As artists and creatives we’ve all experienced the low points, the struggle, the relentless hustle. Even if we’re on a roll, there’s always a danger it could go south if we take our eye off the ball for even just a micro-second. We lunge from job to job while simultaneously trying to get those clients, get attention, get acclaim, hopefully get awards, and maybe, just maybe, get rich & famous.
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs teaches us that our need to be creative is somewhere at the top of his famous pyramid. With so many other needs to take care of first, fulfilling our creative drive is the crowning achievement of our human existence, a luxury even. In our determination to make our passion pay for our more basic needs, we turn creativity into a business, a commodity, a product. We begin to analyse our art forms, theorise pathways to success, make art fit inside the framework of economics. Let’s face it, it’s this phenomenon that all too often leads to work that is safe, bland, repetitive. The death of creativity.
After a few minutes talking to director Adam Munnings, though, I was reminded that it doesn’t necessarily have to be like this.
Adam walked into the Bonaparte office a short while back and convincingly pitched his vision for RIN’s next music video to us. As a film production company, we weren’t able to refuse the package Adam had put together. It’s not often a director is so well prepared. I was especially curious to find out how Adam had orchestrated a collaboration with such a well-established artist in the German rap scene.
“Directing a video for RIN has been on my bucket list for a while now”, revealed Adam matter of factly. “I’d worked with the guys at Division Recordings for their artist Kynda Gray, and when DOP Tim Bieker mentioned there was a pitch on for RIN, I was quick to pull together a concept. I am very thankful to Bonaparte for coming onboard to head the project. The timeline was tight and the concept quite ambitious, but collectively we managed to pull it off and I’m really stoked with the result.”
Behind the scenes of RIN's music video directed by Adam Munnings. Photo Courtesy of Bonaparte Films.
Since deciding to become a director in late 2018, Adam’s output just continues to accelerate. His filmmaking style is fashionable, sexy, spontaneous, yet still experimental and expressive. It’s so different to the army of genre directors who endlessly regurgitate each other’s works and rearrange the soggy pieces in an effort to get ahead. Adam’s taste for a more unique, non-formulaic aesthetic parallels his diet of music artists who also like to do things a little differently. “RINs aesthetic universe and writing style steers away from the misogynistic stereotypes of a typical rapper. He stays true to himself and that’s something I totally respect.”
Adam’s back catalogue of films are not about realism, or sticking a camera in every last crevice of the planet. It’s about creating worlds that express a feeling. His focus is on the fantastical, the imaginative, the expressive, which follows in the tradition of art generally, rather than cinema specifically. But when working with others, as you do in film, remaining open is key. “It was an interesting tug of war to find a balance between RIN’s very distinctive look and bringing some fresh new ideas to the table. With each artist or client based project, it’s always a challenge to find a balance of styles and I think we did that.”
Behind the scenes of RIN's music video directed by Adam Munnings. Photo Courtesy of Dominik Linegartner and Matthias Leton.
“There was no chance to get RIN into some of the more theatrical costumes I had in mind. I also initially wanted to feature more dancing elements. But I knew what I was getting into — you have to kill your darlings when working with established artists. We met in the middle by creating a vibe that’s a little bit different to the usual rap video.”
Adam’s willingness to be flexible in the moment opened up new avenues for experimentation, testifies to his dedication to keep the show running and is indicative of his style as a filmmaker. “We’re here to have fun and spread good vibes. If you don’t like what you’re doing, then what’s the fucking point? Everybody pulled together to create scenes that combined to build a world that is part Adam Munnings and part RIN, and I’m proud of that.”
Behind the scenes of RIN's music video directed by Adam Munnings. Photo Courtesy of Bonaparte Films.
“I grew up in a small town in Tasmania. I went to dance school before taking a job at Tokyo Disney. After that I did a stint on cruise ships as a performer. I decided to quit dancing soon after, and signed up to a modelling agency in Japan. But then I decided to fulfil a lifelong dream and move to New York. I fell into DJ-ing and I even designed a restaurant in Manhattan.” “Are you impulsive?” I blurted out. Adam just smiled and agreed, “yeah, I’m massively impulsive.”
To some minds, this kind of lifestyle may sound like chaos. A flippant dreamer without staying-power or conviction, a drifter. As well as that, Adam’s job choices all appear to put him at the centre of attention. The dancer, the model, the DJ, the designer. But Adam is not shallow. He’s thoughtful, reflective and comes across as extremely level headed, balanced and open. And that’s probably down to what happened in between those highlights.
“Although all that creative stuff sounds impressive, I was always in and out of hospitality jobs, working in restaurants and cafes to make ends meet. When I moved to Tokyo, for instance, I didn’t have a lot of cash so I had to work as a shot boy in my underwear in a gay bar.” It occurred to me that there is something very cinematic about the lifestyle that Adam was describing, and thought about all the various diner, bar and restaurant scenes in Hollywood movies. Even Adam’s favourite musical film adaptation has one.
