But as faithful as those films are, they barely scratch the surface of what it really takes to get close to a storm, let alone capture it on camera. So, what is it actually like to be a storm chaser?

To find out, Artlist partnered with a team of creators willing to dive straight into the chaos. Veteran storm chasers Krystle Wright and Nick Moir led the charge — two of the most respected severe weather photographers working today, with decades of experience capturing extreme environments. Alongside them were travel filmmakers Josh Guvi and Christopher Balladarez, documenting the journey not just from a distance, but right inside the action.

Their mission? To chase down real-life tornadoes across Tornado Alley and bring back footage that shows storms like you’ve never seen them before — raw, emotional, and impossibly close. Footage that lives exclusively in the Artlist catalog.

Tornado Alley

“While adrenaline is part of the appeal of storm chasing, what I find truly fascinating is the organisation and structure of these storms, especially in Tornado Alley in the United States. So this year, we began our chase in Texas and were onto a tornado-warned storm within a couple of hours of getting off the plane,” Nick tells us. “We chased across Texas, Arkansas, into Mississippi, and then back through Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado.” 

The team was right in the midst of Tornado Alley, a unique place that sees some of the highest tornado activity in the world. This is where warm, moist air from the Gulf collides with cold, dry air from the Rockies. This unique mix of geography and weather patterns creates the perfect conditions for powerful supercell storms and frequent tornadoes. There’s no better place to capture storm footage.

Nick’s mission was clear from the start. “My specific role was to get Krystle and the team into a good position to capture the structure of the storms and the severe weather they produce, including tornadoes.” Using his decades of experience, which includes covering major events such as the 2001 “Black Christmas” bushfire event in Australia and the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, Nick was able to determine where storms were likely to form, how they might move, and what hazards they might bring. He’s no stranger to capturing natural disaster footage. “When chasing a particular storm, I also study the radar in detail. Supercell storms have specific radar signatures that indicate where a tornado might be embedded, allowing you to position yourself relatively safely, even quite close.”

No matter how experienced Nick is, Mother Nature is an unpredictable beast, as the team soon found out. Creator Josh Guvi reflects that “the hardest part is how quickly things change. There was a moment where we were set up in a great spot, waiting for a potential tornado to drop — everything looked good, we were calm, cameras ready. And then out of nowhere, the whole storm shifted and moved straight over us. Our position went from safe to dangerous in seconds. We had to pack up and get out immediately. It was a reminder that nature doesn’t care about your plan. You’ve got to stay alert and be ready to move, fast.”

Picking the right gear

This unpredictable nature massively influenced the gear the team could use. For Josh, he “packed gear that could handle rough conditions and move fast. I used a mix of handheld and gimbal setups, but kept everything light and quick to set up. The goal was to stay flexible because once things start happening, you’ve only got seconds to react.”

Meanwhile, for seasoned storm chaser and photographer Krystle, her many years in the field have helped fine-tune and streamline her setup. “My go-to setup is the Leica SL3 with a 24-90mm. A huge factor in why I choose Leica is its unique colour profile and rendering that complements how I love to document the world around me. The 24-90mm is such a versatile lens that it covers 95% of what I want to shoot. It’s pretty rare that I need to use a telephoto lens. Many years ago, my camera kit had grown so much that it felt like it had become a burden. I switched to Leica and stripped my kit back to the absolute essentials, so that the camera felt like a joy again and my back was far happier with less weight to carry.”

For cinematographer Christopher Balladarez, the weather was the main consideration. “Thankfully, Canon has some really good weather sealing on their bodies! I went with the Canon C80, the Canon R5c, and some zoom lenses. You would think that if you’re storm chasing, you’ll be in a lot of rain, but chances are, if you’re in rain, you’re not going to get a good shot. Storm chasers like Nick and Krystle chase to capture beautiful images and try to get into a position close enough for a great shot, but far enough from getting smacked by 4-inch hail!” 

The challenge of documenting storms

While 4-inch hail sounds pretty threatening, Nick assures us that “you might think the greatest hazards while storm chasing are tornadoes, hail, or lightning — but by far the biggest danger is fatigue, and the driving — either by you or others on the road, especially in poor conditions.”

Krystle agrees. “Storm chasing is hard work and a stroke of luck! We spend so many hours on the road, and there’s numerous factors to navigate every chase — cell service, road network, fuel stations, other drivers, other chasers, interpreting forecasts, weather radar, and then of course the spontaneity of Mother Nature. Other drivers, whether they are chasers or not, are probably one of the most terrifying unknowns to encounter, as I’ve seen some strange behaviour, including drivers crossing over the ditch to start driving up the wrong way on the interstate in the midst of a storm.”

The team certainly spent a lot of time on the road, Chris tells us. “We drove through, like, five states. In the middle of America there aren’t that many healthy places to eat, so that was a challenge…it was at least a 4-5 hour drive to get to our target area for the next day, so that means getting to our hotels super late, dumping footage and then waking up extremely early to get back on the road. It’s a lot on the body and mind, but everyone was extremely good company, so it made it really smooth.”

“I’ll admit I can get a little grumpy after several thousand miles and not much sleep,” laughs Nick. He goes on to explain how having a great team is essential — “This was Krystle Wright’s fourth U.S. chase with me, and we’ve become a highly effective team. It takes a rare kind of determination to get the best possible photo or video in these situations, and very few people have that level of commitment.”

Getting the shot

That’s why Artlist picked this crew of four, because they were so committed to that goal of getting the best possible photos or videos. Josh reminisces on his favourite moment: “When we got our first tornado, I knew right away I didn’t want to just focus on the tornado itself — I wanted to focus on Krystle and her reaction to it. It was a rushed, hectic moment, everything moving fast, but I made one decision: whatever happened, I wasn’t going to stop rolling. We jumped out of the car, and I followed her as she ran toward the tornado — her reaction was so raw, so real. That kind of emotion, with this massive tornado towering in the background… You almost never catch something that honest on camera. It was wild — and it felt like the moment.”

Chris enthuses, “I’ve learned that when situations like that happen, you just have to roll everything and don’t stop recording, because you never know what’s going to happen. I can’t wait for that footage to come out!”

For Krystal, there was another moment that really stood out. “We could sense the possibility of positioning ourselves for some mammatus clouds at sunset and started driving north on a lonely road that weaved through barren desert hills. Mile by mile, we edge our way out of the dull grey of the storm behind us, and in the distance, the mammatus were beginning to emerge. By the time we decide to commit to a location, I remember stepping out of the vehicle and immediately being entranced as in one direction, the mammatus clouds are changing from golds to pinks, and in the other, the most impressive godlike rays are streaming through the clouds. I like to celebrate those moments just as much as the intense storm chasing moments… It’s all magic to me!”

Navigating the fear factor

Naturally, when up close and personal with such immense, destructive forces, fear comes into play. How could a storm chaser or filmmaker ever hope to stay calm while trying to capture such destructive storm footage?

Krystle does her best to unpick this complicated facet of the craft. “Fear is an asset that keeps me alive. If there is ever a situation that I don’t feel good about, even if I can’t articulate or reason why, I still carry enough faith to trust those gut instincts. In my first season of storm chasing, I was absolutely out of my comfort zone as everything was new to me. But each season I return to storm chasing, I continue to build up more experience, more knowledge, and familiarity so that I can make the right decisions, especially when we are in the thick of the action.” 

It’s about experience, she emphasises. “I can assure you that the adrenaline still pumps every storm chase, but perhaps with experience, the adrenaline evolves to a point where it’s more controlled and attuned to seeking out specific aspects of storm chasing.”

For Josh, it was a case of “you don’t really think — you just do. You fall back on muscle memory and trust your team. We knew our roles, kept it simple, and stayed focused. You don’t get fancy out there — you just stay steady and keep rolling.” 

With new learnings and experiences, he offers advice to other creators chasing epic moments like this…“Be patient, be safe, and be ready for anything. These moments are unpredictable — they don’t wait for you to get set up. But beyond just chasing something incredible, try to give it meaning. Context matters. Humanize what you’re seeing. Try to capture the emotion you felt in that moment, because that’s what people connect to. That’s what stays with them.”

And Chris chimes in, reminding us all to “not go alone and inexperienced. A lot of injuries and deaths have happened like that. Go with someone who does have some time chasing. You’d be surprised how many chasers will welcome you with open arms and show you the path. Learn forecasting, learn meteorology, and get into the community. It’s all about safety.”

Why chase storms

For seasoned pros like Krystle and Nick, safety has always been paramount. And it’s clear to see that there’s an alluring, addictive nature to this craft. “People chase storms for many reasons,” Nick theorises. “For some, it’s scientific, gathering data to better understand tornado formation and improve global warning systems. Others chase specifically to provide ground-truth reports, confirming radar signatures and helping issue timely warnings. Many tornado warnings have actually originated from chaser reports.”

For Nick, he feels it’s all of those things combined, and perhaps something more. “It’s like why surfers surf, or why people jump out of planes. All the noise and nonsense of everyday life vanishes, and your focus becomes razor-sharp. It’s liberating. And to see the excitement, joy, and elation on the faces of those I take with me — that’s immensely gratifying.”

“Imagine a day where it starts like any other day, bluebird sky with not a cloud to see anywhere,” describes Krystle. “Around lunch time, there are small clouds forming, but it’s hard to fathom that within a couple of hours, the entire sky can turn so dark and black that you’d mistake 3pm as if it were nighttime. The monsters that roll through the big open skies of the Midwest attract storm chasers from all over the world every spring because of this power, and it’s humbling to see every time.”

In the catalog

What this crew captured was the result of experience, instinct, and the kind of risk-taking that most of us would rightly fear. Shot on the road, in the chaos, and sometimes just 300 yards from a tornado, this is the real deal: authentic footage from inside real-life storms, captured exclusively for Artlist. It’s raw, it’s emotional, and it’s available now — only on Artlist. Whether you’re building an ad, a trailer, or a cinematic short, this is the kind of hurricane storm footage that turns heads and holds attention. Thanks to our team of storm chasers and creators, you can now create eye-catching videos with footage you can’t find anywhere else. Whether it’s capturing the sounds of Iceland or documenting the island slipping beneath the ocean, Artlist goes to extremes to bring you world-class footage — no matter how wild the weather gets.

הפוסט Storm Chasers: How Artlist captured epic tornado footage הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Eugene Nikitin is a Siberian-born filmmaker, director, and photographer who’s carving a name for himself through experimental, cinematic visuals rooted in stories of disenfranchised youth. His family is currently in Georgia, although today he speaks from Belgrade, and soon he plans to move to Paris.

At just 24, Eugene travels the world, creating music videos, visuals, and films for artists aligned with his creative vision. Eugene’s work exists across multiple platforms and mediums: online, at festivals and exhibitions, and in print. 

Eugene’s filmmaking style treads the line between cinematic and pop culture, and his creative process is as unique as his concepts. He painstakingly plans each frame to match his vision, putting just as much emphasis on the planning stage as the execution itself.

Since 2020, Eugene’s worked with Artlist Original to create stock footage for the catalog, combining familiar industry techniques with fresh, experimental approaches to image-making. Today he shares the stories behind his most boundary-pushing films, as well as advice for filmmakers who want to carve their own creative path.

What is Artlist Original?

Artlist Original is a curated collection of cinematic stock footage created by independent filmmakers and visual artists. Exclusive to Artlist, this footage showcases high-quality, creative clips that go beyond typical stock content, with a focus on unique storytelling, striking visuals, and artistic expression. Designed for filmmakers, editors, and content creators, Artlist Original Footage can be used in a huge range of creative projects while supporting the independent artists behind the work.

