Conversations with Kate McFerren and Christopher Commons of KatDog Studio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate McFerren and Christopher Commons. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Christopher Commons is a freelance Director of Photography (DP) working in Kansas City while Kate McFerren is a video editor working for a marketing agency. They worked together on a project in 2018 called “Love Color” for Chris Conley, previously a Kansas City Chief, wide receiver. They realized their workflow meshed well while managing the post-production.

From there, they pitched their joint talents to a local artist and TikTok celeb whom Kate had previously attended high school with and has recently risen in fame, even performing on Ellen, Anson Seabra. Anson became their first client launching the KatDog Studio partnership in 2019. The work with Anson attracted other artists as the brand continued to create music videos in Kansas City.

Recently, KatDog has partnered with The Devil Wears Prada Band on a series of live streams due to the Coronavirus canceling their tours. In 2021, The band came back and partnered with Katdog studio to create another live stream, album teaser, and music video for their Zombie 2 EP released in May of 2021. Most recently, they released a music video for a TDWP single, “Sacrifice.” They continue to book exciting work with bands – so keep an eye out!

“KatDog” was coined as an effort to show the yin and yang of the partnership; the pair even have opposite personalities as well as responsibilities in the overall creation of their work. It also combines Kate’s first name with Chris’s first production brand, Bourbon Dog.

The production brand hopes to continue to create polished commercial-level work with their indie hustle as they bring production work to the talented film industry in Kansas City. They want to put KC on the map.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There is definitely a time investment in each project. To create a body of work we are proud of, it took time and patience to get clients, create the projects, and wait until we felt like we had a good cohesive look as well as consistent quality to share.

It’s been a smooth road working together, of course making changes along the way to make sure the client and hired crew/talent experience is the best we can provide. We are fortunate to have partnered with bands and artists who have trusted us creatively and have been collaborative in the ideation process. Our aim is to make the entire endeavor feel more like art and less like work.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We provide full-service video production specializing in music videos and narrative but are open to all projects. We take an idea that we’ve crafted from inspiration and/or the artist has a vision of and start to do our pre-production process that includes finding talent, booking locations, hiring crews, renting equipment, and creating a treatment as the look, feel, and narrative guide to the piece.

On production we shoot with our end product in mind, matching our inspiration and finding the gold at the moment. In post-production, we take time to edit, add sound design if necessary, and professionally color. From ideation to the final product, we work as a partnership to lead every step. Our work tends to be more raw, gritty, real, and emotional from subjects of anxiety to suicide to real and encouraging emotional stories. We try to bring something to the screen that pulls at you in the emotion or the art of the execution. We are very proud of the quality we have been able to deliver.

We’ve succeeded in bringing artists to shoot in Kansas City, from Atlanta to Sweden. For example, earlier this year we were contacted by an artist outside of the US. Collaborating internationally was a really fun experience; we were able to Zoom feed of our entire production so the manager and artist could watch the filming life. In a short time, we’ve been able to reach artists and audiences from all over the world. We are excited to see where other partnerships may come from in the future.

Links to work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJD_bXymR0 – Anson / Trying My Best
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9lEB7tICaw – Anson / last time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWHrP90KysA – TDWP / Z2 Album Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6cWSVBBAIg – TDWP / Forlorn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr8lHOoLuvg – TDWP / Sacrifice

See all work at KatDogStudio.com.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Every project is a risk. You can’t control everything on the day of shooting and you can’t always gauge the audience’s reaction to a finished product. We’ve had projects fall through, even after shooting. There’s always a time investment that isn’t guaranteed to bring results. We try to break through stereotypes and norms of specific genres, while still creating something artful and authentic.

We view risk as essential, especially if you are wanting to make a splash or start something new. With this production brand, we are focused on the work rather than the payout. We are in agreement that upfront risk and investment is the best practice as we grow our brand.

With some projects, we try to elevate the ask from the artist to a whole different level. This can be a risk when you invest and have a larger vision for a video and strategically try to flex the budget in the right ways to produce something bigger and better. “Sacrifice” for TDWP was originally supposed to be a small performance video, but we decided to let the location do a lot of the heavy lifting while staying simple in the lighting.

When you invest in one key aspect and use other resources to further emphasize it, using lighting, framing, and movement, you can elevate a piece to something unexpected with less effort.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.katdogstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katdogstudio/