Many of you on the UNL campus may have seen posters for the recent showing of “Memes: A New Reality” last semester. That mockumentary is just one of Bassey Arkipo’s many quality works. I have been lucky enough to work closely with Bassey on a couple of projects and I’m always impressed by his ability to create impactful images out of ordinary things we see every day. Some of his works include music videos for bands, psychic documentation, business videos for clients, photography, and movie production.
Bassey’s love for videography started like many others’- on Youtube. Watching the videos of other creators made him realize that he wanted to follow a similar path. In high school, Bassey was able to take a two-year interactive media production class, where he had the opportunity to enter National video competitions. Seeing other creators in his high school classes, online, and on campus drove him to want to expand his talents. This led him to start creating surreal satirical sketches in college for Youtube. While doing this, he realized that he could make money editing videos, so he started networking for clients. After all, like Marc Anthony said, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”.
Photography, videography, editing, directing, almost anything you can think of- Bassey does it all. Editing is what he calls his “creme de la creme”. It is what comes most natural to him, and from seeing his work in person I would agree that he is a very talented editor and videographer. One of his most challenging tasks is combing through footage to find clips that he likes. Often times he will have shot or been given hours of footage that need to be edited and put into promos that are much shorter, often one or two minutes. “The work is stressful but I always feel a sense of fulfillment whenever I finish an edit.” Bassey says. The work can seem overwhelming at first, but the results are a great reward.
Like any professional, there can be struggles when creating products such as the ones Bassey works on. Clients can occasionally be unclear with their ideas or completely ignore any ideas Bassey has to share. Other times, the opposite occurs, clients with no experience in the industry want to control every aspect of a shoot. “You have to be assertive and learn how to communicate with different people.” Bassey states, ”Customer service and communication are separate but necessary parts of business. Film or otherwise.”.
Many people have a job or a venture that they take pride in. When asked about his favorite project(s): “I don’t believe in favoritism, but of the projects I’ve done, my favorites were a music video I came up with, filmed, and edited; a collaboration piece with a friend who does lookbook videos; and a short film, but mostly [I enjoy] any project that requires me to create a story from a bunch of random clips. That’s where I get to test my creativity.”
Bassey’s advice for people who are interested in learning more or pursuing a career in this industry is: “Don’t expect your program or college to teach you everything, rather take time to work on your projects and take initiative. Too many students are afraid to test their creativity and talents and therefore fail to learn what they might be good at. Also, you live in an arbitrary world so why succumb to the college track of waiting for them to teach what you want to know.” He especially expresses the importance of learning to take initiative. Making quality videos is all about having a well-rounded production. Without that the vision will likely be lost or misinterpreted.
Bassey is currently working on a horror/thriller movie called Bounder about a serial killer in the Midwest. It is expected to be released mid-2020 at the latest. He is also working on quite a few other small projects. If you’re interested in working with or getting to know Bassey, his website (www.basseyarikpomultimedia.com) is designed to give you a look into his projects, learn more about Bassey, and provide contact information.