Morgan Paige- Filmmaker Friday (Quarantine Edition)
This week we’re joined by Chicago filmmaker & visual artist, Morgan Paige!
(This interview was edited and condensed for clarity)
CA: Hey Morgan! Hit us with your bio.
MP: My name is Morgan Paige and I am a videographer, photographer, director, anything of the visual artist sort! I tend to work with musicians mainly.
CA: Tell us about the style of your work.
MP: This is hard. My style of working with people tends to be pretty personal. I have a hard time being someone that just shows up in a studio and it's we're going to do this, this, this, this, and this– and I know that's the typical director; that's just not me. I'm pretty DIY about stuff. And I really like to get to know the people I'm working with. With shoots and stuff that I do, I like to hang out for a bit beforehand, especially at my client's space, just because I feel like first of all, they're the most comfortable there. And second, it just gets a really personal vibe versus, you know, just trying to churn out work really fast. And I think a lot of my best work comes from spending that quality time with a person and getting to know them and capturing the small memories that come from that.
CA: It's really cool that you take the time (and space) to get to know your clients. What does your work look like during the quarantine then?
MP: I've been trying to refocus myself on working with the environment around me recently. And I think my work tends to be a combination of playing with color, nature, and people, maybe a touch of surrealism.
CA: Right on. Outside of your work, do you have a call-to-action right now? Anything you want to say to artists?
MP: I think that there's plenty of space in the industry for a more diverse group of creators and that especially goes for allowing more women and people of color and just anyone who isn't the typical filmmaker at the moment. I think allowing the Female Gaze and other elements is really important and it's really been lacking for a long time. So if you have the power to allocate these positions to women, people of color, et cetera, you really should consider doing that because there's a lot of really cool talent and a lot of beauty out there that just really hasn't been showcased yet.
CA: Thanks, Morgan! And thank you for joining us. Anything you want to close with? And of course, give us some plugs!
MP: If you're interested in working with me at all, it's pretty difficult right now just because of the need for social distance and all that. But I'm definitely down for when things start to open up to work with a lot more people! So feel free to contact me. I have an Instagram it's @morganpaije, Paige with a -J [P-A-I-J-E]. And I have a website under the same spelling. Yeah. And I'd love to work with whoever wants to reach out!
Check out the teaser for this interview (and all our #filmmakerfriday videos on Youtube):