Roots, vision, and experimentation

Born and raised in Tomsk, a small city in Siberia, Eugene first picked up a camera on a hiking trip with school friends. “We were in the mountains and I just started to film a few action shots,” he remembers. “I discovered I enjoyed filming travel and road trips, so I started to improve my equipment and my skills.”

Eugene grew up surrounded by cinema-lovers. “That was always the family evening, watching movies, and that’s how I decided I wanted to be a director,” he says.

So, once he graduated, he moved to Moscow, where he studied cinema as a Director of Photography, before heading to St Petersburg to learn how to direct. He began making videos at the age of 19. “Just small videos, to learn how to work with a team, try different types of cameras, and image creation,” he says. “Like we did print, we did film, night vision stuff, and just tried to find new forms of media.”

Eugene’s early films were inspired by exploring wild places. “I wanted to capture those experiences on film, imagining their journeys through rivers, mountains, and other challenging spots,” Eugene says.

He filmed his surroundings, creating rhythmic video essays accompanied by music and experimental edits. “To reach a wider audience, I started collaborating with fashion brands because I was drawn to their visual storytelling, costumes, and the opportunity to experiment,” he says. “Working with them allowed me to explore my style, camera techniques, and develop my own creative medium.”

Eugene’s boundary-breaking approach

Eugene spent the early days of his career experimenting because he knew he needed to stand out if he wanted to achieve his dreams. That’s why his breakthrough project was such a success; it was a truly unique vision.

‘Archive Prints’ Be With Ari was filmed in 2021 and released in August 2022. The film was inspired by experimental directors and unconventional image-making techniques, and Eugene used night vision, handycams, and infrared lighting to create a fashion project using reflective, color-changing textiles.

Eugene and his team filmed in restricted Moscow locations like libraries and the metro, using inventive methods to avoid permissions while highlighting architecture and movement. He then spent a year creatively processing the footage, printing and rescanning frames to produce a new, textured visual medium. “We split it frame-by-frame, made the composition in DaVinci Resolve, then split it frame-by-frame again,” he says. “We scanned it back, we placed it on the timeline, and we got this kind of texture that is really different from anything else.”

This groundbreaking project received immediate acclaim from within the film world, including a feature on the Directors Library, which established Eugene’s reputation for a distinctive, experimental visual style.

“It’s not film, it’s not video, it’s not digital, it’s a completely new medium, almost impossible to work with because it requires painstaking effort,” Eugene says. “Printing and then cropping each image back to the aspect ratio we used. Nobody was doing this at every stage of a project.”

Working with Artlist

Eugene’s flow soon got interrupted when he was forced to leave his home country. “The war started, so I escaped Russia and started to make videos because that was the only thing I could do,” he says.

Thanks to the success of his former projects, he started creating music videos for artists, and connected with Artlist in early 2025. “The team from Artlist reached out to my friend in Georgia, who owns a production company,” Eugene says. “We were immediately on the same page, it just felt like a natural match.”

The first Artlist Original project Eugene worked on was Destroyed Youth. It’s a cinematic work that intertwines youth culture, rebellion, and the grit of urban decay. The footage showcases contemporary dance, casual hangouts, and playful moments amongst a group of young people, all set against the backdrop of abandoned buildings and crumbling cityscapes. 

The footage reflects youthful defiance and the search for identity amid a world shaped by destruction and turmoil, no doubt a reflection of Eugene’s experiences in recent years.

“Circus” soon followed, a weird, wonderful, and ever-so-slightly unhinged stock footage collection exploring the surreal and theatrical world of circus performance. Shot with a Red Scarlet-W Dragon 5K S35, Eugene captures dramatic lighting, dynamic movement, and cinematic compositions. With circus footage clips featuring a clown with a hula hoop, acrobats performing high-flying stunts, a juggler, a girl balancing a ball, and a witch with a wand.

His latest creation for Artlist is Ballerina, which embraces his love for cinematic artistic direction. This collection captures the grace, emotion, and intensity of ballet performance and features dancers in rehearsal and performance. Eugene emphasises their fluid movement, expressive gestures, and striking lighting, and showcases solo dancers, ensembles, and dramatic close-ups.

Along with Eugene’s Car Crash stock footage, Destroyed Youth, and Circus, Ballerina stock footage exemplifies Eugene’s distinctive visual storytelling and commitment to capturing human expression through movement.

Eugene says that Artlist gave him full freedom to express himself, something he feels deeply grateful for. “It’s an amazing opportunity because [Artlist] provides the resources I need to explore ideas that I’m passionate about,” he says. “It’s not about selling products or producing commercial imagery, it’s about creating something truly unique, not just for the sake of exposure or profit.”

Eugene’s advice for filmmakers

Eugene still feels as though he is at the beginning of his career, however, he has some practical advice for fledgling filmmakers. 

“Check out the magazine American Cinematographer,: he says. “It shares in-depth insights into filmmaking — gear, techniques, and the creative decisions behind the films. It’s like a behind-the-scenes guide, explained by the people who actually create the images. You can learn how shots are composed, lighting choices are made, set designs are planned, and even what tools or approaches were intentionally avoided. Each issue dives into specific films, so if you see a movie that inspires you, you can look up the Director of Photography and read the corresponding feature.”

And beyond that, he believes that surrounding yourself with the right people can set you apart professionally. 

“My advice is to focus on finding a good team,” Eugene says. “If you have people around you who you can laugh with and stay relaxed even when things go wrong, you’re in good hands, and anything becomes possible. Collaborate with people you’re close with and communicate well with, even if they aren’t formally trained. Support them, build trust, and create together.”

Hopes for the future

Eugene has big plans to create more stock footage for Artlist, some of which is based on his own lived experiences. 

“I’ve got a few projects lined up, and at least one or two will focus on lovers,” he says. “I’ve experienced a heartbreaking story, and after discussing it with the team at Artlist, we agreed it’s a compelling topic to explore. The projects will be about people in love, but not the typical happy lovers. Their feelings aren’t always bright; sometimes they’re bittersweet, and sometimes melancholy.”

Eugene’s first love will always be cinema, and he plans to move into feature filmmaking in the future. “With my type of life, it can be hard to have hopes,” he says. “So I just want to do what I do in the best way that I can.”

Eugene Nikitin is a video director and photographer with experience in working on non-standard projects in the media sphere. Eugene likes to mix industry-familiar visual solutions and new approaches to image creation, and enjoys making the communication between the author and viewer vivid and clear. Check out Eugene Nikitin’s collection of Artlist Original Footage today. 

הפוסט Meet Eugene Nikitin, an Artlist Original Artist הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

There’s no doubt AI is a hot topic for creators and filmmakers right now. Despite its rapid development, it’s still very early days for artificial intelligence, and artists are unclear about how it might impact their workload and role as creatives. 

Jordan Orme is an award-winning film editor and YouTuber based in LA. He has collaborated with Justin Bieber, Nike, MrBeast, and numerous other prominent artists and brands, and has become well-known for his innovative editing skills and ability to craft compelling stories. 

Jordan has a lot of thoughts on the development of AI, and as a long-time member of the Artlist community, he’s been one of the first to try our AI Voiceover, AI extension, AI-powered search, and AI image and video generator tools. 

In this article, we’ll find out more about Jordan’s journey as a creator, his reservations about AI, how he’s tentatively incorporating it into his workflow, and his thoughts on how this new era of technology might impact artists.

From B-Roll to A-List

Jordan Orme is a film editor from Wisconsin and Hawaii, and moved to LA to study film. “I didn’t know if I wanted to do film, so I started making short films and I realised I didn’t really like it,” he says.

But then he got into the editing lab and started piecing stuff together, watching tutorials, and figuring out how to use editing software. “I looked up at the clock and it was 5 am,” he says. “And I just thought it was awesome, and so fun.”

After that, Jordan continued editing every day and became a freelance editor working on commercials and music videos.

“It took two or three years, but a couple of people had the right connections and I started working on music videos for Justin Bieber’s album Changes,” Jordan says.

By the time he was 25, Jordan had worked on music videos for Chris Brown, Tiga, Nike, Mr Beast, Donald Glover, Lululemon, and many more big names and brands.

“And then the pandemic happened, and a friend suggested I start a YouTube channel,” Jordan says. 

He started by breaking down his own work, and then did the same for other music videos by artists like Taylor Swift and K-pop. “Those videos blew up,” he says. “So I kept doing that and the channel kept growing, and now I’ve transitioned into full-time YouTube creation with some freelance editing on the side.”

Working with Artlist’s new AI tools

Jordan started using Artlist when he was in film school, and hasn’t stopped using it since. “I use Artlist all the time, so it’s super easy to talk about it on my channel,” he says. “At first, I used it for music and stock footage, and now I use their sound effects and Premiere Pro extension a lot.”

Lately, he’s been using Artlist’s new AI tools within tutorials to show creators how to incorporate new features like AI voiceover, text-to-image, and image-to-video technology into their work. “For a lot of people, AI just isn’t part of their normal workflow, especially if you’ve done filmmaking for a long time,” Jordan says. 

His favorite Artlist AI tool is the voiceover feature, which he uses in pre-production for commercials. “When you do commercials, you’re always reworking the script and sending temporary versions over to the client,” he explains. “With Artlist’s AI voiceover, you can do a temporary voiceover and change it, switch out the script, move stuff around, change the pacing, without having to go to the actual voiceover artists, which could be really expensive. So there’s a lot of flexibility there.” Once they’ve finalized the script, Jordan then works with a voiceover artist to record it. 

He recently collaborated with Artlist to turn his dreams into an animated Rick and Morty-inspired YouTube video, created entirely with Artlist’s AI tools. “I used their voice-to-voice feature, so I recorded my own voice, and then changed it to somebody else’s. So I had a different voice for each character and made an entire animated film in my room.”

He’s also started exploring how to use Artlist’s image-to-video AI for transitional shots. “You can get pretty creative with certain transitions,” he says. “I was working on a video and put in a prompt, and it transitioned from eight-millimeter footage to a nice wide-screen cinematic shot that looked very beautiful. It was a really cool transition. So it saves time, but it also gives you creative ideas that you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.”

Jordan prefers to hire people where he can, but understands not everyone has the budget. “If you’re by yourself with no money and want to do something weird and creative, then AI is a good option, especially with image-to-video tools,” he says.

Intentional and ethical AI

As AI continues to reshape the creative world, Jordan is both excited and apprehensive. As his platform has grown alongside the development of AI, he wants human connection to remain the driving force behind art. 

“My concern is that it has the opportunity to take creativity away from humans,” says Jordan. “If I need to make an ad for a brand, I can tell AI and it will make it for me, and it might do a better job than me, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

Jordan is concerned that this will put people out of jobs, especially editors, animators, and cinematographers. “I want to make filmmaking more accessible and democratized, and make sure people have access to the tools they need to tell amazing stories, while also supporting the people who make a living from this industry.”

Jordan feels that he represents both sides: the creative professionals, and the people who are learning how to make films and don’t have the tools to do so. “That’s the tension I wrestle with,” he says. “But what makes art valuable to me is the humanity and intention that goes into making creative decisions.”

If he were to watch a movie made by AI, he wouldn’t value it as much as he would if it were made without it. “The qualm I have is that creativity belongs in the hands of humans, and not robots,” he says. 

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The future of creativity

Ultimately, Jordan hopes AI helps democratize the creative industries while ensuring industry professionals continue to thrive. “I think documentaries, reality TV, like those types of videos, those sectors won’t be as affected,” he says. “Theater and live events will be huge, because they champion real, live personal connection.”

