Music video is a universal genre. Case in point: “Bless Me.” This psychedelic video features Nigerian Peter Mic, who wrote the song, performed it, and produced it. The director is anonymous, but we’re lucky that the cinematographer Muyiwa Donald Jayeola—a mobile filmmaker in Lagos, Nigeria— agreed to take us behind the scenes.

Interview with Muyiwa Donald Jayeola

MobileMovieMaking: What motivated you to become a filmmaker?

Jayeola: Storytelling is my motivation. At a very young age, I sat down with other kids to listen to elderly people around tell tales of different form. I visualized these stories in my mind and sometimes dreamt about it. I’ve always wanted to tell stories in a visual form. Filmmaking is my specialty and I do other things like Acting, Voice overs etc. I am a mobile journalist.

MobileMovieMaking:  How did you develop your moviemaking skills?

Jayeola: Youtube tutorials and trial and error combined with some of the experiences I gathered during my University days as a Theatre artist student. I also learnt through observation from various movie sets I worked as an actor.

MobileMovieMaking: Are there any filmmakers who influenced your approach to making music videos or other kinds of movies?

Jayeola: Over the years I’ve been a huge fan of two Nigerian filmmakers Tunde Kelani  and Kunle Afolayan. These two helped in shaping my ideas of visual storytelling. Other youtubers also influenced my approach to mobile filmmaking, such as Patrick Levar, Cassius Rayner, and Cielo the Storyographist to mention a few.

MobileMovieMaking:  We understand that Peter Mic hire you to shoot “Bless Me.” How did he come to know about you and your work? Have you shot other music videos?

Jayeola: Peter was introduced to my  work through a friend. My friend (Chuks @chuksharmonie) and I shot a short product video for a drink using IPhone 7plus which was uploaded on our Instagram page where Peter saw it on Chuks page and was fascinated about the idea of shooting his first music video with a mobile phone and the rest they say its history.

MobileMovieMaking: How did you and the director plan the movie?

Jayeola: It was a planned improvised shoot. There was no script or storyboard to work with because we just wanted our creativity to play out and see what we could come up with. But for the set we had an idea of how we wanted it to look. Same for the lighting.

MobileMovieMaking: Can you tell us anything about the sets?

Jayeola: The set was created by Chuks my friend and his girlfriend. He came up with the concepts and the materials we used.

MobileMovieMaking: What gear did you use?

Jayeola: We shot using an iPhone 7 + and an iPhone 11,  a Moment 18mm wide angle lens, a Moza Mini S. 3 Viltrox L116t. Yongnuo 360ii, and a Camera Crane which was built by my friend Chuks. You can check it out here @filmanatomie. For editing  we used Premiere Pro and After Effects.

MobileMovieMaking:You mentioned using FiLMiC Pro as your camera app. Could you say why you chose to use this app and how it helped make the movie so impressive?

Jayeola: FiLMiC Pro has always been my go to  camera app whenever film with my iPhone because it’s so effective in terms of having full control of what I shoot. FiLMiC Pro gives me the ability to shoot Log footage out of my phone and this gives me the ability to color correct and grade my footage in a more cinematic and professional way.

MobileMovieMaking: Why shoot using a mobile device rather than a traditional camera?

Jayeola: A mobile phone is affordable compared to traditional camera Because it’s compact, it’s easy to move around. Another advantage is that it’s so small that I can place it anyway to achieve my desired shot. For the disadvantages, I’ll say the inability to achieve full blown depth of field and the fact that I need to buy a lot of accessories to achieve some of the things I see with the traditional camera.

MobileMovieMaking: How long did the shooting take?

Jayeola: A whole day. We started around 9 am and wrapped 11:15 pm.

MobileMovieMaking: During the shoot, did you encounter any unexpected problems?

Jayeola: We encountered a lot of unexpected and expected problems.For example, we didn’t expect one of the lights to break when we were setting it up. An expected problem was power outage for hours so we had to get fuel to power the generator.

MobileMovieMaking:  How do you feel about the finished music video?

Jayeola: I feel good and happy to see the outcome of the video out on a major music channel in Nigeria and Africa. When giving the opportunity to shoot another music video with my phone, I’ll surely employ more lights and build a set bigger than this one.

MobileMovieMaking: Is there anything else you want to say about the production?

Jayeola: I learnt a lot from the production and I want to do more of it so as to keep improving and learning on the go. The production gave me the courage to believe in what I have and not what I don’t have to create.

MobileMovieMaking: What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out making movies?

Jayeola: Making movies is a process. Follow it; don’t skip it. Make mistakes and learn from them. Lastly don’t forget to place value on what you create. See you at the top.

You can keep up with Muyiwa Donald Jayeola, whose company is named iFilm Visuals, on Instagram  and Twitter.

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The editors of MobileMovieMaking have chosen “Bless Me” as the Mobile Movie of the Week.