Brendan McGregor, who goes by the alias Childish Brendino, is a 20-year-old Georgia State student who has been making music videos for over two years. Starting before leaving for college in the summer of 2017, McGregor developed an existing interest in filmmaking into an entirely new project with the production of a music video for an artist by the name of BAMBI K.
“It was a video shot in a parking garage and at the High Museum [of Art],” McGregor said. “I reached out to him saying, ‘Hey, I’m not really that experienced making music videos, but I can make one for you for free.’ I showed him some of the other stuff I had been working on, and he was down to work. That was the start of it all.”
Since starting in Georgia State’s film program and the Georgia Film Academy, McGregor’s production quality is improving exponentially.
“Nowadays, I actually plan out the shoot,” he said. “There’s more stuff that goes into the production of it. It’s now overall just more of a professional project.”
In terms of what his future plans for production are, McGregor plans to build up his repertoire of artists and genres that he works with.
“I honestly want to separate myself from just being a rap video shooter because I want to work with a variety of artists,” he said. “I’ve been slowly branching out, and I hope to continue that. It’s more fun that way.”
Most recently, McGregor started working with rap artist De Apollo on his songs “Command S,” “Shine” and “Marble Floors”. He considers his experience with De Apollo as one of his best working experiences to date.
“He’s super easy to work with and cooperative and he actually comes to me with his own ideas which you don’t see often,” he said.
De Apollo spoke highly of working with McGregor.
“Any idea I came [up] with, Brendan matched it in a way to make it cooler,” De Apollo said. “I wanted something people would love to watch over and over.”
McGregor and De Apollo co-directed the live music video for the song “Shine” along with Ghost Hallmon. The humorous video follows De Apollo and a mysterious woman played by LonelyGirl in a variety of settings from carnivals to winding hallways along with striking visuals and colors.
“Really, I get inspiration from anything,” McGregor said. “It sounds kind of weird, but I’ll get inspiration from even a really basic commercial. It’s just a matter of surrounding myself with things that contribute to my art, so watching movies or watching TV shows help too. Also, my friend circle is surrounded by people who have their own creative outlets, whether its making music or designing clothes. All of that plays a role in how I get inspired.”
The art and artists that McGregor surrounds himself with continue to improve the production quality of his work. Many of his early videos started out with just a couple hundred views. Now, his most viewed video has 6.4k views on YouTube. His education and inspirations allow him to work with a wider variety of people and produce higher quality content which will contribute to his future endeavors.
How to find Brendino:
Brendan’s Instagram: @childishbrendino
Brendan’s music videos on YouTube: brendino
De Apollo’s Instagram: @deapollomusic