Jordan wants people to use AI safely, in a sustainable way. “I don’t want us to lose our critical thinking,” he says. “For example, I have a problem, and I’m not even gonna think about it for a second. I’m gonna go talk to AI about it, and it’s gonna solve my problem for me.”

But he also has high hopes for the future of AI. “It can help solve tedious tasks that people hate,” he says. “I hate sorting through all my footage and data entry, and AI is good at that, so it can get rid of roadblocks. It’s not replacing creative decisions but helping make better ones.”

Jordan believes AI can help people share what’s in their hearts and form deeper connections as a result. “AI can help you tell a great story,” Jordan says. “So if you have something that you want to tell the world, a message to get out there, use AI to do that.”

Interested in testing AI tools for your own projects? Experiment, have fun, and try Artlist’s new AI image and video generator out for yourself.

Jordan Orme is a storyteller who has worked on music videos, commercials, feature films, and television content with agencies like Riveting Entertainment, Avonni, West Productions, and many more on brands like Google, Amazon, RocNation, and Empire Records. 

Learn more about Jordan and his work on his website, or check out his Instagram and YouTube channel. 

הפוסט Filmmaker Jordan Orme on the pros and cons of AI הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

On 31 July 2025, Amazon Prime released a four-part docuseries that follows Torsten Gross on his relentless mission to compete against the world’s most elite race car drivers. Torsten is quadriplegic, having broken his neck in an accident when he was 15.

Just Hands: For the Love of Racing is a story of human resilience, determination, and defiance. And we’re proud to say that Artlist plays a leading role — because every sound effect and composition you hear in this series comes straight from our catalog. 

In this article, we’ll hear more from the team at Sonic Gods, the production studio behind the Just Hands documentary series, and find out how they utilized Artlist in both pre- and post-production to enhance storytelling, mood, and build tension and emotion.

Who are Sonic Gods?

Sonic Gods is an entertainment studio that merges production, digital, and brand content to create unscripted TV formats and community-driven storytelling that reaches and inspires global audiences. Their team has decades of experience in the film and TV industry, and their long-form content focuses on sports, business, and lifestyle.

Just Hands: For the Love of Racing

This four-part documentary series shares Torsten Gross’s journey to compete amongst some of the best race car drivers on the planet. Torsten, who is paralyzed from the neck down, has spent most of his life in a wheelchair. But that hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his dreams. 

“There are very few sports that make us equal to everybody,” says Torsten. “I’ll never compete against able-bodied people, but with car racing I can.” 

In this series, we learn all about Torsten’s entry into motorsports after his wife surprised him with a track day for their wedding anniversary. After that, he was hooked, partly thanks to his adrenaline-loving nature as well as the sense of empowerment he felt behind the wheel. 

That’s when he decided to share this newfound gift with the rest of his community, co-founding Just Hands Foundation, an organization that opens doors for disabled athletes to compete in motorsports with the rest of the world. Their main focus is performance driving and adaptive mountain biking through workshops, courses, and excursions. 

The Just Hands docuseries tells Torsten’s story and his journey to the top, with the hope to inspire disabled athletes across the globe to compete on the world stage. “It’s about breaking barriers, exceeding limits, chasing after your dreams and the things that set your heart on fire,” says Michelle Delamore, executive producer on the show. 

Artlist for TV production

When Sonic Gods joined forces with Amazon Prime to create the Just Hands documentary series, they turned to Artlist for the soundtrack. With storytelling this raw and real, sound design is essential, so every wheel skid, gear change, and brake squeal was crafted using sound effects from Artlist’s catalog, and the music was hand-picked to elevate emotion and amp up the energy.

High-quality SFX and music help set the mood, build tension, and bring high-energy scenes to life. Our catalog helps the audience connect with Torsten’s journey and bring the documentary visuals to life.

These days, TV production involves creating a massive range of content across multiple platforms. To promote one production, companies need to create content for streaming services, social media, behind-the-scenes clips, promos, and more. To keep up with such a fast-paced production line, companies need speed, consistency, high-quality output, and tools that help speed up workflow, all without compromising on creativity.

Artlist helps production houses take on these challenges thanks to our vast library of royalty-free music, sound effects, and video assets, ideal for sound designers. Editors can quickly find the right sound or visual with an easy search, meaning they can stay on schedule and maintain a cohesive tone across the board.

How Sonic Gods Studios utilized Artlist

The team at Sonic Gods Studios says that Artlist helped them every step of the way, from pre-production visualization to post-production finishing touches. They even used Artlist to create audio storyboards to help them set the mood and tone for each episode.

Pre-production

Ian Hotchkiss is the director of Just Hands: For the Love of Racing, and says their goal is to get their audience emotionally invested in the story they tell.

“We want to create the best TV shows possible, not just for our audience, but for ourselves,” Ian says. “You can capture these wonderful stories, and edit them together, and if you can’t get those last assets — the music and SFX that make a scene — then you don’t achieve what you want.”

Ian says that Artlist’s musical catalog came in handy to build the foundations for each scene. “Usually when constructing a scene, I like to find a song first,” he says. “In Just Hands, we kept to a similar genre for each episode, so I could easily source the perfect track to instantly bring a scene together.”

As the director, Ian was thinking about music from the beginning. “Music is definitely in talks at pre-production,” he says. “When we’re creating a series, we discuss the mood, the vibe, the tone we want to set. So we go on Artlist, create sonic art boards of the type of music we want for this piece, and start thinking about which songs will help us tell our story.”

Greg McKarus was the editor on this project, and says that Artlist saved him time every step of the way. “Artlist allowed us to focus on the narrative,” says Greg. “I love using their AI search, so I can find the exact mood or feeling or a certain instrument, and then have a plethora of options to choose from.” 

This helped the team set themes for each episode, and guided the mood and flow of the series.

Post-production

Streamlining post-production was a high priority when making the Just Hands docuseries, because they were up against tight deadlines and had a huge amount of footage to sort through.

Michelle Delamor can attest to this. As the co-founder of Sonic Gods and the executive producer on Just Hands, she says Artlist helps navigate huge workloads. “We create so much content,” she explains. “There’s the show itself, then all of the promotional assets, and trailers. There’s a high volume, so we must maintain the quality. Having a tool like Artlist allows us to do that; there’s so much high-quality music at our fingertips that allows us to move with speed while maintaining the integrity of the project.”

Michelle says that when it comes to filming TV, efficiency is everything, so having Artlist to streamline post-production was a game-changer for the team.

Music

“Music is such an important part of creating an emotional connection with the audience,” Ian says. “We use music and sound design to bring our scenes to life.”

Tracks like Jameson Nathan Jones’ “Grounded” helped create that cinematic, big-screen energy in the high-pressure moments, while Amir Marcus and Stephan Fischer’s piano-led track “Awaken” helps share the freedom Torsten feels when he’s racing.

Every episode has a theme and a genre. For example, the team built tension in episode two through orchestral cinematic music, and when they filmed at night in Daytona on episode 3, they leaned into synthy, atmospheric tracks. 

“Before Artlist, finding those high-quality assets was very challenging,” says Ian. “You’d have to source through a lot of different types of media libraries, which took a lot of time, and maybe you don’t find the asset you want, so you settle.”

Greg says that Artlist’s music library didn’t just save time and streamline post-production, but elevated all the content they created.

“Music was very important to Just Hands because each episode had a theme,” he says. “We used a lot of orchestra and strings to accentuate the high quality of the cars. So a lot of the music we used through Artlist’s library was designed to immerse the audience in Torsten’s world.”

Ultimately, Artlist’s musical catalog saved Greg dozens of editing hours. “It allowed us to create a special and unique show that will affect millions of lives,” he says. “I feel proud of the show.”

SFX

Ian says that to cut through the noise, you need to have a story that’s engaging, entertaining, and emotive, and sound effects are one of the best ways to capture an audience and keep them hooked. While Ian was filming with Torsten, he found that every race, every track, and every behind-the-scenes clip had a different energy, and the best way to convey that on the screen was through sound effects.

The team used Artboards to build their design template, referring back to it throughout the project to ensure consistency and streamline the process. 

“We wanted the audience to go into each episode feeling like they were watching something they’d never seen before,” Ian explains. “So we leaned into creating these soundscapes through music and sound effects to allow the audience to follow along with Torsten’s journey.”

Episode 1, for example, is full of tension; it’s Torsten’s first time competing, and the viewer can feel it as he gets into his car and sees his competitors for the first time. “There’s sections where we don’t use music, we just use sound design,” Ian explains. We want the audience to experience what it’s like to be in a race car, so it’s the sound of the motors as the cars pass, the sound of these wrecks that happen when you’re competing.”

Why production houses and TV shows use Artlist

From mood boards to post-production, Artlist helped shape Just Hands’ emotional and cinematic impact. The music and SFX set the tone, guided editing choices, and ensured the story flowed seamlessly, bringing this team’s vision to life within tight timelines. 

“With Artlist, we had all the high-quality digital assets we needed in one place,” Ian says. “High-quality sound effects, music, and even graphic templates for the promotional content we do around our shows.”

Michelle says that partnering with Artlist helped the team create a sonic landscape for the project. “Artlist gives us high-quality music, sound design, and all the elements that bring the story to life in an impactful way,” Michelle says. “There’s a lot of layers to storytelling, and sound is one of the most important ones. It’s what creates an immersive experience, brings people into the story, and  it’s what makes a project feel cinematic and premium.”

Ultimately, Michelle hopes people will feel so inspired by Just Hands so they’ll jump off the couch and go chase after their dreams. “That’s really what this show is designed to do,” she says. “We tell stories around the pursuit of greatness. That moment when people go from ordinary to extraordinary.”

Want to see how you can do this for your business? Contact us to get your team set up with an Artlist Business Plan. 

Dive into the full collection featured in the docuseries,  including every track in the series, exclusively on Artlist.

הפוסט How Artlist powered an Amazon Prime docuseries הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

With AI developing at breakneck speed, it can feel difficult to keep up, so we decided to speak with some of our favorite creators to find out how they utilize these tools to fuel their content and support their creativity. 

Content creator and videographer James Matthews likes to keep on top of technological developments. He’s a UK-based videographer and filmmaker who focuses on giving his audience an emotional experience through his productions. 

He’s an early adopter of Artlist’s new AI tools, like AI Voiceover, AI Assistant extension, AI-powered search, and AI image and video generator, and often shares how-to videos and insight on his YouTube Channel. 

In this article, we’ll find out how James uses these tools to save time, brainstorm, and fuel his ideas. 

Ahead of the curve

James’s creative journey began when he was a kid growing up in Essex. “I was really into graffiti,” he says, chatting from a hotel room in Bali. “I used to do graffiti in my local area, and that turned into a passion for photography.”

He’d spend his weekend at the local skate park BMXing and taking photos of his friends with a DSLR camera he got for his birthday. “Everyone started asking me to take a picture of them, and then I got my first photography job at a nightclub in Essex,” he says. “That was a nightmare. I don’t recommend that.”

From there, he segued into film. “I started to wonder what I could do with 25 frames instead of 1,” he says. The first video job he ever got was a promo video for his friend’s dad’s company, and after that, he slowly built his portfolio as a videographer. “Then I decided to start a YouTube channel at a time when only a few other people were doing it,” he says.

It was 2011, and James became one of the first YouTube vloggers documenting his tips and ideas with how-to videos. “I didn’t have any expectations,” he remembers. “But I just loved doing it, enjoyed sharing, and over time the channel just grew, and I got more jobs from YouTube than my commercial work.”

