Describe an average day in your life, and how design is relevant?

We are in the midst of moving our studio into a nice location we can all call home. Right now being holed up in a small space isn't the best fodder for inspiration. I think in many ways, design is all around us. Even down to the minuscule scheduling of our day. Design is universal. I think we enjoy surrounding ourselves around good design although we may not always be able to afford it (:\). We drool over sexy well-designed functional cameras. Our hearts flip with jealousy and envy when we visit spacious and conducive studios.

We design concepts and ideas and stories. We design storyboards and shots. We want to keep the audience wanting more, we want to create feelings and manipulate thoughts (to an extent) and that everything involves design. Sometimes we squabble over who should purchase a watch or a bag.

4) Favorite designers and sources of inspiration?

Variable - We love the work of this New York based creative production agency. They push the barriers of film and storytelling in a visually arresting manner. Our constant source of inspiration would have to be this bunch of talented people.

Adam Magyar - This guy is amazing - he pushes the boundaries of camera design by prototyping his own product. He forces his audience to give more than just a glance at his work and constantly pushes the parameters of his medium. That is design at a very personal and functional level.

Vimeo -The amount of content and creativity on Vimeo is simply astounding. We make it a point to gain inspiration by viewing a few videos from the site on a daily basis. Travelling Obviously being able to move around to interact with cultures and people (and food) is something that drives us for the motivation behind our stories as well.

5) Top 3 picks from the collection?

1st - Roadie Minibar --> We always need a drink; 2nd - ROK Expresso Maker --> We always need our caffeine - the novelty of this design excites us!; 3rd - Small Plop Bean Bag --> Nothing beats a throne on which to sit on and wait for inspiration to hit.

6) What can we look forward to from you in the year ahead?

On top of constantly showing off our new studio space, we'll be exploring to tell more stories through our personal project called CANVAS.

CANVAS is a collaborative project where we find talented individuals who are passionate and dedicated to their craft and relentlessly pursue it. We hope to produce a whole collective of individuals to be part of this fabric of human stories and we're open to anyone who wishes to be part of it. It's non-commercial and we do it from the bottom of our hearts, because telling stories is why we wake up every day.