Adobe and JE Delve help turn young creators into music video pros
JE Delve and Adobe will support 10 young people to develop skills – from lighting to postproduction – with projects to be aired on music platform SBTV.
JE Delve x Adobe young creators using Adobe Lightroom.
Creativity has the power to create change in big and small ways. The events of 2020 and even now, have shown how creativity has the power to unite us, be that in helping us cope, inspiring us or driving positive change in the world. Examples of this can be seen in illustrator holymolyUK’s homage to the NHS, the Black Lives Matter mural painted in New York or street artist D*face’s use of Adobe’s Keith Haring brushes to shed a light on men’s mental health. Creativity is everywhere and is within everyone, but it needs to be made more accessible — regardless of race, ethnicity, ability, gender or sexual orientation.
Our mission at Adobe in enabling Creativity for All has inspired our recent partnership with Jamal Edwards MBE and his youth initiative, JE Delve. JE Delve x Adobe will support 10 young people who have a passion for creativity, by helping them develop skills in everything from lighting to post-production, which we’ll chart through a mini-series aired on music platform, SBTV. The result will see the young creators producing a music video — under the direction of Edwards and industry mentors — for a mystery music artist who we will be revealing in the coming months!
Edwards’ mission has long been focused on promoting self-belief with young people. When I asked what this new initiative means to him, he said — “From the outset, I wanted the project to centre around helping young creatives develop and hone their skills. When I launched my youth initiative JE Delve in 2019, it was always about helping the next generation realise their potential whilst giving them the tools to achieve great things.”
“So, with the help of Adobe, SBTV and connections within the creative industry, we came up with the video project. It was important to everyone that it was a longer-term project documenting the stories and aspirations of those involved. This way, we can give them support and guidance as they progress and enable them to showcase their talents in the best way possible by the end.”
Jamal Edwards
Watch the first episode in the JE Delve x Adobe mini-series
Nurturing storytelling skills
In giving these young creators the unique opportunity to create a music video for a music artist, not only will they learn the fundamentals of shooting, lighting, editing and telling a story, but they will get the experience and develop the skills needed to pursue a career either on screen or off screen in the future — and I for one am looking forward to following their journeys.
The young creators have already learnt about shooting with perspective under the guidance of video director, Gabriella Kingsley, using Adobe Lightroom. Over the next few months, they will be bringing storytelling to life with the use of Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects, and learning how to create concepts and mood boards using Adobe Photoshop. We hope skills development in these areas will set them up for success in creating a unique video masterpiece, with their own creative expression at the core.
In the first episode, Andrietta Simbi, 21, said she is excited about getting a taste of working in the creative industry, and that “it is a great way for me to see the ins and outs of the creative industry because we don’t usually have those chances as young people at the moment.”
Ben Arbiter, 21, commented that this journey will help him to understand the various roles involved in creating a music video. “From the music videos you see from YouTube, it’s just one lens. You actually don’t see the different perspectives of the different roles and everything that takes part in creating that vision.”
Still other young creators are thinking bigger about the value the entire experience provides. “I watch a lot of music videos, and … when I’m watching them, I’m thinking ‘how are these made, how are these edited?’ There are certain transitions that happen, how does this happen? I want to learn about directing and producing and creating music video content — and creating content as a whole”, Max Gibson, 18, explained.
The opportunity this experience provides the young creators is truly inspirational. “Having access to the Adobe products alongside the experts (from lighting, sound engineering, videography etc) means that these young creators can practice what they learn through the workshops, whilst also having a direct contact if they want to share ideas/thoughts throughout the process. The aim is that after the project has finished, the young creators will understand more about what they enjoy, feel confident to share their creative ideas and have gained the skills to take their passions to the next level”, explains Edwards.
The current global situation has undoubtedly increased the need for more people to have digital innovation skills and I hope this project is one of many we can support in giving young creators the opportunity to break down some of the barriers that may have previously stood in their way.
The self-made music video mogul
Edwards is a posterchild for anyone who has a passion for business and his inspiring story shows what can be achieved with self-belief as your motto. His journey started with a simple video camera — he created SBTV when he was a teenager to share videos of friends rapping and performing. I’ve always admired the hard work and dedication he put in to grow SBTV over the years to become one of the leading online youth broadcasters, helping to launch the careers of artists like Ed Sheeran and Dave — he is definitely someone young people can learn a lot from.
A new episode will be released every couple of months so check SBTV to see how the young creators’ skills — and perspective in general — evolve. And of course, stay tuned for the mystery music artist reveal.
Source : Adobe