Slow and steady

From the start, James was always attracted to human creativity, which is why he loves to document stories of creatives. “I appreciate all creativity, whether it’s a music producer, a painter, an artist, or a guitar maker, for example.”

James is known for his slow-paced and steady documentary style. “I really like to allow the project to breathe, and give the audience time to absorb it,” he says.

James was one of the first creators ever to team up with Artlist in 2018, and the collaboration made sense immediately. James’s style of how-to video is friendly, informative, and genuinely useful for filmmakers. He loves to try out new technology and share his perspective and opinion with his followers. 

That extends to AI, and James often shares how-to videos of his latest AI discoveries on his YouTube channel, showcasing how he uses new tools to create content. “Even back in 2018, Artlist was quite revolutionary in the YouTube space and online audio space,” James says.

James is a great example of a creator who’s using AI to cut out the more tedious aspects of content creation.

“I use Artlist’s silence removal plug-in with Premiere Pro,” he says. “It cuts out all of the dead sections in interviews with no audio using AI, which is amazing. It saves loads of time, and you can customize it depending on how much time you want in between each silence.”

He sees AI as an assistant, and is keen to understand its capabilities and how it can help productivity.

Should creators use AI?

A lot of the conversation around AI is centered around how it might take over creative work. “I understand the negativity,” James says. “My personal opinion is AI is coming whether you like it or not, so you can either allow AI to crash on you or learn to ride the wave of it.”

James believes that AI can help us actualize our creativity, rather than take it over. “I love being a human, and I don’t want it to take over the purest passions of creativity,” he explains. “But my opinion is, in the creative industry, you have to at least be dabbling in AI tools or you’ll be left behind, and that’s the reality of it.”

Check out this blog post to learn about how you can create videos using AI with Artlist’s tools. 

How James uses AI in his content creation

There are lots of ways creators can use AI to boost their creativity, but James says he finds it most useful during pre-production. 

“I only use AI one way at the moment, and that is to storyboard,” he says. “When I’m working with a client on a project or idea, I have a very clear vision in my head. As a creative, the most important thing for me is to get that idea onto a screen without it being polluted.”

He does this using Artlist’s AI text-to-video generator tool, typing prompts and then allowing it to create visuals. He’ll then use prompts to tweak it to represent the exact image he had in his head.

“So, for example, I have a brief for a film,” James says. “I have the idea in February, and we start to shoot in June or July because we’ve had to sign off on budgets, ideas, locations, all of that. And by that time, the original idea has been so polluted with all the politics and everything else, that the idea is not even close to what it originally was. So for me, personally, using AI in pre-production is really, really useful.”

Before AI, James used to draw the images in his storyboard, which took days of his time and wasn’t particularly life-like. But now with text-to-image and text-to-video generative AI, his vision is much clearer, which helps build confidence in his client, who can clearly see James’ idea on a screen. “I can literally show them what we’re trying to recreate in real life with cameras, actors, lighting, location, and we can use that as a base to create our content.”

For example, on a recent documentary shoot with Mazda, he wanted to feature a guitar maker whose emotionally driven guitar designs resonated with the brand’s philosophy. James created a pre-production pack using Artlist’s AI tools, incorporating the location, season (autumn in a German winery), and visuals like color schemes and framing ideas. Generative AI helped him show his vision clearly, which gave the client confidence to go ahead with the project.

For more insight into his process, James made a video on generative AI that actually benefits creators. 

Generative AI as an assistant, not an artist

Although many creators are using AI to generate art, James currently only uses it within pre-production. “I use AI to assist my ideas,” he says. I want to hold onto pure human creativity. I don’t want AI to take that away, but it can assist me in building my ideas and helping them become a reality on the screen.”

On his YouTube channel, James shares tips and tricks to navigate the new world of AI with tools that genuinely help creators, sharing thoughts on what he plans to use in the future as well as what he currently uses. “I personally haven’t used the voice over just yet in my own work, but I know in the future I will because it’s pretty much perfect,” he says.

And it’s been easy to integrate Artlist’s AI tools because he’s already so familiar with the platform. “I’ve been using Artlist for years, so I know it like the back of my hand,” he says. “Now all their tools are in Premiere Pro, so they seamlessly integrate with the platform, and the transition to AI feels natural and intuitive. It’s just an extension of the Artlist experience.”

AI advice for creators

“My advice would be to try your best to embrace it,” James says. “Because at the end of the day, we’re in a technology-driven industry, so you have to embrace new technology.”

Ultimately, James hopes AI will simply act as a tool to help humans express their art, rather than make art itself. “I hope that AI allows people to express their human creativity and bring that to life, rather than replace it,” he says. “I don’t think it’d be very nice if AI were to completely make human decisions when it comes to creativity, but if it can facilitate them, and help a human actualize their creativity, then that’s all I care about.”

James Matthews is a UK-based videographer and Filmmaker who focuses on giving his audience an emotional experience through his productions. For more tricks, tips, and AI how-tos, follow James Matthews on YouTube. 

הפוסט How creator James Matthews uses Artlist’s AI Tools הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Recently, he sat down with Artlist to talk through his action videography journey, offering amazing insights, and some very useful advice for those wanting to become the next best extreme sports videographer. If you’re wanting to know which is the best video camera for action sports, or have designs on shooting your own extreme sports film, then this one’s for you.

From passion to career

“I started with action sports when I was 14, surfing in Rome. Before that, I was just your classic Italian kid playing football. But in the summer of 2004, I discovered surfing, and that changed everything”, he reflects. Naturally, “Surfing led to skateboarding, and then in the winter (while on family vacation in the mountains), I told my dad, ‘I don’t want to ski anymore — I want to try snowboarding.’” 

“I started organizing parties and festivals in Rome. That’s actually when I first picked up a camera — just to shoot photos and videos of the events and my friends surfing. I was maybe 15 or 16, just a kid with a camera shooting his friends.” From there, Mirko never really looked back. 

What started off as a passion and hobby has developed into an impressive career. “In 2008, I met a girl who invited me to Innsbruck (in Austria), and I’ve been based here ever since. A couple of years in, friends asked if I wanted to try longboarding. At first I thought, ‘No way,’ but as soon as I tried it, it just clicked.”

“From the beginning, I had this ambition. Ever since I was a kid I have wanted to be a pro surfer. Then I started doing downhill skating, won a slide jam, and got my first sponsor. That’s when I realized ‘ok I needed to start filming properly.’”

“After years of skating and filming, I realized — I’m a filmmaker now. Around 2019, just before COVID, I decided to focus more on filmmaking full-time. I opened my own agency and started freelancing.”

“I leveraged all those contacts I made from skateboarding…I pitched ideas to the same companies, but now I was the filmmaker. That led to projects in…snowboarding, ski resorts, bike parks, and big sports branding events like Swatch Nines and World Cup comps.”

Gear and technique

After many years of building up his experience and skillset, Mirko is now one of the most impressive action sports videographers around, with a signature style of daring stunts that are beautifully cinematic. “I always wanted a clean, cinematic look. I cared about the angles,  getting the shot from the front, understanding the side that looks best on camera…all these things matter.”

When you watch Mirko’s work, as he follows a skateboarder down the mountain at insane speeds, you really feel that speed, as well as the risk and adrenaline that comes with it. “Follow-cam work brings out the emotion and momentum of a moment in a way a static shot never can. It’s more dynamic, more real,” he explains enthusiastically. 

For Mirko, there’s no single best camera for sports videography. At the moment, to capture these unbelievable shots, his go-to gear is the “Sony A7S III with a 12-24mm wide lens for cinematic work. For the follow cams, no gimbals — I just use the camera handheld.” While the Sony is more about the precision and cinematic look, he also makes use of GoPros and action cameras — “I go crazy, get in close, shoot fast.”

Of course, to achieve these risky shots, there has to be a high level of communication and understanding between the rider and the filmmaker. “Extreme sports filmmaking is different. You need to know your riders, and they need to know you. It’s all about trust and understanding what looks good and how they’re going to move. Without that, you can’t get the shot.” 

Additionally, he adds, it’s about being comfortable with your gear, too. “Sometimes it’s about feeling and intuition. You can teach technique, but the flow of follow-cam work comes from how well you know your board and your camera.”

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Preparation matters

It’s clear that the secret to Mirko’s success lies not just in his communication and understanding with his athletes, but in his attention to the details, and the preparation and planning that goes into each sports content shoot. The weather, for example, is something he had to learn about the hard way. “Cold kills batteries, so I always tell people to keep your batteries close to your body, to keep them warm. That one tip is a game changer.” 

Another piece of advice is to “always scout your location. Coming from skating, I used to just show up and shoot, always run-and-gun style. But now I know: if you’ve scouted, you save time, avoid confusion, and lead with confidence.” 

Given the nature of the job, it doesn’t always go to plan. He references the many times he’s broken DSLRs, and it’s not just the cameras and gear at risk, either. “I’ve also broken myself – road rash, burns, lots of skin gone — because when you crash while filming downhill longboarding, you try to protect the camera by holding up. I’ve lost a lot of skin-saving gear,” he laughs. 

Despite the risks, you won’t catch him quitting anytime soon. With a tattoo that reminds you to “go big or go home”, he’s committed to his craft, continuously pushing boundaries. “It’s the people, the adrenaline, the outdoors. Action sports filming gave me so much. It shaped who I am, professionally and personally. I feel like I still have a lot to give back to this world. I’ll keep doing this as long as I can.”

Editing workflow

From location scouting in pre-production to his intuitive understanding of riders during production, Mirko’s attention to detail carries all the way through each project. It’s no surprise to learn that his post-production editing workflow is similarly well organized. “I label everything by camera, athlete, and scene. Then I watch everything again and begin to pick out the best shots — the best of Sony, best of GoPro POV — and build from there. I’ll narrow it down to the very best shots and begin editing them all together in a separate timeline.” Most of this work is carried out with Final Cut Pro, before shifting over to DaVinci Resolve for color grading.

He also makes good use of all his Artlist assets, too. “Artlist has been huge for me. I’ve used it for royalty-free music on probably 95% of my projects, and I use their light leaks, transitions, VFX, and plugins all the time. Sound effects are always very underrated but necessary, too.” In a tight squeeze, he can even make use of stock footage. “I’ve recommended Artlist to a lot of people who ask about stock footage, and they’re always really surprised about the quality of stuff that’s in there compared to what they have just been using.”

Mirko’s top three tips

Before he left, Mirko outlined his top three tips for any aspiring extreme sports filmmaker.

1. Create your own opportunities — and say yes before you feel ready

Don’t wait for brands or clients to call you. Go out, film your friends, make that passion project, and launch the idea you’ve been sitting on. Half of my career came from personal projects that no one asked for — but they got noticed. And when opportunities did come, I said yes, even when I wasn’t 100% ready. Some of the wildest jobs I’ve done started with me figuring it out on the go. Confidence doesn’t come first. You earn it by doing the thing.

2. Start with what you have and where you are

You don’t need the best gear or the perfect location to begin. Just stay focused on what you want, know your vision, and aim for it. I started by filming my friends with a GoPro, and I was called “the filmer.” I honestly like that! Focus on having fun, don’t waste time, and stay consistent. If you put in the hard work and effort and stay driven by passion, it will pay off before you even realize it. 

