Joel Hayes Smith came to NVision with two verses from K-Rino and Afroman and a plan to point a camera at six people. The most important thing we did on this project was talk him out of it.
The campaign is about child safety in schools — a subject the artist had personal reasons to be angry about. The original concept came from that anger. In his words:
“I had a work of chaos in my hands.”
The plan was a slam piece: a music video aimed at six specific individuals in his area. Two strong verses already existed. What didn't exist was a film anyone outside his immediate circle could watch, share, or act on.
Pointing at six people makes a film about six people. It's finished the moment it's released, and it invites exactly one response: an argument.
Within days of starting work, NVision made the case for a different film — one that was less about the accused and more inviting to the victims and the families. Same verses, same urgency, a different door. Not a piece that names names, but one that a parent in a different town could recognise as being about their school too.
The artist called that the moment the video began to take form. It's also the moment it stopped being local.
Within five days of release, as reported by the artist:
Then bookings to perform in Washington DC and Kansas City, two radio segments, and a feature article in KWED, Seguin. His description of the effect on the campaign's existing audience: it gave them “ammo to get louder.”
Being precise: these are the artist's figures, reported in writing. NVision hasn't independently verified the chart positions and doesn't present them as if we had. What we'll stand behind fully is the creative decision — because that's the part we made.
A slam piece aimed at six people. Finished on release. One possible response.
A campaign film families could join — and did, across three charts and two cities in five days.
“You don't just get a camera with NVision — you get a partner who teaches, listens, and helps you turn a message into a movement.”
— Joel Hayes Smith, Artist & Founder, Operation 1009, Central TexasAny artist with something real to say faces the same fork: make the piece about the target, or make it about the people you want standing next to you. The first feels satisfying. The second is the one that gets shared by strangers.
The job isn't only to shoot what you bring. Sometimes it's to argue for the version of the film that can actually do what you want it to do.
Music videos start at $800 for two production hours, and the creative conversation starts free. Bring the idea — even the angry version.
Book a Vision Call — free, 15 min