Mark Carranceja of Noisemaker Media

In this age of Canon 5Ds and handheld high-definition flip cams, Final Cut and After Effects, any artist with the desire to create an optical counterpart to their music, can. Nevertheless, there are a crop of young, talented and driven directors proving that the art of creating music videos requires more than ownership of a few technological toys. Among them, Marc Carranceja and his Noisemaker Media crew, who demonstrate this with each music video release, utilizing a passionate professionalism to deliver a picture perfect product for many New York area hip hop artists. Birthplace Magazine’s Steven Ortiz spent time on the set of “The Man,” the Carranceja-directed video for Far Rockaway’s Top $ Raz, and spoke to Carranceja about his past, present and future behind the camera.

It is a Sunday morning at the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective workshop loft space in the South Bronx. Noisemaker Media’s Marc Carranceja and Far Rockaway rapper Top $ Raz pore over video from the previous day’s video shoot for “The Man,” a single from Raz’ latest LP The New Flesh. Carranceja expresses contentment as he realizes the breadth of quality shots to choose from. Raz, enthused by seeing his image flash across the screen, anticipates a final product that the masses will embrace. When fused together, these carefully edited shots will coalesce into a music video befitting of Raz’ vision.

Just another day at the office for Mark Carranceja.

Carranceja is director, cinematographer, editor, and founder of Noisemaker Media, a destination for both up and coming as well as established artists who want to make music videos. Working with a mix of veterans and new jack talent such as Sadat X, The Roots, Jesse Abraham, Da Circle and Mohammad Dangerfield, Noisemaker Media has cranked out aesthetically pleasing music videos at a steady pace over the last few years.

Similar to his other work, Carrenceja’s creative framework and artistic eye helps “The Man” stand out amongst a sea of less-inspired music videos.

“When you watch it, there’s a nice, clean aesthetic to it,” Carranceja explains, believing that every detail in the overall appearance is important. “If he was just wearing a hoodie, it wouldn’t come off.  This framework works, but only with specific rappers. Not every rapper could wear a tie and really pull off that look, but for this concept, it worked.” He explains that the style “elevates the quality of the video to another level, not just visually, but in terms of the art direction and the makeup.”

Carranceja feels that often when people watch videos, they don’t understand the kind of work that goes into making an artistic impression.

“Sometimes, people don’t get it. They completely miss it. They just disregard it as, ‘Oh, it’s another music video where they are all dressed up and all that,’ but it’s much more than that.”

It might have been even less.