3. Learn to be your own one-man show

Especially at the beginning, you’ll wear all the hats: Director, DOP, editor, drone pilot, maybe even athlete. That’s a blessing in disguise. It forces you to understand every part of the process, and that’s how you learn everything. This was key to becoming who I am today and reaching the level I’m at now.

Mirko’s very own Artlist collection is available to download now. Featuring some of his best work, it includes some crazy snow jump FPV shots, and adrenaline-pumping longboard action.

הפוסט How Mirko Paoloni became one of the best extreme sports filmmakers הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

From the start, it was clear: Joshua doesn’t just think about the future, he builds toward it. We talked about what drives him, what keeps him up at night, and how new AI tools are reshaping the creative process. More than anything, we talked about the artist’s role in all of it — and why it’s more important now than ever. It was a thoughtful, no-fluff kind of talk — grounded in experience, lit up by possibility, and rooted in a clear belief that creators should always lead the way. Enjoy! 

Josh, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be the CINO at Artlist?

I founded FXhome 25 years ago with this crazy belief that professional creative tools shouldn’t be locked behind $10,000 price tags. We wanted to democratize filmmaking and VFX, and over the years, we’ve seen millions of creators bring impossible ideas to life with our software. When Artlist acquired us, it felt like coming home — suddenly, I could combine that same philosophy with the world’s highest quality content catalog. As CINO, I get to work on the bleeding edge of what’s possible when you mix AI, creativity, and a massive global community of storytellers.

What keeps you up at night?

My twin toddlers, obviously! But professionally, it’s the incredible pace of AI development. Every week, there’s a breakthrough that could change everything for creators. I’m constantly thinking: “How do we stay ahead of this curve while building tools that actually solve real problems?” The gap between creative vision and execution is shrinking so fast — we have this incredible opportunity to completely reimagine how content gets made. That’s both thrilling and terrifying when you’re responsible for getting it right for millions of creators.

What do you love about your job?

Building tools that empower creatives has been my dream since leaving university, but the real thing I love is working with passionate creative people, be that in design or software development. Whatever I’m doing, even the harder bits of management, I can leave my office and walk into a room full of smart people doing extraordinary things.

As a creator, what excites you about AI tools?

The democratization of creativity. When we aimed to create software that was more accessible to a larger audience, this wasn’t meant to simplify the process; it was meant to empower more people to have a voice and share their story. AI is the ultimate tool to enable people to tell their stories.

What really excites me is watching creators who’ve been held back by technical barriers suddenly break free. I’ve seen wedding videographers create cinematic masterpieces in hours, instead of days, small business owners produce content that rivals major agencies, and independent filmmakers visualize complex scenes before they even pick up a camera. AI isn’t just making things faster – it’s making the impossible possible.

How would you describe Artlist’s core philosophy on AI and creativity?

AI is perhaps the most natural evolution of our mission we’ve ever undertaken. Artlist has always been about removing barriers between creators and their vision. First, we eliminated the nightmare of music licensing. Then we tackled stock footage and sound effects. Now, AI represents the ultimate barrier-removal tool — it eliminates technical complexity, time constraints, and resource limitations that have held creators back for decades. 

AI isn’t here to replace creatives or creativity. It’s here to empower creatives, like the best assistant you never had, or the five best assistants you’ve ever had. We want to give you superpowers so you can focus on your artistry and creativity, which AI can’t emulate.

Think of it this way: AI handles the tedious stuff – the color correction, the repetitive cuts, finding the perfect sound effect — while you focus on the soul of your story. We’re building an ecosystem where human creativity and artificial intelligence work seamlessly together.

Our vision is simple: in the coming years, a creator’s only limitation should be their imagination, not their access to tools, content, or technical expertise. The creativity, the vision, the emotional connection — that’s uniquely human and always will be.

When you hear people say AI will replace artists, what’s your first reaction?

I smile because this conversation always reminds me of when digital cameras first appeared and people said they’d replace photographers, or when affordable editing software arrived and supposedly made editors obsolete. I’ve lived through these transitions, and what happens every time is the same — the tools get more accessible, but the most talented storytellers rise to the top and use those tools to create even more incredible work.

Look at creators like Corridor Digital on YouTube — Sam, Niko, and their team have always been exceptional storytellers, regardless of their budget or tools. When you give brilliant creatives new technology, they don’t become redundant — they become superhuman. The vision, the emotional intelligence, the ability to connect with an audience — those are uniquely human skills that no AI can replicate.

What’s your vision for how AI will change the creative process? How have these tools changed your creative process?

It’s completely transformed my entire creative workflow, from the very first spark of an idea through to the final edit. AI has revolutionized how I approach ideation — I can explore concepts and directions I might never have considered. It’s enhanced my writing and planning process, helping me structure narratives and develop ideas more effectively. And increasingly, it’s improving how I edit, search for assets, and construct my videos.

In every case, it allows me to focus on the parts of the creative process I genuinely love rather than getting bogged down by the technical hurdles or tedious tasks that used to slow me down. It’s like having creative barriers lifted so I can spend my energy on pure storytelling and artistic vision.

What’s the one thing you never want AI to do in the creative process?

Make the final creative decision. AI should never choose the story you tell or the emotional tone you want to convey — that’s the essence of human creativity. I want AI to be incredibly smart about technical execution while always deferring to human judgment on artistic intent.

The context matters too — sometimes I want AI to handle most of the editing heavy lifting, other times I want complete manual control. The key is that it should always be my choice, not the algorithm’s. The moment AI starts making creative choices for us rather than with us, we lose authenticity.

What’s your most-used feature or favourite asset on Artlist?

The music catalog is absolutely central to everything I create. There’s so much depth there that it often sparks ideas I never would have had otherwise. I’ll start looking for a specific track and stumble across something that completely reshapes my creative direction.

What’s exciting is how, in the near future, our AI tools will supercharge that discovery process. Instead of just searching by keywords, the system will analyze my actual footage and suggest music that matches the mood, pacing, and energy of what I’m creating. It’ll be like having a music supervisor who intimately knows both my style and my content.

If you could give creators one piece of advice about working with AI, what would it be?

Experiment fearlessly and keep coming back. The AI landscape evolves so rapidly that tools that seem clunky today can become indispensable in just a few months. Don’t wait for perfection — start small, try different approaches, and learn as you go.

Most importantly, think of AI as your creative partner, not your replacement. The creators who thrive will be those who learn to collaborate with AI rather than fear it. Embrace the experimentation, learn from the weird results, and remember that AI is only as creative as the human directing it.

Creators lead, tools follow

Talking with Joshua reminded me that innovation doesn’t start with machines — it starts with people. AI is just a tool, and like every tool before it, its value depends on the hands that shape it. What matters is the vision behind the work, the feeling in the cut, the story only a human can tell. His advice for creators? Don’t be afraid of what’s next. Be part of it. Use the tools, experiment, break things, but hold tight to what makes your voice yours. Because no matter how far technology goes, creativity still begins — and ends — with you. Start creating without fear today on Artlist.

הפוסט Josh Davies, CINO, Artlist, on why AI needs artists — not the other way around הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Ironically, it’s this very threat that has, in recent years, drawn far more attention to one of the world’s smallest nations. But Tuvalu is so much more than just some sort of impending doomsday attraction. Look beyond the YouTube titles and clickbait thumbnails, and you’ll find a genuinely rich history and culture that the people of Tuvalu are rightly proud of.

To document this incredible island, as a way of preserving its unique culture and keeping its spirit alive for generations to come, Artlist sent four leading artists to capture the unique sights and sounds of Tuvalu. These assets form the Tuvalu collection, available for download in the Artlist catalog. The team consisted of content creator Joshua Guvi, filmmaker Spencer Frost, composer Tristan Barton, and audio naturalist Charles Rose.

Arriving in Tuvalu

Now…back to that map. “It’s definitely way out there — a tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific,” explains Spencer. Tuvalu lies smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean — right between Australia and Hawaii. It’s made up of nine coral atolls and reef islands, scattered across just 26 square kilometers of land. 

Spencer continues on the trials of how to travel with a drone and all of his other gear — “I wanted to document this place properly, so bringing a good amount of camera gear to do this place justice was a must. RED cinema camera, big drones, underwater housings, lenses, tripods, and all the other extras we needed — we were not travelling light! There are only one or 2 flights to the island a week, and it’s not a big plane, so we all had to sneak on as much carry-on camera kit as we could, as well as paying a good fee in excess baggage to get everything over.” In short, then, it was a little bit more than just your essential travel vlogging equipment!

Thanks to the lack of flights, most of the time, the airport runway is actually just a giant playground for the many local kids who run around playing football, flying kites, and, it turns out, looking for any opportunity to get in front of the camera. “Seeing all the children gathering there, playing together, and feeling that joyful, positive energy was moving,” says Charles. “Knowing that this place could disappear under the sea in the coming years makes those memories even more precious. Moments like these are a reminder of how important it is to preserve both cultures and places of life.”

The creative process

But the boys don’t immediately hit record with cameras and microphones. Each has their own process. Charles explains, “When I get to a new place, I don’t record straight away. I take a bit of time to walk around and listen. I let myself be immersed in the sounds around me. Sometimes a tone or a rhythm catches my ear. Other times, I notice something moving – two objects rubbing, leaves shaking — and I wonder what kind of sound it makes. That’s usually when I decide to record. I trust my instincts and follow whatever grabs my attention.”

It’s a similar story for Tristan, too. “Typically, I try to keep things organic, and not go in with too many preconceived ideas of what to expect. Despite doing a little bit of research beforehand, I was very open to anything and everything that Tuvalu had to offer. I think this approach, for me anyway, helps to ground the experience and allow for the unexpected when it comes to inspiration.”

This harmony in the creative approach “made it feel more collaborative, less like a shoot and more like a shared project,” says Josh. “Everyone brought something different to the table. Tristan was building music from kids singing, and Charles was running around with all kinds of mics recording textures and underwater sounds. Spencer and his team were just quietly capturing everything — really thoughtful shooters, super dialed in. It wasn’t just about filming stuff, it felt like we were all trying to absorb the place in our own way.”

Over the course of the week, the boys captured gorgeous, cinematic footage, beautifully moving music, and natural sounds that are truly unique to Tuvalu. These now form the assets found in the Tuvalu collection, where you can continue to keep the Tuvalu spirit alive in your own projects.

Capturing the unique sounds of Tuvalu

For any creative, SFX are an important cornerstone for a project. “Sound is a powerful way to raise awareness of the richness of the living world, to help us hear what we don’t even stop to look at,” explains Charles. “These recordings remind us that nature is always there, alive, active, even in its quietest forms. Making those sounds audible is a way of reconnecting people with that presence.”

Charles focused not just on nature sound effects, but culture and everyday life, too. His ability to pick out seemingly random objects in the landscape led to a variety of unique recordings. “We were standing around a barrel, and a kid nearby started hitting it with his hand. Right away, I thought it could be interesting to capture the metallic resonance using a contact microphone — especially since Tristan was with us. Depending on whether the barrel was empty or full, the sound would change, and I was curious to hear what it could produce.”

Charles immediately leapt at the opportunity. “Together with Tristan, Spencer, and the child, we started drumming on the barrel, creating this spontaneous scene, all connected through sound. What I really loved was letting the child listen back through the headphones, so he could hear how different the sound felt compared to what you hear with your bare ears.”

It’s all about the people

There’s no doubt that the local children and people of Tuvalu made the biggest impression on the team and ensured their trip was so wonderful. Tristan was blown away — “the thing that will always be etched into my heart and mind is the people. Some of the most inviting and beautiful human beings I’ve ever met!”

