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andi Wilens is the founder of RW Media, and has spent more than three decades creating entertainment content, specifically music videos, live concerts and branded media. As exec- utive producer, she handles everything from script to screen, and through formal representation with a collective of direc- tors and animators, is able to assemble the perfect team based on each project's creative needs. A visit to her company website — rwmedia.tv — shows the broad span of her clients' work. From a refresh of a classic Billy Idol music video, to the stop-motion Locked Up (featuring Steve Aoki, Trinix and Akon), to a visualizer for Nina Simone, to the live-action Change Shapes for Lauren Mayberry, to the hand- drawn look of Karin Ann's She lyric video, each project is uniquely different, while all coming together under her guidance. Wilens has worked in the music video space for decades. She often shot on film, over multiple days, with budgets that far exceeded anything close to what's being done today. "I've owned my business since '97, and I've ridden a roller coaster," she states. "I used to do videos for a million dollars. I traveled around the world shooting live concerts…It's an interesting dynamic." The music video business has changed over the years, and budgets have come down considerably. "I won't do anything under $5,000," she states. "It's a different world now. Everything's digital, whereas I used to shoot 35mm. We made movies. I used to hire DPs that shot features." While the business had changed, Wilens has been able to adapt by iden- tifying trends in their infancy. She is still creating music videos, but has expanded her portfolio to include visualizers and lyric videos, as well as visuals for concert tours and other live performances. "I got in on the curve. I just seem to have an instinct for it," she says of her ability to adapt. For artist Lauryn Hill's performance on The Tonight Show, Wilens and team cre- ated background imagery that played on video screens behind the artist as she performed. "She's very controversial about activ- ism," says Wilens of Hill, "so we had this whole thing about activism that were on the screens. Artists know what each song is about, and they pick the animators and tend to tell them what they're looking for. [You're] never going to go to a concert now and not see screen visuals. They're almost as important as the show. I would not have said that to you five years ago." Singer/songwriter Tim DeLaughter and his American choral rock band The Polyphonic Spree called on RW Media to create a five-minute short film that will ultimately screen at a planetarium in Dallas. The band's music will serve as the soundtrack and inspired the visuals. "He's always been a forward think- er," says Wilens of the artist. "He and his partner hired (animator) Anthony Shepherd, and gave him the biggest job of all with the most money." It took roughly four months to create the animation, which at press time, was close to completion. "I do music documentaries too, but it's a lot of global tour visuals," she says of her business these days. "One of my guys just did three songs for Taylor Swift's new tour. I've got a lot of big global tour screen visuals." Art installations are also a new form of business for the EP. "I just started curating art installa- tions," she explains. "There's a clock tower in Denver, and they hired me to do 12 [visuals]. They're being projected on a huge, landmark clock tower. It's pretty fascinating." Willens also recently connected with the city of West Hollywood, which is where she lives. "I'm going to be curating art on billboards on Sunset Strip," she explains. "It's motion art!". RW MEDIA'S RANDI WILENS BY MARC LOFTUS THIS LONG-TIME E.P. REFLECTS ON A CHANGED BUSINESS & THE POWER OF CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS R MUSIC VIDEOS www.postmagazine.com 28 POST JULY/AUG 2024 Executive producer Randi Wilens Nina Simone's Touching and Caring visualizer. RW Media created visuals for Sublime's live performances.