Musicbed Awards exists to recognize and honor creative breakthrough moments. Each month, we announce new Official Selections and share these standout submissions with our creative audience around the world.
Official Selections then move forward to the annual Musicbed Awards show for a chance to win a Gold, Platinum, or Diamond Musicbed Award.
Watch this month’s Official Selections below and submit your work from 2022 for consideration at musicbed.com/awards.
Official Selections: Advertisement
Word on Fire Bible Trailer
Directed by Carl Graham
“I was looking for a track in the middle of my storyboarding and there was something about “Lux”—like a lot of Ryan’s work—that felt really intense but really beautiful at the same time. I knew I wanted the final piece to feel really big, to have an effect that made people curious about the publication and made them want to give it another look. Establishing that vibe was the first thing I was looking for in a track, and “Lux” fit the bill.
I listened to the track looking for events or hits to showcase different parts of the Word on Fire Bible that I had noted in my storyboard. I also tried to work reactively, asking myself what visual came to mind as I listened to a section’s melody or instrumentation.” — Carl Graham
Featured Musicbed Music
“Lux” by Ryan Taubert
CREW
Direction, Animation, Rendering, Compositing: Carl Graham
Color Grading: Toni Gozum
Baby-Wrangling and Emotional Support: Kim Tomacruz Graham
Senior Creative Director at Word on Fire Catholic Ministries: Rozann Lee
Page Textures of Bible based on Designs by: Nicolas Fredrickson + Michael Stevens
Official Selections: Experimental Film
Why a cool camera will make you a better photographer.*
Directed by GxAce (aka Casey Cavanaugh)
“I’m always looking for music that is unique and provides an emotional impact to the story or mood I’m trying to create. “Unknown Soundtrack” offered a very unique sound that isn’t normally associated with the Sci-fi genre I work in and immediately had me excited to try it out. “A Late Night’s Wondering” offered a melancholy and sincerity that lent itself perfectly to the tone I was going for with the ending montage of this video.” — Casey Cavanaugh
Featured Musicbed Music
“Unknown Soundtrack”—Live Footage
“A Magnificent Grey”—Slow Meadow
“A Late Night’s Wandering”—A. Taylor
CREW
Director/DP/Editor/Colorist: Casey Cavanaugh
Official Selections: Travel/Lifestyle
I’m sorry but I hate this…*
Created by Shaffer Nickel – Watch on YouTube
“I didn’t want to make another “travel film.” I guess I’m trying to grow out of that phase and it was hard to convince myself that the love I have for making videos is worth submitting to, even if sometimes it feels like the work I’m publishing is just ‘white noise.’ Making travel films is fun, and that’s all it has to be.” — Shaffer Nickel
Featured Musicbed Music
“Seen”—Christopher Dennis Coleman
“What Is Promise?”—Secret American
“sweet dreams (interlude)”—Sarah Kang
“(Let’s Call It) Safer Love”—Deau Eyes
“Blue House”—Instrumental by Morgan Weidinger
“Dream”—Steven Gutheinz
CREW
Director/Editor/Cinematographer/Writer: Shaffer Nickel
Cinematographer: Jake Frew
Writer: Bailey Nickel
The Best Year of My Life.*
Created by Brady Bessette
“Writing about yourself is very difficult, and for me, writing doesn’t come easy. So the biggest obstacle for me was just to sit and reflect on myself, and my year, and dig deep into my own emotions to write what I truly felt and made of the year, rather than write what people may want to hear.” — Brady Bessette
Featured Musicbed Music
“Let The New Begin (instrumental)”—CHPTRS
“Ouroboros”—Family and Friends
“Old Friends”—Ben Rector
Official Selections: Wedding
Fairy Tale Florence Wedding
Created by Handcraft Pictures
“I wanted the film to start dramatically to fit the establishing shots I took of Florence and “Sanctus” was perfect for this. The instrumental track of “Hallelujah (Piano and Strings)” had the perfect mixture of gravitas and romance as the main track for the film and I knew the couple wanted their film to end with a fun, upbeat dance track, so “Weekends” was perfect for this. The final shots of the film go back to the last few bars of “Hallelujah.””
—Toby Sleigh-Johnson
Featured Musicbed Music
“Sanctus”—Timbre
“Hallelujah (Piano and Strings) Instrumental”—Future of Forestry
“Weekends feat. Lucky Weather”—Virgil Arles
Skye & Isaac
Created by Jay and Mack Films
“The biggest obstacle we had to overcome for this film was getting out of our heads and spending so much time thinking about what their film could be. After reviewing all of our footage, we found so many beautiful, candid moments and wanted to include them all. We ended up developing ‘analysis paralysis’ because we were so overwhelmed with the decision of choosing which moments to include.
After taking some time away from their film and coming back with a fresh perspective, we were able to hone in on the overall theme of their film which allowed us to be intentional when deciding what moments we were going to build their film around.” — Jay and Mack
Featured Musicbed Music
“Cathedrals”—John Lucas
“I Found You In The Woods”—Jacob Montague
“The Ladder (Alt. Version)”—Margolnick
Submit Your Work
To submit your work for consideration, share your film on Instagram or LinkedIn and include @Musicbed and #Musicbed in the caption. Then, go to musicbed.com/awards and submit your social post. All submissions must be work completed between January 2022 and August 2023 that includes Musicbed music.
*Nominated for consideration by Musicbed Staff.
Musicbed staff has the opportunity to submit great work from our customers and clients for consideration in Musicbed Awards each month. This does not signify an automatic Official Selection. It does add the piece to consideration and scoring for that month’s pool of submissions.
