Bertan Başaran, Turkey’s Young Talent

Bertan Başaran is a young talent in Turkey. He has made television commercials, promos, music videos and recently completed a documentary. He is also the director who shot the videos for Bedük’s “Electric Girl” and Özgün’s “Kıpı Kıpır”. His music videos make songs very popular. Bertan Başaran has kindly accepted our request for an interview for the TPI readers:

TarkanPLUS International: You have made television commercials, music videos for artists such as Özgün and Bedük, and recently a documentary about Barbaros Erköse. How do you adjust your perspective as a director while working on materials of different genres?

Bertan Başaran: As a director, you have to be diverse and aware of all genres and able to apply them when needed. At first we discuss the style of the project, search for some visual mood examples. We don’t invent, we are inspired, and use our own sense of aesthetics for our inspirations.

TPI: Your music video for Bedük’s Electric Girl seems to have contributed immensely to the popularity of the song. Your depiction of a girl in latex clothing and the minimalist setting are visually appealing. How did you plan all this?

Bertan Başaran: The latex idea is based on my own fetish, I guess. For the look of the film, we initially thought about using a plain white space -I believe “simple” is good. While I was watching “2001: A Space Odyssey”, I saw this beautifully art-directed bedroom scene and tried to replicate a similar idea with our limited budget.

TPI: Who is the “Electric Girl” in the video? How did you discover her?

Bertan Başaran: She is a dancer from Germany; I saw her on Facebook.

TPI: She acts and dances well… What made Bedük and you decide to work together? Will there be new projects with him? Any more music videos you will be filming soon?

Bertan Başaran: Well, we started working with Bedük by coincidence, which worked really well. We will shoot another music video soon… And I’ve recently shot a music video for Athena ["Serseri Mayın] as well.  Shooting a music video is not an income generating job for me. I do it for prestige.

TPI: And the documentary about Barbaros Erköse… how did you decide to make this documentary and what does it aim to tell the audience?

Bertan Başaran: I saw Barbaros Erköse in a  ‘meyhane’, playing his clarinet. My boss recognized him and told me about his fame. I was so amazed to hear his story and music that I decided to make this project “my gift to music”. I want this documentary to tell the audience that if you go far east, you  will end up in the west.  In the world of music and musicians there are no borders or language differences; with a gypsy clarinet player we went to India and played their own cultural music; to Tunisia and played Arabic tunes; to Istanbul where cultures mix and played jazz mixed with Arabic and Turkish tunes; played rumba with Cuban musicians and finally ended up in New York playing jazz… and saw that most of the musicians are not financially rich but rich in a way… a different kind of cultural legacy.