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'Paradise Plum'

  • Kia Moses
    Director
  • Jevonee Roberts (Design Dojo)
    Director Of Photography
  • Oshera Burley
    Producer
  • Naomi Cowan
    Music Artist
  • Zinc Fence Records
    Label
  • Lindsey Londenquai
    Prop Designer
  • David Rogers 'Gad Savage'
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Music Video
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 27 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 20, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    1,700 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Jamaica
  • Country of Filming:
    Jamaica
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Kia Moses

Armed with a suitcase full of banana chips, Kia left Jamaica to major in Advertising at The School Of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. In 2007 she graduated with Honours, multiple awards and was ranked in the ‘top 100 Advertising Students in the U.S.A.’ After working at ad agencies in New York and London, plus interning for music video director ‘X’, she returned home with a passion to pour everything back into the Jamaican creative industry. Since then, this ‘Imaginationista’ (who clearly also makes up her own words) co-founded TCP Those Creative People and now spends her days switching gears between conceptualizing ideas, creative direction, copywriting and product development for TCP’s own product line – which includes Jamaican greeting cards and ‘One Bag Ah Tings’ (literally). After years of writing TV ads, she is excited to finally add screenplay writing and directing to this list. ‘Flight’ shot earlier this year, was her first short film and ‘Paradise Plum’, shot right afterwards, was her first music video. Her hobbies include reading, photography, ballet, and confidently screaming out wrong answers at Jeopardy.

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Director Statement

‘Paradise Plum’ is a Jamaican candy that was popular in the 80’s and 90’s. This title for the song, inspired me to think of an urban, yet tropical, ‘Candy Coloured Paradise’. This fit perfectly with the fashion film references music artist, Naomi Cowan and graphic designer of the ‘Paradise Plum’ logo, Jason Panton shared with me. Naomi knows a lot of colourful creatives in Jamaica with edgy personal style. So, in light of our small budget, I wanted to use her colourful circle as the talent. People who would be happy to come out and support her music. I wanted to capture them as colourful characters she’s met along the way using the colourful ‘Fleet Street’ in Kingston as the main road she’s traveling on.

It's common to see men in Jamaica blasting music into the streets from speaker boxes in their cars, ‘push carts’ and other modes of transport. But we had never seen this from a woman. So that’s what we did. We created the visual story of Naomi bringing her music to the streets as she pedals around (in high heels of course) on a candy-coloured, pimped out bicycle, with speaker boxes on the back. This visualized that beautiful ‘hustler spirit’ of a new musician and the true joy of sharing music with others. Not only do the characters love the song upon hearing it but they also smile, nod and support her on her journey. This way, even the energy was positive and sweet like candy. In the narrative Naomi also stops to support their local businesses in return, buying from stalls along the way (even mine).

Everything about this video, down to the small yet passionate crew of ten, truly embodied this sweet supportive energy and we did it for the love of her music, this song, Reggae, Jamaica and creativity on a whole. For me, not only was it an honor but Naomi also pushed me to direct this, my first music video.