Venice, CA-based production company Durable Goods director Christina Xing leads a cast of colorful creatures, including singer-songwriter Claud, through painfully frustrating assimilation classes they ultimately reject in the whimsical music video “Gold,” out of production company SIMIAN. Between vignettes of skirting etiquette classes, proper posture and dress code, each ‘creature’ ultimately learns to assimilate into the system–save for Claud, who celebrates flunking the program with a ‘You Tried’ cake before ultimately leading the class in messy rebellion.
Coupled with hand-drawn graphics, neon pastels and equally bright characters, Xing captures in ‘Gold’ the young struggle to stand out, loud and proud, against an establishment determined to tame.
Xing recently signed with Durable Goods for U.S. commercial representation. Studying filmmaking and perfecting her craft from a Gen Z perspective has allowed her to develop a fresh vision for representing underrepresented voices in ways that reverberate with modern youth culture. Just out of high school, her work drew early attention from top brands including Tinder, Budweiser, Snapchat and Crayola, and from music labels such as Sony Music and Terrible Records. Her work has been recognized in such top outlets as Paper Magazine, Billboard, the FADER, Refinery 29, TIDAL’S: Video of the Week, OUT Magazine, The Gay Times, and more. She most recently won the award for Best Music Video at NFFTY in 2019, and has screened at several Oscar-qualifying film festivals all over the world.
Credits:
Director: Christina Xing
Producer: Jeremy Ivory-Chambers
DOP: Gus Bendinelli
Grips/AC’s: Shane Bagwell, Will Noyce
Production Designer: Jamie Weiss
Art Director: Alex Fowler
HMU/Stylist: Daisy Cornejo
HMU/Stylist Assist: Roxy Sorkin
Production Company: SIMIAN.LA
Editor: Christina Xing, Will Noyce
Colorist: Gus Bendinelli
Credit Designs: Claud
Opening song composed by August Mez
SFX: August Mez
Cast:
Claud
Madame De (Teacher): Dylan Roman
Toothfairy: Daisy Cornejo
Aquaman: Shannon Hafez
Witch: Sade Keinu
Sideline Star: Angela Ricciardi
About Durable Goods
Durable Goods is a creative production company known for partnering with agencies and brands to conquer the diverse challenges of an evolving media landscape.
Working as an inspired and responsive team, we apply our creative and technical expertise to spark innovative storytelling and elevated concepts. Our company culture brings out the best in directors, inspiring them to reach new heights in their work across a diverse range of formats and screens.
Our community approach fosters long term collaboration with our clients and talent. Together, we are stronger than the sum of our parts.