“The local people of Tuvalu were all so happy for us to be there documenting their culture and home. Everywhere we went, we were greeted with nothing but smiles and happiness. The kids on the island don’t have much — but they have the ocean and are so happy just to swim, jump, and play in the ocean every day” reflects Spencer. 

Josh agrees — “when they were swimming, jumping off the pier, just messing around. It was super simple, but something about it stuck with me. They were just being kids, but there’s this weight in the background when you know their future here isn’t guaranteed. That contrast really hit.” 

Click to download the full Footage Collection of The Youth of Tuvalu

The responsibility and importance of a trip like this was not lost on the four creatives. “You talk to kids who are being adopted overseas because their homes are disappearing. You hear people say they don’t know what the future holds. That’s heavy. And I think the least we can do is tell those stories while they’re still unfolding,” says Josh.

Preserving Tuvalu culture through music and film

For Spencer, it’s his work as a filmmaker that helps document what’s happening to Tuvalu in this moment. “We now have a beautiful visual documentation of Tuvalu, a place that not many people in the world will get to visit, and also a country that might not be around much anymore. I think a mix of all the imagery that we captured helped show the spirit and soul of the place — the friendly smiles of all the kids on the island, the pristine, crystal clear water, and tropical palm trees. It was really a visually beautiful place.”

“Tropical islands are really a hard place to make look bad, but in Tuvalu I really loved that wherever you point a camera it was beautiful. Combined with some amazing sunrises and sunsets, crystal clear water and palm trees on a remote tropical island, it was an incredible place to document for artlist.”

Of course, when it comes to preserving the culture itself, music plays a key role. Historically, Tuvalu’s story starts with Polynesians settling the islands centuries ago, navigating vast ocean distances with nothing but stars and skill. It’s no surprise, then, that Tristan picked up on this with the traditional music they heard during their time here. “The music was very raw in nature and had that ‘island-uke” style sound,” Tristan reflects, referencing the unique Oceania musical instruments that were being used by the locals. “I think my immediate thoughts were how similar it sounded to a lot of Hawaiian music. There was also an obvious Samoan influence in a lot of the traditional songs, so I definitely tried to incorporate elements of that into my compositions.”

Click here to download the complete Sounds of Tuvalu SFX collection.

For Charles, the Tuvalu music was a standout moment. “What touched me the most in Tuvalu were the cultural moments shared with the local community. I’ll never forget the kava ceremony we experienced together with the team and the residents. The songs from that evening were unforgettable, and listening to them again at home brings back strong memories.”

The Tuvalu collection

Through the Artlist Tuvalu collection, you can expect to feel and evoke these strong memories of culture and traditional dance, too. Spencer’s stunning cinematic footage is perfect for creating travel videos using stock footage, while new tracks from Tristan, inspired by Oceania music, and the unique sound effects recorded by Charles all work to bring the island to life. 

Click to download the Sinking Island Album by Tristan Barton

This project, Spencer believes, can “help raise awareness for what’s happening to Tuvalu and the people on the island. As humans, we need to all do our part to help combat global warming, climate change, and rising sea levels. I think beautifully documenting a place like this is a great way to do that.”

For Charles, it’s a form of testimony. Nature is changing, and with climate change, environments and their soundscapes are vanishing. By capturing these sounds, we’re creating living archives of a time and place under threat. The same goes for culture. During this trip, I recorded unique cultural elements: local Tuvalu dances, songs, language, and other traditions deeply rooted in Tuvaluan identity. These too are at risk because of climate change.”

If you have a story to tell and a vision to bring to life, we believe that all you need is the right creative toolkit. Artlist is all about empowering people from all walks of life to create anytime, anywhere. By sending creators across the world to document what they see, hear, and feel, we provide you with the highest-quality, original, and exclusive creative assets and tools. The Tuvalu collection is now available for download.

Check out more work from the Artlist x Tuvalu creators: 

Joshua Guvi, Travel filmmaker, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, IMDb
Spencer Frost, Filmmaker and cinematographer, Website, Instagram, YouTube 
Tristan Barton, Musical artist and composer, Website, YouTube, Instagram
Charles Rose, Field recorder, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok

הפוסט How to preserve the spirit and culture of a disappearing island הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

To ignite your inspiration, we caught up with two creators using AI to enhance their visions. They’re real-world examples of the way AI can empower creatives, and how the latest tools can inspire artists, filmmakers, and content creators to explore the realms of possibility, not replacing their art but enhancing it.

Today, we’ll dive into how creators are integrating AI tools into their art projects, utilizing them at every touchpoint from storyboarding to concept creation to finishing touches. 

They’ll share the way they use AI to experiment and expand the horizons of their imaginations, their tips and advice for harnessing the power of AI for artists, and their thoughts on the future of creative production.

Meet the creators

Murad Muradov, the creator putting the AI in Azerbaijan 

Murad Muradov was born and raised in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan in Central Asia. Murad says his creative evolution from web design to motion graphics was shaped by an early fascination with computers. His family was the first in his area with a computer, so people often asked him for help with one thing or another. Now, he’s one of Azerbaijan’s most promising creatives. The Visual Artist, Creative Director, and Art Director has become known for compelling AI-fuelled visuals deeply rooted in the culture of his home country. 

Toma Gerzha, the creator championing post-Soviet youth culture

Toma is a documentary photographer and multimedia artist. She was born in Moscow in 2003 and moved to the Netherlands as a child while staying closely connected to her Russian family and culture, which is exactly what she explores in her art. “I was always interested in my roots, and I speak Russian and Dutch fluently, so I’m multicultural, and that’s how the Eastern European style in my work came up.”

Toma Gerzha has been an artist-in-residence at Treehouse, a creative studio based on Amsterdam’s NDSM Wharf, and has collaborated with Artlist since early 2025. 

Toma creates AI-generated photography best described as pioneering. She combines documentary storytelling with emerging technologies to explore themes of memory, culture, and identity. 

Her breakthrough project, .ru (2023), marked her first major foray into AI and won her global recognition. Toma’s use of AI goes way beyond aesthetic experimentation — her work is concept-driven, steeped in nostalgia, and challenges conventional notions of documentary truth.

The journey from passion to profession

Murad didn’t have formal training in graphic design or fine art — instead, he worked for creative agencies for several years, where he honed his skills as a designer, artist, and creative director before pursuing his independent artistic journey. 

His aesthetic is deeply influenced by Russian filmmakers, and he’s inspired by the rich sounds of Middle Eastern music, especially from Azerbaijan and Iran. “My work is inspired by Azerbaijani films,” he says. 

Murad’s images and videos are saturated with Azerbaijani culture and demonstrated in the latest image-to-video catalog for Artlist. It was created using a variety of AI tools and explores many of the themes he’s become known for: religion, culture, futurism, and the divine feminine. The imagery is unique and show-stopping — and AI is the tool that empowered him to create it.

Murad’s video shows a woman sitting inside an old Arabic house filled with sand. 

This video shows Soviet-style buildings floating mid-air while women in orange veils float around them. 

And another depicts women in purple veils, walking along a misty, cobbled street. 

Toma’s creative journey began by accident. Growing up traveling between Russia and the Netherlands, she used social media, photography, and technology to stay connected to her home country and make herself understood. When Toma first moved to the Netherlands, she didn’t speak English or Dutch, so she used imagery to communicate. “My dad gave me a Nokia with a camera, so I would take pictures to explain stuff,” Toma says. “So photography and digitalization came early because of that.”

Toma would show her friends in both countries images of her dual lives, and soon started filming. Then she found her mother’s old stash of DSLR cameras and took them everywhere she went. “I still take documentary-style photographs related to the Netherlands and Russian youth culture,” she says.

Now, Toma is redefining the boundaries between technology and art, encouraging conversation around memory, identity, and reality in the age of AI. Her collaboration with Artlist is still in the process of being created, and will combine her signature, Soviet-era style with Artlist’s new technology. 

Using AI to enhance creativity

When the first AI models came out in 2021, Toma was instantly curious about the possibilities they presented. She tried out several early AI tools to find out how they could support her creativity.“When the war started, and I couldn’t go back to Russia anymore, I started to use my own photo archives to train the AI models,” she says.

The result was images with an Eastern European style, similar to her own. “It was a nice way to sort my archives and documentary projects,” Toma says. “I started to take it more seriously and use AI to create animations by combining images in a stop-motion, old-school style.”

Murad has a similar story. As soon as AI tools emerged on the global stage, he felt compelled to find out how they could accelerate human creativity. “AI is only powerful if you have vision,” he says. “Without vision, you can’t do anything. It’s the same with Photoshop or After Effects; it’s the same instrument. You need to have a vision and create it.”

Murad is driven by a desire to spark deep emotional reactions in his audience, and believes AI helped him actualize his creative visions in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. “Working with AI is like having a creative assistant or art director,” Murad says. “I see it as having two or three people in the room, bouncing ideas off each other, discussing a concept, and helping develop my vision more effectively.”

Tools, techniques, and technology

Both Toma and Murad use a range of generative AI platforms in their work and always try out the latest technology, as well as editing in After Effects and Photoshop. 

Both are transparent about their use of AI, and Murad is happy to share how he makes his images but steers clear from explaining the meaning behind his work, preferring instead to allow viewers to make their own interpretations. “I don’t like to explain so much,” Murad says. “I want to leave them to brainstorm and have their visions, their thoughts.”

Toma sees social media and her art as inherently linked and enjoys creating for a range of social platforms. “I love creating animations, working with reels and TikToks, and creating something new using a mix of AI and documentary photography.”

Not long ago, Toma went to Kenya to explore visual themes to create new images, animation styles, and learn how to work with video in new ways. But she recommends one place in particular to get started.

“To start with AI, I would really suggest Artlist,” Toma says. “Because they have a lot of tools that a beginner can try and get good results.”

Working with image and video generators

Murad believes Artlist’s AI image and video generators are ideal for anyone curious about delving into the world of AI. “When I explore AI-generated art, I see it as a collaborative process between the AI and the artist,” he says. “The artist contributes their concepts and creative direction, while the AI assists in bringing those ideas to life. This partnership allows for continuous creativity. So the AI doesn’t replace the artist but enhances their ability to develop and refine their work.”

Toma uses AI in a multitude of unexpected ways. CTRL+R is a project Toma started in 2021 as part of a high school thesis about young people in Russia. When the war started, she expanded the concept to explore how the war changed the lives of people she’d photographed. “I started to actively explore AI as a tool to collect everything that I’d already shot and explore what I can create from that.”

The result of CTRL+R is a book and exhibition of documentary photography that AI helped sort and archive. And .ru (the Russian web domain) is a culmination of the new images she made from that project. “Those just look really photorealistic, but they are fully made with AI,” Toma explains. “They contain all the pictures generated from the book to create an archive of new images.”

Toma is in the process of working with Artlist on an image-to-video AI project. “I’m exploring the image side of things, trying new styles and combining them with my own style,” she says. “The new technology has some realistic styles that are good for people who haven’t used AI before, especially for people who want to create ultra-realistic film photography.”

Advice for aspiring creatives 

Murad believes a strong artistic vision and consistent practice are essential to art in all its forms, regardless of whether AI is in the mix, and sees AI as a powerful professional tool and creative partner rather than a shortcut. “My advice is to develop your vision,” Murad says. “Always practice your vision. If you can shoot with a camera, then you can also make art with AI. AI can only help you if you have your own vision.”

Toma’s advice is not to be afraid to explore the world of AI and to unearth the possibilities it brings creators. “I was at a photographer’s dinner in Paris, and when I told them I work with AI, everybody was freaked out,” she says. “I think photographers are afraid. They expect AI to replace them. But it doesn’t work like that.”

