Please fill us in how this transition from making music videos on a shoestring to high-end spectacular commercials came about and what motivated you?
The motivation was initially to be able to making a living. The only time I lived from my music video work was my year in Bolivia where my rent was 100 dollars a month. So it was very financially motivated and I had no intention of ever “making it” in commercials, I assumed I’d get some ok stuff in at some point to make some money before doing features.
It then came totally out of the blue doing my first commercial for Otello with Anorak in Berlin. It was during this that I realised just how creative you can be in what you think of as being a very constrained medium. The ECD Robert Krause, who gave me that huge break (along with the wonderful Christiane Dressler of Anorak), was so incredibly respectful of my opinions, totally collaborative, trustful and we set out to make a film we were really into. I honestly had no idea it was quite like this, I was very naive.
With Anorak we then won a Hornbach job, a film showing a man’s mind disintegrating into madness. We wrote a scene making quite an audacious visual comparison with Jesus carrying the crucifix. Another with him bent over a toilet on all fours in total sado masochistic style. The first line of the voiceover says “FUCK”. All my pre-conceived notions and secondhand myths of how advertising works really came crashing down. A great testament to creative director Guido Heffels of Heimat who has the Hornbach account. I’ll be forever grateful to Anorak, Robert and Guido for those breaks last year as they completely shaped my current course. Also Friend of course who made one of my favourite commercials ever happen for Finish!
Your commercials are slick and surreal using vfx as a device – was it your video for Valentino Khan which introduced you to thinking in an effectsy way and also the humour that can be created by using vfx?
It’s funny as I never really think about VFX being an “element” in my work, but I’m often asked about it. For me it’s just another equally important discipline alongside the cinematography, production design, styling and so on. It’s just that before I rarely had the budget to be able to utilise VFX.
It was also the introduction to the Time Based Arts team in London for our Hornbach spot that also really opened me up to the possibilities. Being able to work closely with them on various projects has been a really big part of my growing love and understanding of it. As well as the more obvious VFX moments in my work, it’s also an invisible aspect too. It allows you to maximise the often limited shooting time by not trying to do everything in camera when you’re really up against it.
In terms of commercial success you’ve absolutely cracked it with Finish Dishes, Art Fund out of Friend London and The Dollar Shave Club out of Reset in the States. How has your creative process changed and what are the key lessons you’ve learnt over the last couple of years?
Well commercials are a totally different creative process, the script exists in some form whereas in music videos it’s a blank canvas. In music videos I’d be writing from scratch, or co-writing with Dobi Manolova. But what fascinated me was how different every commercial project is from one to the next.
Sometimes you have an incredibly tight script and you can focus purely on the execution. Other times I’ve had no actual shooting script but a really interesting mood direction they want to go in. With Maple Leafs for example they had a voiceover to which they let me write images to, so it was almost like the music video writing process.
There are more limits in certain areas, but also huge freedoms in others which I think a lot of people overlook and assume don’t exist. I also really enjoy the collaboration in writing with the creatives on the ones that have needed shaping throughout, such as Finish and Ask More. One of the biggest lessons has been to never hold back and second guess the agency and client. It can often be you, imagining that the client or agency won’t go a certain route, that creates a compromised piece of work.
What’s the biggest challenge in making high-end commercials – it must vary obviously from spot to spot?
Persuasion. In music videos it got to the point that I wasn’t really trying to get people on side with the creative. It was take it or leave it and once signed off, the train has left the station. So take a seat and enjoy the ride.
Years back of course it was a nightmare as people didn’t trust that I would pull off the stuff I’d written, or not understand the tone of it. But once that body of work is there, that becomes your armour. So taking that first step into commercials, initially felt like a step back into those early music video days. You have to talk things through with everyone.
But interestingly, all those years of making uncompromised music videos, really paid off stepping into commercials. I wasn’t invited to pitch so I’d make something in the way the agency imagined, it’s because they’re wanting my take on it. Regardless, you need to persuade, convince and instil trust in a lot of people who have a stake in it.
Just when we thought we’d caught up with your latest commercial – Dollar Shave Club – out comes an even bigger production of yours – Google Pixel 2. We were anal and counted 37 location changes and scenarios. How did you do it? Were you involved in the script development? Did it take forever to shoot / produce? Was it a breeze or a challenging production?
Yeah it’s been an intense year and a half, pretty much back to back. Dollar Shave Club was actually three spots, there’s another two coming out that are equally bonkers. Well that’s funny on the counting, I never did myself. If I had it might have made the project even more daunting.
It was certainly one of those jobs that when it got the official award I had the simultaneous feeling of extreme joy and utter dread. Reset are lauded for a reason, the production was airtight, so this made it all very smooth. We had Aris McGarry producing, who doesn’t miss a trick. He managed the whole thing like a rubix cube master, constantly re-assessing everything every time a scene would change.
After the award, we had two weeks till the shoot, which was six days. So it was quite crazy, but American jobs always have a very short amount of prep time. The script was already great and we then developed it all together. It was a very collaborative project throughout pre production all the way up to the shoot. Including a lot of input from Dylan Khan (production designer) and Christina Flannery (stylist). We had to be very reactive. I also had the genius Matilda Finn to second unit direct a few of the shots, adding to the mammothness (is that a word?) of it all.
You’re on a roll directing internationally – who by the way are you signed with – and where do you now call home?
I’m with Friend in the UK of course, which has been so great to have gone through with them from music videos to commercials. Finish was an incredibly special project, it was perfect to be able to do that with the Friend family. We also just did a TK Maxx Christmas commercial which went great.
I’m then with Revolver in Canada who I did Maple Leafs with, Anorak for Germany and Reset for the USA. Those are the markets I work most in at the moment. Home is a strange idea for me but I think it always has been. The longest we (my family) lived in one house was four years. We also bounced back and forth between Menorca (where my dad is from), and England. So that definitely stuck with me I think, as I’ve never had a problem with moving somewhere new for a bit.
It’s been one of the most memorable and life changing things in my life when I went to Bolivia for a shoot and stayed. But now I find it hard to settle and decide on where to lay some roots. I have close friends in various countries, so I’m constantly missing people and places, but I also feel very lucky to feel this. But I’m waffling, the answer is Berlin, currently. Early this year I decided that not having a fixed address for over four years was enough, and decided to try Berlin. But I stayed one month, rented a place, then went away on a job with Reset and just got back a few weeks ago. So now I’m moving to LA. Seems rather cliche, but I’ve been going there for years and have lots of close friends there.
What’s in the pipeline?
Dreams I don’t want to jinx.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Seeing as I’ve said thanks to some people for the breaks I’ve had, I also want to mention a few more. Nabil played a huge part on getting me going in the USA, along with Holly and Jeremy at Red Rep. After some time at Swordfight, Nabil then shared my work with Dave Morrison, owner/MD of Reset, which ended up in me signing to them. Dave, Deannie O’Neil (EP) and the Reset team then treated me on the same level as their heavyweight directors (something some companies don’t do and should) and I got to work on incredible projects.
Another person who has been absolutely paramount to it all is Dobi Manolova who produced most of my music videos, and co-wrote many of them too. She made impossible projects happen, against all odds and always believed in my ideas. I know this is just an interview and not an awards show, but the shift to commercials has been a life changer for me and I feel it’s important I mention those people who made it possible.
