Today we’d like to introduce you to Antrell McLean.
Hi Antrell, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been a creative soul. When I was in high school, I knew that I wanted to be some type of artist. I always saw myself having a career in music. I grew up singing in church, took chorus classes in high school, and recorded in the studio for the first time at 16. As time progressed, the face of music changed as well as how it was delivered to the world. With the birth of the YouTube era, new artists were being broken everyday and the demand for music videos became a must have for independent artists like myself at that time. I was already managing people I was recording with, so I decided to buy a camera and start recording our performances and such, which led to us shooting our own low-budget music videos. The desire for that knowledge just grew, so in 2013 I applied to pursue a degree in digital cinematography from Full Sail and thus GHME films was born.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No road is smooth in my opinion, always Trial & Error. You MUST fail IN ORDER to succeed. My road has been full of potholes, but every step has been worth it. Because of my field the biggest struggle was not becoming a “gearhead” buying all the equipment to create with and never using it. Wasting a bunch of money trying to impress my competitors, and having envy seeing my peers success and thinking that my results should be the same. The Urban music scene in NC, let alone Raleigh is pretty significant, so finding your individual style and not copying the recipe of everyone else was important.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
GHME (Grind Hard Meet Expectation) films is a media production company with a concentration in music videos. GHME focuses on connecting independent artists to the tools needed for a successful Music / Arts career. By helping artists in every aspect from songwriting, production, recording, mixing and mastering, to creating compelling story-lined visuals set to music, and promoting them via YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok is how we bring value to our clients. I am most proud that my brand has expanded outside of music and arts and become an enterprise. Because of my constant promotion, I have seen a demand for my tee shirts increase. My wife opened an online fashion boutique, and my daughter launched a candle line in 2020.
What are your plans for the future?
Not so much big changes, but just excited to see growth in all aspects. The film department has several projects in works including some short films and web series to start. Seeing more people wearing our designs is always exciting, and I love to see the reactions at events when people learn that the person making these incredible candles by hand is an 11 years old!
Contact Info:
- Email: ghmeinfo@gmail.com
- Website: ghmefilmsonline.com
- Instagram: instgram.com/ghme_films
- Facebook: facebook.com/ghmefilms
- Youtube: youtube.com/ghmefilms
Image Credits
Rashida Renee Danny Goldston