Toma believes the media is responsible for AI’s negative reputation. “I think it was hated at the beginning because the news wrote sentences like ‘AI created…’ and so people think a machine does everything for you,” Toma explains. “They do not understand how it works, and how difficult and long and exhausting the process can be to create one image in the hyper-realistic result that I want, and how much time it saves me. That’s because the media didn’t frame it in the right way at the beginning, but now I think it’s more accepted.”

The future of creativity 

As AI creators, both Toma and Murad believe artists, photographers, filmmakers, and creatives can benefit from embracing AI tools and should view them as a creative partner that can improve workflow and boost creativity.

“I think the future of AI is positive,” Murad says. “You can develop your idea and grow it with AI. You prepare your prompt and images and adjust them until they start to align with your vision. That’s when you begin fine-tuning the prompts to achieve the exact result you’re aiming for.”

Toma urges creators to explore new programs and see what they come up with. “I get most of my money from artificial intelligence commissions because I love exploring new things,” Toma says. “Just from opening an AI program and trying out some different styles, different techniques, and finding out what I like.” 

Some footage from Toma’s Artlist collection “Cartoons”

She also suggests combining AI with your practice by training it on your own images, taking inspiration from AI influencers. “I’ve seen so many artists combine AI with their techniques, and it looks so cool,” she says. “And I appreciate when they are open about their process, and teach people how to do it themselves. I’m open about using AI and about telling people that AI can help you create really cool things, especially in combination with your own art.” 

Neither artist believes that AI can replicate the human touch alone because it doesn’t have emotions. “It hasn’t lived a life or had your experiences, so you have to explain your emotions to AI,” Murad says. “That’s why it can’t replace humans.” 

Art, powered by AI

These creatives show that AI isn’t replacing creativity — it’s reshaping it. Toma and Murad are using AI image and video generators to turn their own ideas and concepts into larger-than-life, thought-provoking work. From Murad’s cultural dreamscapes to Toma’s nostalgic, post-Soviet photo essays, these artists prove that AI can be a powerful creative partner with limitless possibilities. Like Murad and Toma, the key is to experiment with new ideas, embrace the latest technological developments, and explore the boundaries of your own creativity. To get started, try Artlist’s new AI tools for image, video, and voiceover today.

הפוסט How and why creators are embracing AI הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Long-time Artlist contributors Brianna Tam and Sam Newton are equally talented in two very different fields. This summer, the cellist and the filmmaker took this partnership one step further when they decided to join forces. They spent the day in an LA studio, creating an audio-visual project with Brianna improvising electric cello over Sam’s cinematic collection of moments from Norway, aimed to reflect the feeling of awe Sam feels whenever he visits the country. 

The result went way beyond anyone’s expectations — and left some members of the Artlist team wanting to learn the cello themselves. We caught up with Brianna and Sam to learn more about this project, their distinct but complementary creative processes, and why they’re now determined to team up with artists in different disciplines in the future. 

Brianna Tam: Redefining the sound of passion and resilience

Although Brianna and Sam’s crafts are very different, both of them had to pave their own way to get where they are today.

Based in LA, Brianna Tam is a classical cellist, electric cellist, and composer. When she started playing cello at age 8, her music teacher told her she was too passionate and needed to calm down. “So I made my energy smaller and smaller over the years,” she says. 

Brianna always knew she wanted to pursue a path in music, so she worked hard, eventually competing in concerto competitions, performing with world-class musicians, and attending a competitive music conservatory.

She dropped out after one year due to burnout, and during her time off came across Apocalypta, a heavy metal cello band. That’s when she realized her energy might fit in after all. “I got back into cello through the loop pedal, which means I can record and add layers live,” she says. “I can build a world of music on my own.” 

Brianna mastered the art of improvised live-looping in non-classical performance, and it wasn’t long before the music world began to take notice. Her unparalleled energy and passion combined with her imagination and flow led to a killer live show. She was hired as Principal Cellist of the Spartanburg Philharmonic and Assistant Principal Cellist of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. 

Brianna started working with Artlist in 2021 after a friend encouraged her to send her debut album, Growth to the team. “Their contact person said he loved it and listened to it in his own time and had it on repeat,” she says. “I was like, okay — well, that means a lot.”

Now, Brianna is one of Artlist’s most popular musicians. She works with Artlist Originals to create original music for the catalog, and her gift of building and illustrating worlds through sound has added depth and texture to hundreds of film projects—including some of Sam Newton’s.

Sam Newton: Turning bold beginnings into global adventures

Sam Newton started working with Artlist in 2019 after spending five years traveling around the world and documenting his experiences. Just like Brianna, he had to get creative in order to make things happen for him. When he started out, he emailed over 500 companies to ask them if they might need his services. Three got back to him, and that was enough to kick-start his career. 

Since 2019, Sam Newton and Artlist have been creative partners, working on dozens of film projects around the world, with a big part of his work and ethos centered around collaboration. “It’s great to meet other people who have taken that risk and broken the norms, whether they’re musicians, filmmakers, or visual artists,” he says. So when the idea to work with Brianna on his new travel film arose, he knew it would be a positive experience.

Both artists say that working with Artlist has helped amplify their creativity and explore new horizons, and both love the sense of connection with the community. “Artlist creatives who use my music want to feel connected to the person who is infusing energy in their project,” Brianna says. “They see my face, see what else I do, and see me as a person, not just a number. So I’ve had filmmakers reach out to me from Artlist to say I’ve scored a couple of their films.”

And Sam has been working on joint projects with Artlist for close to a year. “I’m working on a series where I get to interview and highlight Artlist’s incredible creators,” Sam says. “So it was really cool to actually see my footage with Brianna’s music and get to collaborate at that level.”

The art of collaboration

This project came about after Brianna performed at an Artlist event in LA. “I was telling the team how I wouldn’t be in LA right now if it wasn’t for Artlist,” Brianna says. “And they suggested we spotlight that and work on something together.”

A few weeks later, she received an email suggesting the joint project with Sam. “They said they think our styles would work really well together,” Brianna says. 

In September, Brianna, Sam, and a few members of the Artlist team gathered in a recording studio in Hollywood. They only had one day to nail the premise of the project, so after some quick introductions, Sam played Brianna his footage, and she ran with it. 

“I really like powerful, overwhelming, emotional music to align with the films that I make,” Sam says. “What she brings to the table with that cinematic genre and what she does with the cello is something that I really look for. That’s why I’ve used a lot of her music in the past.”

One of the key challenges was time limits — they just had one day to finalize the music. But Brianna felt right at home improvising music alongside Sam’s visuals. “I often do two-hour shows where I’m improvising the whole time,” Brianna says. “So I’m used to coming up with things quickly.”

She played to align with Sam’s imagery of Norway’s grandiose natural landscapes.

“His footage is really dramatic with intense, poetic, and introspective dialogue, so I played with that mood,” Brianna says.

As soon as Brianna started playing, it became clear that their two distinct styles were very well suited. “It was kind of a perfect match,” Brianna says. “The music he uses in his videos is the kind I create, and the drone shots of mountains and oceans were gorgeous. It was kind of hard not to be inspired by it, so it was pretty intuitive.”

Sam says he felt just as inspired by Brianna. “We both live in the moment and allow creativity to flow — and it was really cool to see the way she operated with making her music,” Sam says. “We looked over the footage and she closed her eyes and just started playing. It was really, really powerful how she came up with this incredibly emotive music right on the spot.”

The result: Creating magic through partnership

Brianna’s track is called “Nor Way.” It’s a 4.5-minute journey through the full spectrum of human emotions, starting slow, low, and melancholy before building to an emotive crescendo that evokes feelings of awe and inspiration. It’s a classical masterpiece that fits perfectly with Sam’s drone cinematography landscape shots rooted in Norway’s natural beauty, taking Sam’s visuals to the next level. 

“Brianna’s music elevates my new video in so many ways,” he says. “It creates the atmosphere that I always look for. Even standalone, the music just takes you on a journey and really helps elevate my footage in a way that’s harmonious and cinematic.”

To finalize the footage, Sam used Premiere Pro color grading and DaVinci Resolve Video Editor. “When you find editing software that you can use quickly and easily, then stick with it and just become a master at that,” Sam advises. “I used Premiere for the sound design, and watched the whole thing come to life.”

Brianna hopes this video inspires people to collaborate with other artists outside of their field. “Whenever we’re in turmoil, we can always turn back to art, music, and nature,” Brianna says. “And I think the video ties that together really beautifully.”

Both Sam and Brianna are excited to work with more artists in the future and push their creative limits in new ways. “As artists, we can block ourselves from collaborating and working with other people,” Sam says. “So when I have the opportunity to meet people outside of my little niche, outside of my filmmaking world, in a completely different genre of art, it’s really, really powerful. It’s opened my eyes to a lot of different ways that I could be creating.”

The film is available to watch now on YouTube, and we hope it motivates the Artlist community to team up with an artist from a different field. “It’s great to be inspired by other artists, see different perspectives, and work together to create something better than we could have on our own,” Brianna says.

הפוסט How to Write a Classical Composition in Just One Day הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Roee Peled joined Artlist as Chief Product Officer in 2023 to lead product, design, and customer service while overseeing major product launches that empower video creators worldwide to reach their full creative potential.

“Our priority is to deliver an exceptional experience for our users, ensuring they have access to all the tools and assets necessary to create outstanding videos,” Roee says.

Today, Roee reflects on Artlist’s biggest achievements in 2024 and looks ahead to the projects, products, and content lined up for 2025.

Empowering creators: How generative AI transformed Artlist in 2024

For Roee the most notable product launch of 2024 was Artlist’s first step into the generative AI space. “Our generative AI voiceover project was a strong entry point,” Roee says. “Voiceover integrates seamlessly with all the other assets in the catalog, providing creators with a powerful tool to enhance their storytelling and elevate their video production.”

The launch combined AI-generated voiceover technology with Artlist’s high-quality, curated assets to offer one platform with everything you need to create amazing videos. “Today we have a rich catalog of AI voices supporting multiple languages, and accents, together with advanced customizable settings,” Roee says. “We’ve already had great feedback from our customers, both individual creators and big global brands, about the quality and range of voices in the catalog.”

“We stay closely connected with our users, constantly working to enhance our product to meet their evolving needs,” Roee continues. “Based on valuable user feedback, we introduced a popular feature that enables creators to use their AI-generated voiceover as a foundation for building Artboards.”

Artboards offer an innovative way to spark inspiration and discover creative assets, marking another standout product initiative from 2024. Leveraging the power of AI, this feature provides personalized recommendations for music, footage, and SFX, all tailored to the voiceover script, helping users bring their projects to life with ease and efficiency.

2024: a year that championed design and user experience

Last year also saw a new design for Artlist. The catalog has a brand-new look and feel — an intuitive workspace, personalized to each individual creator so they can easily find the assets best suited to them. This includes customized home pages that suggest features and assets you might like based on your past behaviors and downloads. 

Roee also recently oversaw the launch of LUTs, which represents a powerful addition to Artlist’s creative ecosystem. LUTs enable filmmakers to elevate their visual storytelling with professional-grade color-grading tools. “By integrating LUTs into our platform, we empower creators to achieve cinematic looks effortlessly, ensuring your projects stand out with a polished, cohesive aesthetic,” Roee says. This launch shows our commitment to offering a complete set of tools that spark creativity and improve the production process.

