Christian Tierney : Videographer

What do Macklemore and James Bay have in common? Christian Tierney, an award winning videographer from Ireland, found them before they hit it big. The Irish teen has

made a global name for himself through his interviews and music videos. With almost 15,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, Christian has proved that he possesses a serious eye for spotting talent. His clean edits and great artistic ability make it easy to see why he has received as much recognition for his hard work as he has thus far. In addition to his videos, he is also a talented music photographer, having shot for various artists such as Florence and the Machine and The Strypes. Basically, Christian Tierney has accomplished more in his 19 years than many people have in a lifetime. I was lucky enough to ask him a few questions to figure out what his secret is.

BANDWIDTHCULTURE : As a videographer, how did you get into your career path and would say that it was difficult to break into it?

CHRISTIAN TIERNEY : When I was about 10 or 11 years old I used to make (awful) short movies with my friends using a video editing app on my mobile phone, I wish I could watch them now! I've always been extremely interested in creating images, drawing, painting, taking photos etc. since I was a child, so I just thought that this was another thing that I'd try for fun. I never thought I'd ever be doing it as a career. I used to skate a lot and all of the older kids used to film themselves doing tricks to post online and show their friends so naturally I wanted to do what they were doing. I borrowed an old camcorder that my dad had before getting my own camera for Christmas when I was 12 years old. I taught myself the basics of editing through YouTube tutorials so I could put my skate videos together but over time I got more interested in making the videos look great than I did about the tricks in them. I quickly became obsessed and spent hundreds of hours online learning about how to edit properly and how to make my videos look as amazing as possible. When I was 14, a rapper from Dublin saw one of my skate videos and sent me a message on Facebook asking me to make him a music video. Music was always one of my favourite things having played guitar from a young age and I loved filmmaking so getting the chance to put the two together and get paid for it was the best thing that 14 year old me could think of, and I just took it from there. I don't think it's a difficult thing to get into, everyone has a HD camera in their pocket these days on their smartphone. Anyone can download free editing software, watch a few YouTube tutorials and get quite proficient at the basics very quickly if they're passionate about it and have a good eye. There's a misconception that you need to know someone in the business to get into the music or film industry but that's not the case at all, nobody in my family does this, I knew literally nobody in the beginning. I think the reason why I got ahead quite early is because I emailed everyone, and I mean everyone. Anyone in the industry whose email address I could find (you can find basically anyone's email address or some kind of contact info if you look hard enough). I would send them an email telling them about what I do and asking if I could film for their radio show or film with the singer they manage or take photos at the show they were promoting, most of the time for free. It's true when they say "it's all about who you know" but there's nothing stopping you from going out and making yourself get to know these people. You can't wait for them to come to you, you have to put yourself out there. The problem usually is that people are afraid of asking for things and being told "no". If you're starting out and you ask someone for help, they can either say yes- success- or they can say no, and in that case you're no worse off than you were before you asked. You've got nothing to lose. If I got one reply in every ten emails I sent then I'd be delighted.

BWC: You’ve worked with artists such as James Bay, The Staves, and JP Cooper, what was that like?

CT : The most satisfying thing about what I do is getting to work with some of my favourite artists and see them perform two feet in front of me. I worked with James Bay when not many people knew who he was so at the time it wasn't a big deal to people, I didn't think of him as a huge, global artist like he is now because he was playing in a small room in Dublin to less than 100 people and he had barely any music out. He's such an amazing artist with endless amounts of pure, raw talent for singing and songwriting, he's also one of the nicest guys I've ever met so I'm so happy he's achieved so much, he deserves every bit of it. We caught up recently while he was in Dublin on tour to film a new video and it’s incredible to see how far he’s come since we first worked together two years ago, he sold out two nights at The Olympia in Dublin in a few seconds and the shows were amazing. He’s only going to get bigger. JP Cooper and The Staves are also ridiculously talented and were incredible to work with, I hope they achieve huge success like James has.

BWC: As an artist yourself, who would you say has been your biggest inspiration and that push to be great?

CT: Jamal Edwards has been and still is a massive inspiration of mine. He’s the founder and CEO of SBTV, the UK’s leading online music and entertainment channel. He started the channel at 15 years old when he got a camcorder for Christmas and now less than 10 years later he’s grown it into a multimillion pound company, is responsible for launching the careers of Ed Sheeran and so many more successful artists, has worked with almost every artist in the business and has been awarded an OBE from the Queen for his outstanding contribution to music. I watched SBTV religiously when I was younger and it was my dream to meet him and film for them. When I was 15 years old he invited me to London to film with him for a day, I nearly had a heart attack when I opened his email. That was such a big deal for me to get that experience and for my biggest idol to believe in me and think I was talented enough to work with him, it gave me such a massive confidence boost that I can’t thank him enough for. We’re still in touch and he always supports what I do so he’s been an incredible inspiration to me.

BWC: Is there a specific musician who you would like to work with in the future?

CT: So many, I’d be here all day if I named them all. I’d love to work with all of my favourite artists one day. I’m going to say John Mayer, he’s the first person who came to my head.

BWC: As a videographer, is there one aspect that you prefer (i.e. filming, editing, etc.) that you prefer over the others?

CT: To be honest I don’t love editing, I try to edit my videos as soon as possible after I film them when I’m still really excited about them because if I wait too long I’ll lose interest and it’ll become a chore. I absolutely love colour grading, making the footage look pretty and how I imagined it in my head. That’s probably my favourite part.

BWC: Do you currently have any upcoming projects that you are excited for your viewers to see?

CT: Yeah I’m working on a really exciting project at the moment that I’ll be doing in London over the next few months as a collaboration with a friend of mine who lives over there. It's still very early so I can’t say much about it but it will involve putting on concerts and filming with some amazing artists. I’m really excited about it.

BWC: What advice do you have for others that are hoping to get into videography?

CT: Literally, just go out and do it. There’s nothing stopping you and the only way to learn is to throw yourself in the deep end and start making videos. You’ll only get better by practicing.

BWC: Anything else you'd like to share with us?

CT: Do exactly what you want to do in life, nobody else’s opinion matters. You only have one life so why not spend it doing exactly what you love.