[Interview] Alexander Valeton, Creative Director, Media HQ

Media Head Quarters is a multimedia company that specializes in high quality productions for international crew, developing media strategies and productions for NGOs and multilateral organisations. The company develops communication formats, produce and consult in media solutions.

Alexander Valeton is the creative developer of formats and content. He overviews the production and supervises the quality. He talked to Marketing Report.

Tell us a bit about Media HQ

Media Head Quarters was set up in 2012 as a full-service media production company. In the beginning, we were very broad and created content for all different kinds of clients.

Over the years, we specialized more and more, and now there are mainly 3 lines left: 1 - supporting foreign crews that film in East Africa and creating content for foreign clients. 2 Creating multimedia production for East African clients, including many international NGOs and companies. 3 – multimedia consultancy and total idea development. This is ‘just’ the creative process and not the actual production.

All three points are based on creative development and high-quality production. The creative part is our forte. We like to stand next to our clients and jointly create a better plan than they had before they came to us.

We are very international, and our experience (filmed in over 35 countries globally) makes us stand out. We know what the international clients want: clear communication, no complications, strict timelines and no hassle about budgets.

Every year, we also like to make a stand-alone documentary. There are so many great stories from East Africa to be told, and in these films, we can really be creative. If we work for clients, we can’t play; we have to be on the safe side. If we do it for ourselves, we can think outside the box and test the borders.

What are some of the most exciting productions you have been involved in?

Over the years, there have been many great productions; we have done a series for UN-Habitat about a rapid response lab for urgent urban challenges; we have filmed that process in 6 countries on four continents and created a series of insightful films about difficult subjects; men and women talking about a city is not very sexy; and still we needed to visualise it while it was all about plans… things that weren’t there yet, not even on paper. We managed to crack that nut and even won prizes at international festivals).

We did a series on deaf people in Kenya: Deaf Role Models. It broke my heart to witness the situation of the Deaf, or differently-abled people in general, in Kenya.

The dreadful lack of knowledge and the superstition are literally killing people. And here, too, we had a huge challenge to make the deaf express themselves while their talking is limited. It was great working with people who broke out of their isolation and shared their stories.

What are the key factors you consider when deciding on new projects or partnerships?

‘Chemistry’ is probably the most important factor for a good project. One cannot shine if the client is dull. Of course, we have been doing things just for the money, but that was never nice and never became projects we are proud of. Creating creative energy is very important, and therefore, we need to be able to think freely, come up with a strong concept and convince the client, create the best team around a project.

Once it’s decided upon, we should have the freedom to produce and even to improve along the way (for UN-Women, we made a series on women in the Northern counties in Kenya; it was a tough project, and we noticed that it didn’t work the way we wanted because women there were not used to a big “mzungu” asking them questions.

So during the project, we changed the concept, with the client’s consent, of course. And then women interviewed each other in a safe environment, and that worked very well, and it became a great film that is still being used a lot; it is really ‘their’ film; they embrace it, and for us, it was a fun project because all fell together like a jigsaw puzzle.

What emerging technologies or trends are you most excited about in media production, and how are you incorporating them into your projects?

We like to think about multi-media projects as a whole and accordingly chop them up into smaller segments. Each story and each audience has a different ‘preferred channel’, and the combination between the elements makes it very strong. In East Africa, clients are not very well trained, and we often deal with clients that prefer to remain in the box; risk-avoiding and a lot of copying. Now you see so much AI-generated output, as if no one can see that it is a cheaply made advertisement. It’s horrible and will not last long, I hope.

I may be old school, but I still think it is about the narrative: what do you want to say, and who is your audience? Based on that, you develop a multimedia plan, including TikTok and socials, including video, print, and maybe even radio and everything else you need.

You should also think about what you will do once a campaign is over, and what will be your next steps. It has to be thought through; every detail must be perfect. ‘Emerging technologies’ have to fit into that concept, and the concept shouldn’t be changed for those technologies but the other way around.

How has the rise of digital platforms and streaming services changed the way you approach production?

It doesn’t really change the way we think; it opens more opportunities and a few more challenges (where to put your money?). But it still comes down to the good old art of storytelling, how can you drag your audience along?

What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing the media production industry today?

In East Africa, the biggest challenges are people; the market is growing and getting big enough for specialists now, but until recently, everybody had to be a generalist. There were, for example, only a few very good audio operators. Sound guys get lower pay than camera operators, so everybody wanted to be a camera operator, and no one was investing in studying to become the best audio geek.

Same now for TikTok and AI-generated content; many people just do it, copy each other, but only a few study it well, analyse it and wonder why some clips are more successful than others. Prompting became an art and that is not recognized enough. The biggest challenge is maybe that Africa has to compete with Asia, America and Europe. For production, Africa is relatively expensive; people are generally not the best and creatively mostly not at the forefront. The attitude should change and it’s only ‘people’ who can turn the tide.

What are your thoughts on the future of media production, and how is your company preparing for upcoming changes?

We have to think internationally and we can because of the international background of the company and the crew, but only very few production companies can. If you are not at the forefront, you will be copying the others, and if it is about copying, the Chinese and other Asians have mastered that long ago.

Media Production will change a lot under the pressure of AI and the likes, but real storytelling will remain a human art. We can already see the tsunami of badly created content through AI, and we can still recognise real quality… that’s for now, but could change rapidly too…very soon. I really wonder how clients will react and where they will put their money next.

What advice would you give to aspiring media producers or entrepreneurs looking to enter the industry?

In East Africa, I would advise all media producers to study… study really hard. Watch at least 10,000 films and analyse them, read articles and analyse them, watch advertisements and take them apart, piece by piece. Build a photo library in your mind and learn why choices have been made, how clients have been convinced, and what the trigger was behind choices. Really, everything in the picture has a reason, and if it doesn’t, it shouldn’t be there.

For the technical professions, really master your equipment, cameras, audio tools, and editing software. You will need to be able to operate it blindly; it should work for you and serve you.

Everybody has a reason to be in the communication business; not because you want to tell a story but to build a stage for someone else’s story. In media, it is not about you; you are just the tool, but you should be convinced that you are the best tool someone can pick.

Additional thoughts?

Media production is fun and should remain that; I didn’t choose this path to suffer but to share the fun… while developing, telling stories and producing it… all the way to the bank. As long as clients and producers are not standing shoulder to shoulder but locking horns, it will never be an inspirational creative process.

And that is a missed opportunity...the result will be shitty, and the process stinks too. The creative has to challenge the client, and the client has to support (and steer) the creative process.

Now, too often, clients only protect the process because they don’t trust the creative with their money, and many creatives are, indeed, very good at spending a lot and producing rubbish… there is too little sense of building a long-lasting relationship based on quality, trust and fun.

www.mediahq.tv

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