Creative direction · Start Right client

StarTribe, from promo reels to the event film

One client, two jobs, and every note answered within a day.

A StarTribe guest in an embroidered hood, golden light, Pack Square Park
Client
Billy Merritt, StarTribe
Role
Creative director and producer; filmed on site
Scope
Promo reels, event highlight film, reels, newsletter edit and stills
Timeframe
September to October 2026

Billy Merritt runs StarTribe, a community dance event in downtown Asheville. Over one autumn I made two things for him: promo reels to fill the October event, cut from four years of StarTribe's own archive, and then the event itself on film, a highlight film, short reels and stills from one night in Pack Square Park. The first job is what won the second. I worked as creative director and producer, filmed the night myself, and directed an AI assisted edit.

Start Right client work for Billy Merritt and StarTribe. Creative direction, production and filming by Will Mosley, with AI assisted editing. Performers are named only over their own footage.

The promo reels: an archive audit and a recovered shoot

01

Start from what the client already loves.

The promo reels were built from StarTribe's own footage, four shoots going back to 2021. I audited 808 files, recovered a shoot that had been lost, and matched the house style to ads the client had already approved, so the new reels felt like his from the first frame. His notes were applied the same day.

A marigold altar at the StarTribe event, shot in daylight

02

Plan the light, cover every act.

For the event I planned the shoot by the hour of light, golden, sunset and night, and covered every act wide, on hands, on faces and on the crowd. Afterwards, 299 clips from two cameras were ingested with checksums, the phone footage was converted so both cameras match, and every performer was confirmed before a name went on screen.

Focus measured across 16,663 frames

03

Measure focus. Don't eyeball it.

My first set of stills was picked by a contrast score, and half of them were soft. So I replaced the method rather than the stills: a full resolution edge scan of 16,663 frames now chooses every still and every held shot, and three independent reviews check them at full size before anything goes out.

A page of the client's vision book at the StarTribe booth

04

Treat notes as data.

The client's notes came as screen recordings and voice notes. Each one was transcribed and matched to the exact frame it was about, so nothing depended on memory, and every note was applied. The first set of event reels was distilled into two boosted ad reels at his request, the film gained a newsletter edit, and the final cuts were locked once he had no further changes.

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