Creating brand ethos for ASRV
How ASRV crafts cinematic worlds with our assets.
Scott Christie is a filmmaker for the apparel brand ASRV, telling deeply cinematic stories about people and products. In the age of short-form content, Scott crafts genuine narratives that make you feel something.
Whether he’s using our music as a centerpiece such as with “High Stakes” in the Jeremiah Maestre video above or building more subtle, textural soundscapes with our sound effects like with their Winter ’23 campaign below, Scott masterfully leverages the power of our cinematic assets.
In this conversation, we dive into Scott’s background with ASRV, his creative process, and his recent body of work.
“You want to make the viewer feel as connected as possible and really draw them into this world that you are creating.”
Can you share a bit about your journey in the creative industry and how you started working with ASRV?
Working with ASRV really came out of nowhere. I moved to San Diego and connected with one of the brand’s athletes and started doing some video work with him. Not too long after working with him, he asked if I wanted to shoot some videos for ASRV. One video leads to another, and then another and the snowball continues. I got connected with the brand directly and have been working with them ever since.
How do you approach the creative process when producing content for ASRV?
I usually go through a sound library or music bank and just listen for something that sounds right. It seems like a dead-end road at times but any editors out there know when you hear that right sound, that perfect note or melody in a song everything seems to click.
A majority of the time if I’m looking for something that I haven’t found the right one for yet, Lens Distortions has it. If I need something to add a little more “Umph” to the scene it’s always the place I go.
“The Spark” from the recent album Gravity was the perfect vibe for the launch of our new Aerosilver™ performance fabric.
Are there specific steps in your workflow or rituals you keep to get into a creative mindset?
Late nights for me are key. Feeling like I have absolutely no more responsibilities and the rest of the world is off allows me to dial in. I get some good music going at a low volume (no singing) in the background and get to it.
Your music and sound design choices are such a key part of ASRV’s content. How are you using audio to convey those deep feelings that resonate with the audience?
Audio paired with visuals is so important when trying to convey emotion. Sometimes it’s the heavy breathing of an athlete when they are going through a grueling workout or hearing them speak a mantra to themselves. You want to make the viewer feel as connected as possible and really draw them into this world that you are creating. The moment is always different, sometimes it’s a specific riser, sometimes it’s a little click noise you find, other times it’s a calm atmosphere that brings it all to a point.
With the Winter ’23 campaign, what vibe were you going for? How did the assets you used tie it all together?
This was a campaign that was centered around the word “Focus”. We have this character who is a quiet guy in this loud and chaotic city. He has all these loud environments and things pulling his attention left and right but every time we are with the character all the sounds seem to have drifted away. We wanted to convey someone who is consistently pushing themselves to be better whether it’s early in the morning, late at night after everyone has finished their day, or when nobody else is around.
The assets I used from LD allowed me to really take the viewer into this chaotic city and feel like they are surrounded by all this chaos and then when we go to the talent we are with him in his moments of solitude. Adding just enough to every scene helped me build the world that surrounded our character.
In your opinion, what are the best ways to make the content stand out?
It is insane to see the way the content creation landscape has changed since I started. We used to just put some videos on a song and cut it to the beat and call it a day but now you have some really incredible sound design elements that bring a video to life instantly. The audio experience is more important (to me) than the visual experience. The visuals can be decent but the right audio elements can completely make or break something.
“I know I can rely on the sounds to be unique and the music to be great.”
LD raises production value for sure. If I’m ever in a crunch and need some of the right sounds or tracks it’s always my go-to because I know I can rely on the sounds to be unique, the music to be great… and they will really help my videos stand out. Being able to have a go-to, reliable source for these elements that is always evolving is pivotal.
You can see more of Scott Christie’s work for ASRV on their YouTube channel or on Instagram at @scott.christie.
