SITUATION
The George Harrison Estate and Dark Horse Records were releasing a previously unreleased 2024 mix of Be Here Now. The song shares its name and its philosophy with Ram Dass's book, and the release was built as a collaboration with the Ram Dass Love Serve Remember Foundation. It needed a video that could hold both.
DIAGNOSIS
Two legacies, two estates, and a song about presence. The obvious version is an archival slideshow, which honors the material and says nothing. What the release actually needed was a visual language that belonged to the philosophy itself rather than to either archive.
DECISION
Build the video out of the artwork from Ram Dass's book. Not footage of the era, not photographs of the artists. The illustrations that carried the idea in the first place, given motion and set to the song that shares its name.
WHAT WE BUILT
Treatment & concept, creative direction, illustration, and production. Mathew Newton and Leah Marie Newton directed, with Leah leading art direction. Produced by The Newton Agency for the George Harrison Estate and Dark Horse Records, with the blessing of the Ram Dass Love Serve Remember Foundation.
