Award Winning Music Video for Ryan McMullan

How we created an Award Winning Music Video on the streets of Dublin for Irish Musician Ryan McMullan.

The Ask

To create a beautiful, creative representation of the latest single from international Irish music star Ryan McMullan. To deliver a full scale music video production process and execute within a two week time frame before the single was due to be released. Ryan McMullan approached us with his song Jenny & Johnny and we discussed the creative challenge involved in showcasing such an emotional storyline into a visual format.

The goal wasn’t just to create a beautiful video, but rather to convey the actual story and emotional impact of a beautiful piece of music in a creative video production.

We have filmed Ryan McMullan previously in the US in collaboration with The Dead Rabbit, and Ryan had experience with both our team and our workflow, and so understood that we have a track record of agile filmmaking and dedication to fast turnaround times for delivering on production.

Ryan trusted Drink In Creative to handle the entire creative process from start to finish, while ensuring our vision matched the story and emotion of his new single, Jenny & Johnny.

The Approach

To design a video that matched the source music in such a short time frame, the team focused primarily on the execution of the project from the outset.

Pre-Production

Ideation was a primary starting point, and we approached the song lyrics with our own twist on the story of Jenny & Johnny – a vision that brought tension, conflict, and emphasised engagement and retention. After our initial brainstorming sessions as a team, we moved quickly into storyboarding and pre-production, deciding on chosen style as well as beginning location scouting, initial research and casting. We chose Drury Buildings in the heart of Dublin as our primary location as we were familiar with the space, and being able to understand the rooms we would be working in was a priority with a time crunch.

Production

Our technical specifications were straightforward, focusing on cinema-level quality and colour, we rented a Canon system to record in 8k RAW, allowing us maximum flexibility in the post-production process. Our goal was to let the actors and music flow naturally, and to bolster this methodology we had a cast and crew of 30 people, most of which we have worked with on various projects in the past, allowing for a more seamless workflow on set. Our Producer managed the setups, crew management, and set design, allowing the Director and Assistant Director to compose imagery, handle lighting and blocking, and directing the principal and background actors.

Post Production

Initially, our production team was happy with the smooth production in terms of schedule and execution. However, shortly after the handover of footage, a technical error was discovered in the camera system, causing all of our footage to be unusable due to a missing firmware update on the camera. Spending 24 hours problem solving and finally finding a workable solution, we were able to recover the corrupted footage in a usable state and were able to then complete the edit without issue.

A complete music video production for Ryan McMullan including pre-production, storyboarding, location scouting, casting, filming, and video editing.

The Outcome

This project came at the perfect time for Drink In Creative as a Creative Production Agency. We were beginning a new year and wanted to make a mark on 2025 to set out our intention and goals for the year. Being trusted by Ryan McMullan to handle this project was both a professional and personal milestone for the team. Being able to stretch what we were capable of at the time and how we go about producing larger scale projects really helped us to shape our year right from the start.

Needless to say, the project in itself was a proud achievement for Drink In Creative, and one we showcase regularly as a highlight in our portfolio. We were then overjoyed for it to have won Best Music Video at Dublin International Short Film and Music festival 2025. This project really exemplified what we at Drink In Creative aim to achieve, from teamwork and creative thinking to execution and problem solving, Jenny & Johnny set the entire company up for success right from day one in 2025.

Our Role

From concept to final cut, we led the entire creative and production process behind Jenny & Johnny for Ryan McMullan.

Creative Direction & Concept Development
We interpreted the emotional depth of the song and developed a visual narrative that brought tension, conflict, and authenticity to the story.

Pre-Production Management
We led ideation, storyboarding, location scouting, casting, and scheduling, selecting Drury Buildings as our primary filming location to maximise efficiency within the tight two-week timeline.

Full-Scale Production
We assembled and managed a 30-person cast and crew, oversaw set design, directed performances, and delivered cinema-quality capture in 8K RAW to ensure maximum flexibility in post-production.

Post-Production & Problem Solving
When a critical technical issue threatened our footage, we worked around the clock to recover and restore the files successfully, completing the edit in time for release.

End-to-End Delivery
From first creative discussion to award-winning final export, we executed a complete music video production.