“The musical Rent was a big inspiration in my life and was part of the reason I eventually moved to New York. I was also really fascinated by the NYC of the 60s, 70s and the 80s, especially the whole Studio 54 scene.” By his own admittance, Adam never really was interested in movies per se. Instead, he has a deep love of pop culture. “I love the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, Andy Warhol. I went to NYC because I wanted to experience being part of the kind of creative scene that they were part of.”
Behind the scenes of RIN's music video directed by Adam Munnings. Photo Courtesy of Dominik Linegartner and Matthias Leton.
“Filmmaking, for me, was an aha moment. It’s a synthesis of all the things that I’d tried out before. Performance, photography, music, interior design. It all comes together in film.” Although he was never really interested in filmmaking as a career until recently, it seems it was always in him. “Thinking back now, I’ve always loved making little films with a camcorder when I was growing up in Tasmania. I would record my dance routines, and when I was 16, I remember making a film called Horny Housework which was cut to a song from the musical Rent. I guess I wasn’t a normal kid.”
“My aunt would take me to Melbourne and give me a budget, and I would use it to buy strobe lights and mirror balls. I was obsessed with transforming my childhood bedroom into something different. I’d put lights under my bed, and paint colour palettes on my wall. In a way, I’ve just always lived cinematically. And these days, my passion, my hobbies, my job — it’s all one. I give myself the opportunity to give myself an opportunity. It really is the dream.”
Far from a catalogue of chronic failure, then, Adam’s journey was one of constant self-improvement. An experimental phase, searching for the right thing. At every attempt at a career he transitioned from a consumer to a producer. “I was always ambitious,” states Adam with a clarity that startled me. Maybe he is looking for his 15 minutes of fame. But Adam is no egocentric, or attention seeker. It’s deeply ingrained in his personality to make himself and others happy through his work.
Behind the scenes of RIN's music video directed by Adam Munnings. Photo Courtesy of Dominik Linegartner and Matthias Leton.
I ask Adam how he ended up living in Berlin and shooting a music video for German rap legend RIN. “I went to NYC in search of that Studio 54 vibe. I wanted to mingle with fashion photographers, actors, models, musicians, writers. And it happened, I met so many fabulous people who were doing amazing things. But I also caught myself feeling successful by association, while at the same time, the cost of living was stifling my creativity. New York is incredibly expensive. After four years of hustling and working in restaurants just to make the rent, I realised it wasn’t financially sustainable to live there anymore. And when Donald Trump became US President, it was the last straw for me.”
“I wondered where could I go that has a good vibe and where you can make things happen. Berlin is the only city in the world right now that has elements of what I was looking for, that exciting creative buzz. It’s an affordable city; poor but sexy. So moving away from New York was a no-brainer. And I didn’t want to ride on the coat-tails of a by-gone era. I wanted to be part of something new and make things happen.”
On arrival in Berlin, Adam studied film for a year, and has since gone from strength to strength. With a burning desire to get things done, part of Adam’s recipe for success is his focus on artists and personalities. He doesn’t nerd out on films, he connects with people, creators and potential collaborators who share his passions. “You have better chance of making things happen together with others.”
The creative landscape is a dynamic flowing web of human interaction, an ethereal material, but if you’re skilled, you can craft it and shape it. Adam’s background in performance arts gives him an advantage. His creative output as a director is high. His works are a performance in and of themselves. The process from beginning to end is a show, and Adam is at the heart of it. This approach allows him to work spontaneously and get things done incredibly quickly.
Adam believes in self-determination and embodies a kind of transformative power. In fact he’s proof of it. He’s reinvented himself again and again. The world, for him, is a place to interact with and transform. And the truth is, it’s very natural — every single one of us has this same power within us to a lesser or greater degree.
“We have the capacity to do it, so why not? Just do it. Time’s ticking. I don’t get these people who say, oh, I’d love to have a candle-lit dinner some day. Just light some candles, for fuck’s sake. Just do it.” Adam’s energy is infectious, but it’s true. Start creating original work and you will see the world react and change around you. Here’s a guy just doing what he loves, but already changing the cultural landscape of Berlin film by film.
Adam’s approach to art and life reminded me of a variation of Maslow’s pyramid in which it is inverted, balanced on its tip, with the basic needs at the top, and creativity and self-actualisation at the bottom. This way, it is creativity that becomes the motivation to get out of bed in the morning. Starting at the sharp end enables you to live your full potential today, and not wonder what might have been. Fulfilling basic needs, rather than a chore, becomes a pleasurable reward for following your dream.
More intuition, more risk, more freedom. Creatives know that this is the answer to making original work. Just sometimes we forget. Check out Adam’s work and remind yourself that at the core of the creative industry, it’s not always about getting awards, getting famous, getting rich. These are by-products. It’s about doing things for the fun of it, finding joy in the moment and spreading the love.
See more projects from Bonaparte Films und Adam Munnings.