In Nigeria’s fast-evolving music industry and visual landscape, few creatives are shaping the look and feel of emerging sounds as intentionally as Ademola Oyebode. A creative director, cinematographer, and photographer, Ademola has steadily built a reputation for crafting cinematic visuals that sits at the intersection of music, fashion, and storytelling.
With an educational background in Physics and a growing portfolio across music videos and brand contents, he brings a technical precision to his artistry while maintaining a distinct creative edge. From directing and shooting projects like Arike (Remix) by Kunmie featuring Simi and Mabel, to working closely with several other artists, his works reflects a deep involvement in both the visual and developmental sides of the industry.
A multi-hyphenate creative who also explores A&R and Talent Management, Ademola represents a new generation of Nigerian filmmakers redefining what it means to build and sustain an artistic vision. In this interview, he opens up about his journey, creative process, and the realities of navigating the industry.
Q: Introduce yourself and give us a quick walk through your creative direction journey within the Nigerian music space?
I started my journey in 2017 during my NYSC in Port Harcourt. Although I studied Physics, I’ve always had an eye for art and photography, which led me to train at Studio 24 and worked there until 2020.
After the pandemic, I moved to Lagos and launched my brand, 100clickzphotography, focusing on lifestyle and concert photography. Around that time, I began working with artists like Wizard Chan, Braye, Westhanboyz, Kunmie, CUPIDSZN, Goflexcamaro to mention a few, creating content and visuals that introduced me to the music video space.
My big break came in 2022 when I moved to Lagos with Wizard Chan and we created a viral video for Earth Song, which gained massive traction on TikTok and opened more opportunities for me.
Since then, I’ve worked with artists like Wizard Chan, Braye, Bkay, and others, building my style in the viral content space. My long-term goal has always been to become a music video director, and I made my directorial debut in 2025 with 'Arike' by Kunmie, which has crossed over 35 million views on YouTube. I followed that with 'Arike remix' featuring Simi and Mabel and continued to work on new projects.
Q: How do you define the role of a creative director, and what does your contribution mean to you when building an artist's sound art?
I think a creative director as someone who shapes and develops an artist's visual and brand identity.
Whenever I work with artists I try to curate creative directions that align with their, sound, brand and personality while integrating my style to the overall output.
I take pride in my contributions during the branding and creative development of an artist, because it's me implementing and expressing my ideas and creatively bringing them to life through the artist and that's priceless. Also for legacy, I would love to look back and pride myself in the amount of impact and value I've added to the afrobeats culture especially for the new generation of afrobeat
Q: The Nigeria music scene moves fast and evolves constantly how is that shaping your approach and growth over time?
The music creative industry is quite competitive, the only way to stay relevant in any industry is to always reinvent yourself while staying in tune with global trends and standards.
I try to distinguish my art by being creative but also keeping it simple, and having a shooting style that is basically unique to my brand. I learn everyday and I'm very intentional with the kind of content and visuals on the media space that I consume.
I watch a lot of movies and music videos and I always take note of scenes, compositions or creative directions that catches my attention.
Q: Take us through your creative process - from receiving a track to executing a full project. What drives your inspiration ?
When I get sent a song or project, I listen and try to understand the direction and the message the artist is trying to convey through the music.
Once I have that figured out, I create a moodboard/treatment that best interprets the ideas of the artist visually, send it over to the artist and his team, if we are all on the same page with the moodboard/treatment, we move on to the next phase of execution, this involves working with my producer to scout for locations, working with stylists, art directors, models, gaffers and the technical team to bring the visual ideas to life.
The size of the production team depends on the budget and overall creative direction of the project.
Then, there's post production, editing and color- grading, this is basically the one of the most important aspects of production, it brings everything together.
For Inspiration, I consider myself a very creative person and I take inspiration from life itself and everything around me.
Q: When collaborating with artists who have a different creative vision or idea, how do you find balance and still deliver something cohesive?
In cases where we work with artists that already have their own creative ideas/vision, we curate creative directions that align with the ideas they already have and bring them to life in the most creative way possible.
It's always easier to work with artists that have an idea of what they want in terms of creative direction, it basically makes the creative process smoother. We just need to align and bounce ideas off each other till we reach a middle ground, then all we need to do is execute.
Q: What are some of the realities or challenges starting out of being a film director and cinematographer in Nigeria that people don't often see?
Starting out as a filmmaker and director in Nigeria is quite difficult, it takes a lot of intentional work and showing up.
First you need to learn the craft, make yourself valuable. Another issue is getting gears and tools, cause of the exchange rates, these gears are quite expensive but the good thing is availability of rental companies that make these gears accessible, but even with these companies, it doesn’t come cheap either.
Locations is another major issue, there are very few accessible locations in Nigeria, and the cost of shooting in this locations might be unaffordable to up and coming flimmakers, and also the issue of thugs (area boys) harassing and disrupting production is a thing especially when shooting on the streets of Lagos, you always need to reserve extra cash for this scenarios.
Q: What distinguishes your style, and how would you describe your signature as a creative?
Simple words to describe my style is artistic, creative and cinematic.
I try to keep things simple, creative and realistic. I'm always intentional about my locations, overall composition and storytelling. Once these factors are locked in, every other piece falls in to place.
I also try to keep my art relatable and create art that look uniquely different from every other works out there.
Q: What advice would you give to emerging cinematographers trying to get in the scene? Something you probably think you should have learnt about before getting in the scene?
My advice to emerging filmmakers would be for them to keep learning and keep showing up. Start small if you have to, put the art first before the money. The money will come with time. Create as much as you can, build your portfolio, with time everything would fall into place.
Ademola's journey so far reflects both growth and intention.
As the Nigerian music and visual space continues to evolve, Ademola Oyebode is steadily carving out a place for himself through intentional, cinematic storytelling. From photography to directing standout music videos, his work reflects resilience and a clear creative vision.
As he continues to push boundaries, one thing remains certain, his imprint on the culture is only just beginning.