‘Atlanta’ Director Hiro Murai Details What It’s Like to Make a Music Video With Childish Gambino

Hiro Murai on the joys of making music videos with Childish Gambino, Flying Lotus, and other artists.

Hiro Murai, 2016 Summer TCAs Getty Images Portrait Studio
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Image via Getty / Maarten de Boer

Hiro Murai, 2016 Summer TCAs Getty Images Portrait Studio

If the name Hiro Murai doesn't ring a bell, you haven't been paying attention. Not only has he directed a number of episodes of Atlanta, but he has an episode of Legion under his belt, as well as an episode of John Singleton's forthcoming FX series Snowfall to his credit. He's also an accomplished music video director, working with Childish Gambino on everything from Clapping for the Wrong Reasons to "Sober" and "Telegraph Ave," as well as Flying Lotus' "Never Catch Me" and Earl Sweatshirt's "Chum," among others.

He recently sat down with Hypebeast and blessed them with a number of tips for budding music video directors. If you're trying to get behind the camera, take heed.

"The most difficult thing about music videos," Murai says, "is that a lot of young filmmakers come into the medium and they have so many different ideas but they need to understand what the musician wants." Knowing your subject is cool, especially when you realize that your approach for one artist would be much different than for another. He shared some ideas on working with Flying Lotus, and how it was different from working with Gambino.

"With FlyLo, he knew he wanted to play with something about a funeral. After he left me with the tip, he just let me flesh that out, and I sent it back to him later. In the case of like Childish Gambino, he is someone who is a writer by trade, so he is very meticulous about how he writes his ideas. I don’t do this with a lot of artist but he would give me a treatment that he wants to do and I’ll go off that, then I’ll give him feedback and pitch him my ideas. But with Childish it feels more like a two-way conversation."

For more gems, head over to Hypebeast for the full interview.

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