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Bahraini filmmaker Majda Nader Al Maskati took a shot at creating a FIFA World Cup 2018 music video to commemorate the global competition and has already scored more than 7,290 views on her YouTube channel.
The 25-year-old, spent the past few months writing, producing, directing, filming and editing the production to spread the message of unity and peace through the love of sport.
Majda, a former IKNS student and an Oxford Brookes University graduate in Multimedia Production, who founded Moments by Majda in January last year to create short cinematic video-clips capturing special occasions, such as birthdays and weddings, said: “I’ve always aspired to create something that brings the whole world together under the message of ‘We are One’. It has always been on my-to-do list.”
In the similar way to GulfWeekly’s recent special World Cup supplement, she gathered expat representatives of all the teams playing in Russia to join her in the recording venture.
And she used the experience she gained from creating a successful motivational video back in 2016, which was dedicated to those fighting cancer, to work on the new project.
“When the football hype began in February I realised that this would be a perfect opportunity for me to produce another video that would bring people together, despite it being a fairly short period to produce something of quality.
“I love working on music videos more than short films as I believe they engage an audience a lot more. I started looking for a song that I’d like to feature in my production, but wasn’t able to find the perfect match. That’s when I decided to produce it myself.
“I hope that this video spreads around the world and is not only associated with the World Cup Finals 2018 but also as a message of ‘oneness’ as my main message behind this production is that ‘we are one.’
“Despite all the differences we may have, we are all the same at the end of the day. After personally working with all these different nationalities, I could see this so clearly. We all have the same love and passion and that’s what really matters.”
The song, entitled One Heartbeat, was written by Majda and composed in the UK by Luke Barratt and Lucas Jones. The music producer was Andy Kimber, the mixing and mastering was done by Aref Amer from RF Studio and the vocal arrangement and choral direction was conducted by Tim King.
Majda held singing auditions between Bahrain and the UK to find the perfect fit for her song and ended up working with an English choir based in Bath called the Vocal Works Gospel Choir. “I believe they were a great choice and have performed it very well,” she added.
The production involved more than 300 people and 90 per cent of them volunteered to help with friends and family assisting where they could.
“The video features all 32 nationalities participating in the World Cup Finals, all being resident in Bahrain,” she explained. “Gathering these people was the most challenging and time consuming part of the production.
“I could easily have casted models to represent the different nationalities but I wanted each country to be represented by its own people to make it more authentic.
“It was not easy but I took it as a challenge. It was almost like a big scavenger hunt where I had to personally go around different restaurants, hotels and schools to find them all.”
Majda also found the location scouting a tricky challenge as she wanted to give the illusion that the video was shot in the actual countries of the featured nationalities, not Bahrain.
She said: “To do so, I’ve had to be very creative with my choice of locations. Some were easier to find than others but many required some complex procedures for me to gain entry. There were many forms I’ve had to fill out, and several phone interviews I’ve needed to go through to get the necessary permissions.”
Locations used included Swiss-Belhotel Seef, The Dilmun Club, The Lost Paradise of Dilmun waterpark, The University of Bahrain, ART Rotana Amwaj Islands, Florence, La Maison Méditerranéenne, Marassi Beach, The Royal Golf Club, Senor Pacos and Sense Beauty Salon and Spa.
“The production took about four months to complete,” she explained. “I had 32 different scenes to shoot, where my last one was literally done a day before the video got published.
“I would like to once again thank every single person who helped make this happen. Especially my parents and family for their continuous support, this production took up so much of my time but was definitely worth it!”
Majda, who now has more than 200 productions under her belt, aims to continue to spread joy through her passion behind the camera. She said: “I fell in love with filmmaking and videography from my childhood years while watching Disney movies. It has always been a huge passion of mine and I’m very thankful for being able to advance and reach a professional level. I started making videos as a teenager when I was 14 with school projects and then I would experiment with my cousins and family members.
“I always admired Walt Disney and the movies that he created and I am still a huge fan. Walt Disney’s quote ‘If you can dream it, you can do it’ is my motto and it’s been my inspiration ever since.
“I hope people like this music video and that there will be many more to come.”
Check out her Instagram @moments_by_majda and the YouTube channel Majda Al Maskati.
People can also watch the video on this link: One Heartbeat - New Song, World Cup 2018 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIoihHItfr4&feature=youtu.be
