Music Video / Istanbul, Türkiye & Syria
Men Baad Ghiyab
A music video for Wasfi Al-Ma'srani, shot between Istanbul and Syria on a tight budget and timeline.
- Client
- Wasfi Al-Ma'srani
- Role
- Director & Producer
- Location
- Istanbul, Türkiye & Syria
- Team
- ~12 people
- Prep
- 3 days
- Shoot
- 2 days
- Post-production
- 5 days
Overview
Production and direction of the music video for "Men Baad Ghiyab" (After an Absence) by artist Wasfi Al-Ma'srani, for Syria Al-Oula and Syria Al-Thania, aimed at a visual piece that carries the song's identity between raw emotion and Syrian cultural reference — built on a limited budget and a tight turnaround.
Role
I directed the project end to end, from concept to final delivery — developing the video’s visual concept, scouting and choosing locations, managing production, directing camera angles and framing, overseeing the final image, and shaping editing decisions as part of the overall directorial vision.
Scope
The project landed just three days before the shoot, forcing a compressed schedule: three days of prep, two days of filming, five days of post, with a crew of around 12 and three cameras, across multiple locations — the sea, a mountain overlook above the coast, and a restaurant styled to reflect Syrian heritage. Part of the B-roll was shot in Syria by a field team, running in parallel with the artist’s shoot in Istanbul, adding a geographically distributed production layer within a single piece.
Concept
The video blends the song’s emotional core with a visual language built around memory and place. The narrative moves between distinct spaces — the sea as a symbol of longing and distance, the highlands as a space for reflection, and the heritage location as a cultural root. The challenge was achieving that spatial variety on a limited budget without losing a unified visual identity or the piece’s overall feeling.
Execution
Execution began by choosing locations that served the visual idea and translated the song’s emotional state, then organizing the two-day shoot across multiple cameras to ensure a range of angles and flexibility for the edit. In parallel, B-roll was shot in Syria, adding a layer of authenticity that complemented the main footage shot in Istanbul. During editing, material from more than one geographic source was woven into a single coherent visual structure, prioritizing the song’s emotional rhythm over conventional narrative. The biggest challenge was reaching a cohesive cinematic result on a very limited budget and a short production window — which demanded fast, precise directorial decisions at every stage.
