Two teams from Richmond have each received a $10,000 grant from Storyhive, a video production studio that offers grants for filmmakers, musicians, storytellers and creators in B.C. and Alberta.
The two Richmond winners were selected as part of 40 grant recipients out of more than 221 entries.
They will use the grants to produce a music video for their single, which will be part of Storyhive’s 2018 Music Video Edition.
“I really wanted to make (my song into) a music video. It is fantastic, like a dream coming true,” Kris Yung, an artist who grew up and lives in Richmond, told the Richmond News.
Yung, who has a theatre degree from the University of British Columbia, produced the grant-winning song, Behind the Glamorous Life of Ms. Hap, on the theme of shopping and consumerism.
“I got the idea of this song from just cleaning up my closet, literally,” said Yung.
Yung said she found so many items in her closet, some of which she didn’t even remember buying.
“I thought, ‘wow, it is crazy,’” she said.
“The song is about people who are really into shopping and buying stuff and consuming material, but at the same time, they feel empty after that short while.”
Moving to Richmond from Hong Kong when she was young, Yung includes both of her mother tongues — English and Cantonese — in the song, to reflect her “natural thought process.”
Yung said it is very hard today for musicians to “make a buck” as a lot of music can be accessed for free, so the grant is a great opportunity to allow her to make quality music videos without worrying about money.
“Having the funding frees me up. I now have many options in terms of how this video will be presented,” she said.
Another project that has won the grant is called Drawn to You, pitched by Richmond artists Somna and Tanzy Sayadi.
The song tells a story about “two people who are drawn toward each other in a crowded nightclub, and as they get closer, they change gender and identity,” according to Storyhive website.
Storyhive’s Music Video Edition, now in its fourth year, opened for submissions of pitch videos last September.
The final projects will be available in summer 2019 on TELUS Optik TV On Demand and on Storyhive.com.
Pitch Videos:
