We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Duke a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brandon, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
My very first project: The Ironhead Series. My good friend, J.K. Hulon, had started making walking canes due to an injury he sustained while serving in the U.S. Navy. He wanted to launch a crowdfunding campaign and needed some video for it. It was my first full project on my own. I had worked on several short film projects in the past, but I was always serving someone else’s vision. This would be all on me. We did a four hour shoot and got enough footage to make four videos. Though I hadn’t played seriously in years, I bought a new guitar and bass to make the music. After laying down a few tracks, I felt satisfied I could make entire videos complete with music. Soon thereafter, I decided that would be the focus of my company, Karkata Media: to help shine a spotlight on talented people who had something to say or were trying to do good in their community.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been drawn to the arts and creative people. I grew up drawing, trying to imitate the art I saw in comics. After seeing Eddie Van Halen playing “Eruption” on MTV, the guitar became my obsession. From that point on, all I wanted to be was a musician. In college, I started out as an art major, building on the skills I had from years of drawing, and tried switching to be a music major. Unfortunately, my lack of classical training quickly got the better of me and I was told to go find a major elsewhere. While working a job away from college, my ears got damaged. The doctors I had access to at the time told me my ears would never get better so a career in music no longer seemed to be an option. In my downtime, I took a keen interest in movies and filmmaking and when I returned to college, I was lucky enough to run into a teacher named Patricia Pace who helped me find a way to channel my varied interests into a communication arts major with a minor in writing. In addition to this, I was the Arts & Entertainment editor for the college magazine for a short time. It was a long and winding road to where I am now, but I think it helped me appreciate the journeys that people take to get to where they are. I’ve come across so many people who are extremely talented, but do not always know how to tell their own story to get the word out about what they are doing. That’s where I come in.
Using all the random skills I’ve acquired over the years, I help people to tell their stories and try to create the most authentic and unique version possible. From the look of the project to the sound of it, I work with the subject of whatever story I’m telling to capture their spirit in video and music.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
In America, it is mostly just getting across the idea that art is not just some frivolous thing we do to pass the time, but it is something that is vital to who and what we are. Whether many people admit it or not, they learned the importance of creativity during the pandemic. What were most people doing while they were shut up in their houses all this time? Devouring content. Movies, television, music, podcasts and books. In the realm of politics, there is the idea of “soft power.” It’s the idea of shaping others through appeal and attraction. America is not just the most powerful country on the planet just because of our military might (which is undeniably strong), but also our art, movies, and music. Our culture helps shape the world, and our artists and creatives shape our culture.
While creatives have never had more outlets than at this time to get their work out, it’s also challenging because there is just that much more competition. If you see something good, you have to support it. Even if it’s just a “like” or a “share” or a good review. It may seem like a small gesture, but those of us in the creative field live and die by those things in the digital age.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Artistry, in any form, is a skill and it requires work. While this work may be more fun than your typical 9 to 5 job, it still requires time and effort. While it may seem like many artists pull things fully formed out of the ether, it is not magic. I see a lot of non-creatives that do not seem to understand that and they do not respect it. It is easy to take for granted when there is so much free access to art and creative content, but if you want good art/content, you need to respect it and support it.
Contact Info:
- Website: karkatamedia.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/karkatamedia
- Facebook: facebook.com/karkatamedia
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-duke-57ab2918/
- Twitter: twitter.com/karkatamedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC01wjFi9HQf5PWPMt69gvWQ
- Other: Garfield’s Crossing: A modern-day Southern Gothic anthology series, of which I am the co-editor in chief: garfieldscrossing.com The Global Detail: A podcast about geopolitics: globaldetailpodcast.com Novis Opera (my other production company, focusing more on fictional stories): novisopera.com
Image Credits
All photos are by Brandon Duke (used by permission of the subject). Except for the Garfield’s Crossing logo (designed by C.E. Schultz, copyright Novis Opera LLC, co-founded by Brandon Duke).