Today we’d like to introduce you to Hope Taylor.
Hope, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
At a young age, I realized I had a lot of creative control over my life. I had a two-year stint as a kid being the real “Snow White”, (name, dress and all). I clearly wasn’t worried about the status quo or making bold statements, even then. I had many interests as I have grown over the years in certain elements of design I gravitated towards. As a huge lover of live music and events, I believe my curiosity and inspiration in my field started with immersing myself with as much of it as humanly possible.
I think my story is a bit extreme, as well as eventful in how I have gotten where I am today. Being that I am all self-taught, I chose to go off the beaten path with the way I do business. I didn’t even have my first real computer until the age of 23, that being said Gmail was even a feat for me then. Something inside me clicked at 24, a sense of unshakable urgency. With little resources and direction in my work putting all learning curves aside, I took to it like an animal. I began putting in 10/12/16 hour days into software, artistic development and learning as much as possible as if my life depended on it. Why may you ask? No idea, just passion and an unconscious itch that drove me. I attempted to go to Berklee School of Music taking courses online. Although after one semester in Music Marketing things came together as I realized I could do this on my own. Digital Distortion Productions, the pseudo name I would assume was born shortly afterward. I had met a lot of people who have come and gone in my life to set me closer with each gig to where I am today. I collected a series of skills sharpening my toolset in business, graphic design, music production, singing and partnership, video editing, costume design, urban adventuring and projection mapping.
That said, with all interests competing for work and my attention, I struggled in the beginning, attempting to choose which would define my business. How is one person to choose just one skill set to represent their work? I chose them all, why settle and why just choose one. Yes, I could be a great graphic designer or a great video editor, but why not host everything under one production house. A good artist becomes great in their work, but a great leader becomes good in all facets of their industry. I applied this polymath approach to my passions from there on out.
The last 2 years have given me the most beautiful experiences personally, creatively and career-wise with Digital Distortion Productions LLC, A.F.T.A. MUSIC and my music project Silent Disco Sex. I learned a lot about defining what I do, running a business, the beauty in partnership and most importantly how to say no. I feel like knowledge is power and having the ability to leverage yourself and engineering your own path is the ultimate way to achieve greatness for us creatives. It takes literal blood, sweat, tears, scars, sleepless nights and enough failure with no fear in that to make it. Every day I do what I love, no regrets and cannot wait to see what else is to come!
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Digital Distortion Productions has a divide between my corporate work clientele and my more artistic music focused clientele. To solve this the A.F.T.A. MUSIC (Art For The Abstract) campaign was created to feed the need for struggling career focused artists looking for better branding in hopes to empower our clients with something they can participate in and take into their own hands. It was made by artists for artists borne out of necessity for all the collaborative struggles and applied knowledge put together by my team. We came together and created something really different and special not only to help launch careers but also in hopes for the local Chicago community to enjoy the upcoming events we will be throwing as well. Here is the link for more information on A.F.T.A., http://aftamusic.com.
My services provided are interchangeable between both sides of the company, as I try to bring my style and creative taste throughout the brand. I do graphic design for websites and e-commerce setups, graphic ads, animation, typography, branding packages of all kinds, image enhancements, marketing material design (business cards, brochures, flyers, book/magazine covers, etc…), photography and videography (commercials, corporate, music videos, green screen, interviews, special events, promotional, Aerial, etc…) pre/post-production, video editing, press kits, EPKs, onsite press opportunities, copywriting, consulting, popup events, projection mapping and art installation design are the main focuses of my company.
I have to admit I do have three personal passions though, which are my directorial/videography/editing skills, custom art installation projects using projection mapping and my music project Silent Disco Sex. I’m really hoping people can get a sense of how I subtly yet playfully include a bit of all of the things I do into my work for each project completed. I go by the tag “New Media – No Bull$#!%” for the reason of changing up the way people handle not only the visual norm of design today but the social aspect of it as well. I follow a code of conduct with my work finding great purpose and a driving story behind what I am attempting to achieve and portray to my audience. I truly hope to help the community and make it a more beautiful fluid place in my industry with Digital Distortion Productions and A.F.T.A. MUSIC and encourage anyone to reach out if interested in our work.
One last announcement I want to make is the release of a new EP with my partner in Silent Disco Sex, Rosalio Garcia. The track is called “Subliminal Rhymes” and were releasing the song and video on 10/12/18. The creation of this video was magical, to say the least. It is one of those moments that comes together so seamlessly it gives you butterflies and a smile you couldn’t shake if you tried. I’d say it was the easiest production we put together, from creating the song to shooting the video and editing, but only because it was as if we had seen it in our dreams already.
In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
I believe the biggest challenge facing artists today is representation, documentation and implementation of their work. Let me delve into that a bit more. Seeing as artists are filled with passion and dreamers by nature, the elusiveness and fast-paced industry we work in can be daunting to navigate through. If you’re a performing artist how are you going to make sure your shows are representing you well after they are over? A shaky phone video or maybe a few iPhone pictures? Better yet, who would you even go to when you need to get from point A to Z when you’re just starting out and need help defining your brand with all the puzzle pieces that go into that.
Free gigs and paying bills on exposure isn’t a reality or shouldn’t be. Too many times have I seen an artist get taken advantage of boxed in as the new kids on the block, I myself had the same struggle in the past. I feel it is unfair if a person is unable to generate the opportunities they deserve simply because don’t have the resources, community or hidden knowledge to stand up to this cycle of power flexed in the entertainment business. So the real question is, how can you make sure that paying your dues while building a career can generate success in doing what you love? I personally have to say if I had A.F.TA. MUSIC, a division of my company that was created, when I started out in my artist career I would not have felt so alone, secretive and confused about each unforeseen event. I truly hope that each opportunity we get at A.F.T.A. MUSIC will help to face these issues and bring ease to the career artists all over.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Here are the links to my company Digital Distortion Productions, the artist campaign A.F.T.A. MUSIC and my music Project Silent Disco Sex. The work we do will be featured also on their social platforms as well. People can support the work by following, signing up for our events and/or reaching out if they would like or need work and collaboration. I have service and pricing information on all the things we offer as well as means of contact provided below. We may be throwing a large event for all interested on 10/12/2018 in the Pilsen area for A.F.T.A. MUSIC and its first official POPUP Gallery with the release of Silent Disco Sex new EP “Subliminal Rhymes”.
https://www.digitaldistortion.productions/
https://www.digitaldistortion.productions/pricing/
https://www.digitaldistortion.productions/services/
https://www.facebook.com/digitaldistortion.prod/
https://www.instagram.com/digitaldistortion.productions/
http://aftamusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/A.F.T.A.OFFICIAL/
https://www.silentdiscosex.com/
https://www.facebook.com/silentdiscosex/
https://www.instagram.com/silentdiscosex/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5U1fvB5zZFzee1bko8mTok
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/silent-disco-sex/1353295024
https://www.youtube.com/c/SilentDiscoSex
https://soundcloud.com/silentdiscosex
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.digitaldistortion.productions/
- Phone: 7086137885
- Email: info@ddprod.media
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/digitaldistortion.productions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digitaldistortion.prod/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hope_ddprod
- Other: https://www.digitaldistortion.productions/afta
Image Credit:
Rosalio Garcia (photographer)
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