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Director D Zennie and producer Hrag Jansezian have filmed four music videos in Dubai for MTV Arabia, with several more in the pipeline.

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The music videos use several techniques to increase the apparent scale of the shoot. In this scene, shots from a second boat were edited together with filming on the featured boat to create the look of a multi-camera production.

The footage is developed further in post production.

In the case of these music videos, the team used a stylised colour correction tool that gives the outdoor shots a slick and artistic feel.

The videos also make good use of Dubai's dynamic urban landscape with a skyscraper rooftop, a yacht sailing past the Burj Al Arab and an uncharacteristically empty car park all providing unique filming locations.

"Between my own editing suite and D Zennie's personal film equipment, we have managed to make some high-quality productions," says Jansezian.

Despite being happy with their current standards, both D Zennie and Jansezian say the scale and complexity of their productions will grow as people become willing to invest in the industry.

However, without digital technology, even these straightforward videos would have been too expensive, they admit.

"If we had tried to make these on film...well basically we couldn't have! We were shooting straight onto a hard drive."

"All we then have to do is upload the footage into the editor and that's it," says D Zennie.

"We use a Panasonic HVX 200. The quality turned out great and the small size of the camera allows me to get great hand-held shots, which is an added bonus."

"I could say that I am a ‘digital director'. The digital era has arrived and we are seeing the use of digital cameras more and more in this industry. I have been reared on them. In my opinion, digital will take over completely."

"It's not the format that matters though, it's about how you deal with the logistics and how you treat the subject matter," says D Zennie.

With the cost of digital hardware and software crumbling, filmmaking is becoming more accessible to individual players with only talent and no budget.

The potential standards that can be achieved using this equipment are far higher than the entry-level analogue equivalent of ten years ago.

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