name: Gil Green
job/title: director
first video: The first video I ever directed was for a hip-hop group that I actually rapped in, named Backlive. I grew up in Miami as a straight-up B-Boy. I was rapping in the lunchrooms, break dancing on cardboard boxes, tagging up walls with graffiti, and DJing sound clashes. When I went to NYU Film School, I decided to direct one of our 4-track demo songs, "1000 MCs," as my thesis project. I took out a couple student loans, raised $5,000, and shot it on 16mm. We shot in the train yard in Queens and showcased a real raw side of hip-hop, which was very different from the flossy videos that were playing at the time. It was one the toughest videos I ever shot, because I produced it, directed it, and then had to jump in front of the camera and perform in it. With no record label support or experience, we submitted it to all the video channels and, surprisingly ,they all played it. At the time there was The Box, which was instrumental in breaking new artists. It became a Top Ten video there. Then BET caught on to it and started playing it on regular rotation. And then I got a call one day from Fred Jordan (R.I.P.) from MTV, who invited us down to their offices. They played our video on the very last episode of YO! MTV Raps. You can imagine my face when I was sitting in my dorm room and suddenly saw my class project airing on national television. At that very moment I learned I could make anything happen through self-motivation, hard work, and determination. No apologies, no excuses.
strangest video: The strangest one was never released in its truest intentions. I did a video for Too $hort and Lil Jon called "Shake That Monkey." The record label didn't have much money for the video, so I came up with this crazy concept to shoot on home video cameras as we go. I basically hired 15 sexy, crazy girls and 15 wild, thugged-out guys, and gave them all video cameras. I then planned for our big posse of people to rush into various establishments and act a fool. We rushed into a South Beach diner and completely took over the place. The girls jumped on tables and gyrated their bodies into people's food. The guys started a food fight in the kitchen. It was pure havoc, aka CRUNK! We then got on a public bus and did the same thing. Our video climaxed when our posse rushed a luxury hotel pool and started throwing furniture into it. We got a bunch of fines that day, but the footage was priceless. That was definitely the most fun I have ever had on a video set. I don't think the video channels were too excited about our footage and rejected it. Then the record label tried salvaging the project by adding some funky graphics to the cut. At that point I took my name off the video. You can see the director's cut at gilgreen.com.
what's next: This year has been a nonstop ride. I just finished shooting my 10th video of the year. Akon's video "Don't Matter" hit #1 on MTV, and DJ Khaled's video "We Takin Over" just hit #1 on BET. At the end of the month, I will be traveling to Senegal to film Akon's next video, "Mama Africa." I am currently in transition between production companies and talking to various commercial houses about pursuing more spot work. But, this is one avenue of filmmaking that I truly enjoy. I am riding on the excitement and creativity of the video set.
