[Update — June 2026]
Before Harry Mack became a global freestyle rap sensation, we made his first music video together back in 2018. Watching Harry captivate audiences around the world brings me immense joy. With his heart of gold, nobody deserves success more than he does. Watching him go from a local celebrity on Venice Boardwalk to dazzling audiences worldwide online thanks to platforms like Omegle, YouTube, and TikTok is perfectly logical given his verbal abilities.
Since we crafted this video before most people knew Harry Mack as the freestyle GOAT, his newly acquired fans likely lack the awareness of how crafty Mack is with the written. This video also acts as a unique time capsule into Harry’s personal life as we filmed inside of his Altadena home that was lost in the devastating Eaton Fire of January 2025.
Let’s go.
My Personal History / Connection
Here’s how this video came to be.
As a kid, I spent countless hours watching music videos on MTV and MuchMusic. As a result, I wanted to be a rockstar or a filmmaker. I took the first steps in one direction with guitar lessons at 9 years old.
While I chose cinema as my vocation, my passion for music has only grown. Unfortunately, I don’t play guitar much, but I attend tons of concerts and always have music on the brain. I love all types of music, but didn’t fully embrace hip-hop until ONYX’s “Slam” and House of Pain’s “Jump Around” made me realize how fun the genre could be in 1992.
In college, my classmates rejected my pitch for the annual Niteskool grant thereby crushing my dream of directing music videos. They made this video instead. While I’ve shot and produced many videos since that grave disappointment in 2004, I hadn’t found a project that inspired me enough to direct until now.
Building the Team and Crafting the Narrative
I can’t thank Sam Katz enough for this unique opportunity to collaborate with the extremely talented Harry Mack. Making Harry’s first music video for his first written song is such an honor. He’s known for his jaw-dropping freestyle marathons, and a lot of care went into selecting his debut single. Thankfully, we all agreed that “Napoleon Hill” was the track. It’s original, personal, and catchy.
Earlier this summer, Sam asked his father, Jordan Katz, for director recommendations. Back in January 2013, Jordan called me to shoot his no-budget short film, They Dissect Frogs, Don’t They? He had found me through what he described as a “lengthy & exhaustive” Google search for cinematographers, though we didn’t end up filming for another year. Frogs went on to play a few festivals, but we didn’t stay in close contact afterward.
Considering I had never directed a music video—and don’t widely publicize my interest in directing—Jordan’s recommendation and Sam’s invitation came as a surprise. After meeting Harry and hearing his unreleased music, I couldn’t wait to make this video.
After sharing several concepts for “Napoleon Hill” with Harry and Sam, Harry responded with an idea that incorporated elements of mine into the structure you see now: working in the studio, freestyling in Venice, meeting an A&R, and ultimately getting signed. Since this was both of our big debuts, it was important that we creatively aligned. Doing so proved to be simple and clean.
Shooting On-Location
The first shoot day, October 27, 2018, had our biggest logistical challenges. We started with the boardroom scene at UTA at 6:30am to maximize daylight hours. From there, we walked outside to surrounding Beverly Hills to capture the opulence of the famously ritzy neighborhood. I mostly used my Sony FS7 with Canon L-Series EF zooms for the production. Throughout the video, I wanted a vérité documentary feel and this is typically my weapon of choice in that field. After grabbing bus shots, we headed further west to Harry’s authentic launchpad: Venice Boardwalk.
I allotted 90 minutes to organically gather a crowd to film Harry perform. The busy afternoon foot traffic along with a typically awe-inspiring freestyle built a genuine audience. Even if we had the budget to hire a bunch of extras, this authentic approach best fit the video’s narrative and ethos. Once I felt confident I had enough freestyle footage (both with and without a mic), we ran through “Napoleon Hill” once in its entirety. I didn’t anticipate using much of the Venice performance in the edit and he nailed the first take. In order to keep a lower profile for the performance, I rented the compact Sony A7SII and attached my Zacuto EVF Pro to ensure my focus and exposure were accurate.
Before leaving Venice, we ended our day with Harry getting back on the bus. As a long time Angeleno, I hate when locations are fudged so we carefully captured the buses in their logical locations. With the complex elements in the rear view, we spent our Sunday at Harry and Lisa’s house. I kept the lighting to a minimum and continued leaning into the doc aesthetic for the slice-of-life moments of an artist in their habitat.
The live recreation of the stems and vocals were an opportunity to add a slight flair to the lighting since we were in a studio setting. The LiteGear S2 LiteMat 4 HYBRID gave a really natural key to the scenes and I added some colorful gels to the edge and backlight for some color contrast.
Working as a Director/Cinematographer with personal gear and virtually no crew allowed me to stretch the budget and add a third production day for pickups. On November 18, Harry and I returned to Beverly Hills to get more B-roll of him soaking in the temptations of success. Returning with a relaxed schedule allowed us to get great shots that made a huge impact on the edit. We also nabbed POV shots from the bus ride and much tighter inserts on the news articles Harry sees on his phone. If you want to see the multiple iterations I made, here’s the full view of version 1, version 2, version 3, and the final draft.
The Finishing Touches
My friendship with Jeremy Rhodes goes back a few years, but this was our first major collaboration. His first cut was remarkably close to the final version, which is a testament to his great talents and our being creatively conjoined. I’ll never forget watching it for the first time: trying to hold back tears of pride.
Our VFX artist, Eric Silva, took what I dubbed the “proletariat vs. bourgeoisie” concept to another level by painting out the heads behind the coins and dollar signs. Option B far exceeded my wildest expectations. To help communicate what I initially imagined, I altered a stock photograph in Photoshop.
The other major VFX decision revolved around the final shot of the video and Harry’s eyes after signing the contract. Discovering the fine line between too subtle and too overt took several rounds of notes between the team. Knowing that most people will likely watch this on a relatively small screen dictated the final terms. My instinct skews towards subtlety, but the poisonous nature of greed and capitalism appear rather overtly everywhere in the video. The ending should be no different.
I wouldn’t have accepted this creative challenge without the support of my partner, Anna Rak. Early in the process, I questioned my ideas, but she encouraged me to continue the pursuit. She also appears in the video as the A&R executive. For the video, I added a fictional arm to my recently formed company, Three Mile Films. It’s not concealed if you know the logo that my Aunt Cynthia designed for me earlier this year. Maybe someday Three Mile Music will become a real thing?
The video above inspired Harry to incorporate the idea of a viral moment leading to success. While our piece isn’t non-fiction, it is grounded in reality. Recreating the Venice freestyle on the boardwalk was a personal highlight and I love how the studio footage looks.
If you have time to go down a rabbit hole of mind-blowing freestyles, check out Harry’s YouTube channel. Hype Magazine also published a great profile worth reading.
Crew
Director / Cinematographer
Dustin Pearlman
Executive Producer
Sam Katz
Post
Jeremy Rhodes — Editor
Eric Silva — Visual Effects
Hair & Makeup
Kelley Farlow
Cast
Harry Mack
Anna Rak
Lorne Hughes
Special Thanks
Lisa Santacroce, Davidson Vorhes, Helena Sardinha, James Kapner, Nolan Borgman, Sam Hirsh, Stan Taylor, Darrell Winfrey, Brianna McCafferty, Casey McCafferty, Andrew Baxter, and United Talent Agency.