Finally, 2024 saw the launch of an extension for Adobe Premiere Pro, so users have access to music, SFX, and voiceovers directly within the video editor. Roee explains, “This initiative is part of our commitment to streamlining the workflow, giving you — the creator — greater control over Artlist assets to craft the perfect soundtrack and complement their videos with outstanding visuals. It’s a significant step forward in enhancing the creative process.”

Your all-in-one generative AI studio: Artlist’s 2025 vision

“In 2025, our product vision for Artlist is about expanding the boundaries of generative AI to empower video creators like never before,” Roee says. “We’re working on introducing new and exciting generative tools and capabilities to the platform so that creators have access to the best generative models available. What sets Artlist apart is our deep understanding of video creators and their workflows, so the platform is very powerful but also easy to use.”

A key focus is integrating these new generative capabilities with the existing AI assets, like AI voiceover, and combining them with Artlist’s curated, high-quality content — music, footage, and sound effects. The idea is to create high-quality generative image, video, and voiceover packages to conveniently give you what you need, all in one place. 

“One of the things that we want to provide is one subscription for all the generative assets,” Roee says. “This means creators will be able to produce and customize their videos simply to fit the needs of their specific video projects. The tools will naturally fit into the creators’ workflow without needing to become a prompt engineer. Our goal is to make these tools not just innovative but truly accessible and practical for every creator.”

Cutting through the noise so you don’t have to

Even the most seasoned filmmakers might feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options at their fingertips. That’s why one of Artlist’s key priorities is to tailor the content in the catalog to each individual’s needs and interests. 

All of these decisions are based on extensive research, with an in-house team dedicated to getting user feedback on any new features to understand how best to improve. Plus, many people at Artlist are video creators themselves, so the team knows exactly what will make the lives of the community easier.

“In 2025, Artlist’s product vision is about creating a truly personalized and dynamic experience so you can discover the right content at the right time,” Roee says. “Building on the foundation we laid in 2024 with a new look and feel, an intuitive workspace, and a personalized homepage, we’re taking it to the next level.” 

Roee continues, “This approach not only addresses challenges like content fatigue but also makes sure that every time you use the catalog, the content exploration journey is fast and tailored to your unique values, goals, and needs. We aim to make Artlist an even more inspiring and efficient platform for creators.”

An ecosystem for artists

Keeping artists front and center of the Artlist experience will always be a top priority. That’s why there are tons of new collaborations lined up with filmmakers, musicians, animators, and more.

“We’re making sure we bring artists to the fore and give users the ability to follow artists they like,” says Roee.

Next year, Artlist will focus on working with more artists to create original content, so the community has access to brand-new, high-quality assets that can’t be found anywhere else.

Because there’s so much discussion about the ethics of AI and how to keep supporting artists, Artlist will also continue to work with artists in the generative space. 

“We believe that the combination of supporting artists and generative AI can take us to new heights,” Roee says. “There are many solutions out there for generative AI, video, image, voiceover, and other assets, however, we simply focus on our user base to make sure the experience, the features, and the capabilities are relevant for them.”

Dedicated updates to support businesses and brands

Artlist Business is always at the forefront of new projects and product designs. “We launched several initiatives in 2024 that focused on adding value for Business clients, and we’ll continue that in 2025 with new collaboration tools for teams working together on Artlist,” Roee says. 

One of the initiatives in 2024 came in the form of storyboarding, which allows a team of video creators to use Artboards to brainstorm together with assets from the catalog. “That’s all part of our effort to boost team-building features for Businesses and brands,” Roee says.

Artlist’s vision for 2025 and beyond

“With the evolution of generative AI, we will work towards image and video generation, building it in a way that serves video creators’ needs,” Roee says. “We’re able to bring all those technological developments while ensuring a great experience, always with the utmost quality across all our assets.”

Ultimately, Roee believes that Artlist will continue to be viewed as a brand focused on the video creator community, committed to quality, simplicity, and creativity. “That’s where we want to be, and that’s what we’re here to do,” he says. “Our vision is to be the go-to place for video creators, social creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses, and make sure we give them everything they need to create amazing videos.”

Check out Artlist for yourself, and start creating stand-out videos today.  

הפוסט Unleashing creative potential: Artlist’s vision for 2025 with Roee Peled הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.

Meet Dan Ramm. He’s a Connecticut-based filmmaker with big ideas and an even bigger heart — and that’s not an exaggeration, he has a heart condition. This is partly what inspired his winning idea — that and his wife, who works in a hospice. Today, we’re delighted to announce that Dan’s 7 Wonders series is the winner of Artlist’s $100K Fund 2024, and we can’t wait to see it. 

We caught up with Dan to find out more about his winning project, the many people who inspired the concept, and how he hopes the end result will resonate with the Artlist community.

Meet Dan Ramm, the winner of the 2024 $100K Fund

Mortality has always been a part of Dan’s story. Born and raised on the East Coast of the USA, his father passed away from a heart condition before he was born. The condition was hereditary, so both Dan and his sister grew up with heart issues, something that has affected Dan’s outlook on life. 

“My dad died of heart failure after getting a heart transplant,” Dan says. “So I grew up with this sense of wanting to make him proud in some way.”

Dan fell in love with film through Terminator II, and knew from a young age that was what he wanted to do. “I was obsessed with movies,” he says. “I would watch VHS tapes over and over, and when it was time to go to college, I wanted to go to film school.”

His parents weren’t so enthusiastic, and despite attempts to sabotage his entrance exams, Dan got into college to study Communications. Soon after, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which had a knock-on effect on his entire well-being. 

“It spider webs into other things, like arthritis and anemia, and a few years ago, I started getting heart episodes,” he says. “I was playing volleyball, jumped and landed, and my heart just would not turn off. It was in racing mode, palpitating non-stop for hours.”

But despite his health battles, Dan left college to become a successful marketer. “I was able to make videos, and I’d freelance in my spare time to make films for other people,” he says. He landed a role at a non-profit called Boys and Girls Club and, from there, started making a film about the inter-connected true stories of the kids, which is now in the final stages of post-production.

The story behind Dan’s 7 Wonders series

Dan had been using Artlist for his film projects for years, and heard about the $100K Fund through a newsletter. He looked at his list of ideas and found his Seven Wonders series sitting at the top of it.

“My wife Jackie works as a social worker in a hospice, and I wanted to tell her story,” Dan says. “It’s tough, she’ll get attached to a really cool client, but, like, all of her clients are dying.”

Dan learned from Jackie that working in a hospice really levels the playing field. “She has clients who are everyday people, and she has clients that are Fortune 500 CEOs,” Dan says. “She comes home and tells me about the regrets people have, so I started writing them down. There’s obviously more than seven but they all fall into a similar kind of theme, so they really boiled down to the same issues.”

This, alongside his own personal experiences of health struggles and mortality, is the inspiration behind Dan’s Seven Wonders series. Dan plans to create a 7-part mini-series exploring the seven biggest regrets people face on their deathbeds. 

Each episode explores one central theme tied to a big regret people have at the end of their lives, building up to one climactic scene in which Dan himself overcomes that regret. 

Why Dan’s submission stood out

Dan’s submission has it all — the sense of adventure, the personal story, and powerful messaging. His submission film and accompanying presentation showcased his personality, humor, and natural presenting abilities, which gave the team a taste for how the series will turn out. On top of that, Dan’s submission was full of interesting personal nuggets of information that made us want to learn more. 

”We loved how Dan’s project is rooted in something very personal, yet universal,” says Roy Mayer, Artlist’s Social Media Lead. “We also loved how he constructed a really exciting concept out of that core idea, in a way that will work well on YouTube with content that feels over the top in a good way.”

How Artlist will help bring 7 Wonders to life

Artlist’s $100K Fund has one aim: to help creators like Dan realize their most ambitious and impactful projects. That’s exactly what happened last year with the 2023 $100K Fund winners Sent Into Space, who broke records documenting the Northern Lights from space. With this fund, Artlist can empower creators to expand their horizons, while inspiring the community to be more courageous with their creativity.

Dan will have access to all of Artlist’s resources throughout the creation of his project. That includes access to the Artlist team for consultancy and advice, feedback from the filmmaking team, and, of course, $100,000 to bring his vision to life. 

“Growing up as a kid, the two words I said the most were ‘I wonder,’” Dan says. “I was just so curious, and I feel like modern generations are kind of robbed of that because we don’t have to wonder anymore. We can just say, ‘Hey, Siri, how fast is the sun spinning at any given moment?’”

The $100K Fund means Dan has the opportunity to continue to wonder while providing answers for others who are just as curious as he is. 

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What’s next for Dan Ramm and 7 Wonders

Each episode will explore a different regret and how to overcome it, and the first episode is all about balance — “‘I wish I hadn’t worked so hard’ is a big regret people have,” Dan says. 

For this episode, Dan will team up with One Inch Dreams, a slack-line and film production team, who will accompany Dan as he attempts to break a world record by slack-lining across two hot-air balloons three miles in the air. 

The episode will take place in Spain, where they will interview local people, together with Alexander Schultz, co-founder of One Inch Dreams, about their thoughts on balance. “He’s slack-lined across two skyscrapers and an active volcano,” Dan says. “Like, over a volcano spewing lava wearing a gas mask, so I gotta get that guy’s thoughts on mortality and regret.”

For his adventure episode, Dan will explore the idea of finding your purpose. “One regret people have is discovering their purpose in life too late,” Dan says. “Jackie will tell me about how someone will start playing violin at the end of their lives and be amazing at it. Can you imagine never being good at much your whole life and then, right at the end, discovering something you’re not just good at, but feel passionate about? I think that’s such a tragedy.”

The other 5 episodes will be centered around:

• Authenticity: “I wish I had the courage to just be myself.”
• Expression: “I wish I had the courage to express my feelings.”
• Connection: “I wish I’d stayed in touch with friends and family more.”
• Decision: “I wish I could be happier.”
• Presence: “I wish I hadn’t focused too much on the future and lost touch with the present.” 

Although Dan will be the main protagonist, he plans to explore these themes with an ensemble cast of characters, from long-lost personal friends to new ones he makes along the way. 

Each episode will have three acts: the first will consist of a raw and honest interview with real people to frame the regret, the second will show Dan and his crew discussing the theme on their way to complete the final stunt, and the third act will be the stunt itself, with Dan overcoming his fears and countering the regret.

Dan describes himself as an adventurer and believes he could have been a stuntman in an alternate universe, which is why he’ll be attempting the climactic stunt set pieces himself.  As well as the highest tightrope world-record attempt, he plans to skydive from a hot-air balloon in Spain, drive a Formula 1 race car in England, fly in a fighter jet in Florida, jump from a moving helicopter in Ireland, wingwalk with The AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers in England, wakeskate and skimboard across a world-famous black sand beach in Iceland, and jump off a skyscraper in Dubai. 

Stay up-to-date on Dan’s journey

We can’t wait to see what Dan has in store for us — and we’re just as excited about the emotional journey as we are about the physical one. Make sure you stay up-to-date on Dan’s adventures through Artlist’s blog and social media channels, and we hope you feel just as inspired by Dan’s story as we do.

And for those feeling motivated to enter the $100K Fund next year, Dan has some advice: “Make your idea as fully fleshed out as possible, and break down the barrier between imagination and reality. Ideas are like a wild horse and they can seem unattainable to people who want to help you, so if you can tame that idea and show you can ride that wild horse, you’ll get the help you need.”

הפוסט Meet Artlist’s $100K Fund Winner 2024 הופיע לראשונה ב-Artlist Blog.