This fundi knows how to work on a music video

You might not know that some of those music videos that enjoy a lot of air play are the works of a young producer, Charles Fundi or PD Charles as he prefers to be called. 

The young man from Runyenjes in Embu County honed his skills at Spotlight Media before going solo.

PD wanted to be in communication and thus enrolled at Star Media Institute in Nairobi after high school. But the dream morphed into music and video production. 

“I started off at Still Alive Records where I did audio production, but I was not contented in doing only audio because I knew I could do more,” says PD who was involved in productions like Talanta by Majimaji and Ringtone.

“I did audio production for two years from 2013 before I started freelancing; then I landed at Spotlight,” he explains. Spotlight is the music and video production stable where PD polished his skills as a cameraman and video editor; working on some of the best videos that have graced local television stations.

“Some of the artistes whom I have worked with while at the production house include Kambua and Bon Fils in their hit video Tegemeo,” discloses PD, who has also worked with Aime Mbumba and Kidum. 

PD, an alumnus of Kangaru School in Embu, says that when people watch a music video, they don’t see those who worked on it behind the scenes; either behind the camera or in the edit suite.

He studied both audio and video production, but it is video production that he was more interested in. He faced several challenges after founding his own Nation Star Films. For one, artistes want to work with already established producers and “most people do not understand that those who do the work are not even the owners of the production companies, but the unknown guys at the back end.”

This lack of confidence from artistes is what hinders many employed video editors from going solo, according to the man who was inspired by video producer Young Wallace.