Face to Face with... David Wilson

Fresh off the back of creating a killer new music video for London dubstep outfit Skream, we catch up with Blinkink wunderkind David Wilson to talk pitching, promos, and what went on behind the scenes.

Can you give us a sense of what your pitch to Skream about the promo was?

My initial treatment was a lot broader than the end result. It revolved around two characters - a male and a female - being created out of the same piece of clay, separating, and then fitting together to make one whole.

I explained that the piece would be a fusion of live action and animation, and that the whole thing should feel extremely physical - almost tangible. Having discussed this initial brief, Skream was really interested in the relationship between the two characters in the piece, and so the narrative slowly developed until it dawned on me to place the characters in the weightier situation of the creation story.


You've mentioned to shots before that the pitch is your favourite part of the process, is that still the case and do you have a particular method in approaching any pitch?

It's the part of the process when you create the most amount of ideas in the shortest amount of time, and that excites me. When I'm pitching in a music video, I always need to prepare myself before I listen to the track. I need to be in a quiet place, with no distractions, a pen and paper to hand, and a pair of headphones. It's like bracing yourself for a tidal wave of ideas. Obviously, most of them are completely rubbish, but some of them stick. I need to listen to the track a few times before I get to grips with it, but there needs to be some aspect of the track that interests me after the first listen, otherwise I know I'm in a bit of trouble. If there are at least two or three potential seeds of an idea that I like within the first 20 minutes of listening to the track, then it's a winner, and I can develop it further.


How did the idea for this promo develop?

Skream provided me with a six minute demo version of the track back in November, which I then used to create my initial treatment. After the treatment was approved I created a shortened edit of the track that worked with the timings of my storyboards, and Skream then took this edit and blended it together to create one flowing piece. I feel that having this co-operation throughout that process was really special.

Since the success of my videos that I'd created for We Have Band and Moray McLaren last year, I'd been fortunate enough to receive a few emails and meet various different artists and art directors that expressed an interest in working with me if a suitable project came along. As my ideas for Skream began to blossom, I started to talk to these people more about what I was working on. I decided to aim big, and push for the epic visuals that I felt the track deserved. As a result I ended up commissioning five artists - Theo White, David Curtis-Ring, Niek Pulles, Joseph Mann, and Ceridwen Brown - to work as a team in order to achieve all the parts in bite-size chunks, with each individual taking ownership over each section.


Did you have an existing relationship with the band and did they give you free reign with the concept and ideas?

I hadn't met Oli (Skream) before the project, but Bart Yates (the head of Blinkink) had been in talks with Sarah Lockhart, who's the head of Tempa Records, for quite some time. It was their relationship that got me talking with Oli.

I have a huge amount of respect for Oli's music, and think that he's an exceptional producer who's creating truly innovative work. Oli gave me complete free reign on what I wanted to achieve from this promo. We worked with complete respect of each other's work, and the whole process was a delight that I'd be very keen to repeat.


How would you describe your directing style?

I like to create things physically, and I like to be able to 'wow' an audience by achieving things that they haven't been exposed to before. I get a big buzz out of that, but these techniques need to sit in a bigger narrative. They need to belong to the story that I'm telling, rather than being visual candy without any soul.


How long did the shoot take and what was the hardest part of the production?

The shoot involved a one day build, and a three day shoot at Clapham Road Studios, and then two more days with a stripped down crew of Christophe Leignel (one of the DPs), Joseph Mann (the strata-cut animator) and myself in the Blink offices doing pick-up shots.

Every part of the production was hard work in very different ways, and all of them involved writing very long lists. Vanessa Wood at Speade did an amazing job at making such a complex piece flow together in the edit, and I will forever be eternally grateful to The Mill for all their hard work in piecing this job together (I think they should all be very proud to have got through the conform without tears). However, just for the pure intensity of the shoot, I would have to say those three days at Clapham Road were pretty killer, but a LOT of fun. There was a really great energy on set.


Music promos seem to have had a resurgence in the last few years. Would you agree and if so, what would you put it down to?

Yes, I'd say so. However, I don't think there's one single factor that has resulted in this being the case. There are a few obvious ones... the explosion of people listening to music online being a big one, with people often playing the video of their favourite song off YouTube before it's made available on free music sites like Spotify. This has had a huge impact on the hit-rates. The accessibility of equipment (especially with the Canon cameras) has also meant that a lot more videos are being made.

There's also a big shift in the way artists are being packaged. Record companies are seeking live shows as a source of revenue to compensate for the fall in music sales. Therefore, artists' image and performance has become even more crucial, and music videos can translate that live energy out to a viewer, often acting as that essential hook to get them out to see live music.


What made you want to be a music video director?

I've always listened to music in visual terms. I have a deep routed passion for listening and dissecting music. It energises me to produce work. Music has that ability to touch people in a way that visuals can't really do. It's a gateway to the imagination. So when I started to play with the tools that allowed me to translate what happened in my brain from listening to music into visuals, I did it more as a release for myself, rather than anything else.

I feel very fortunate that people seem to be liking what I'm doing!


What's next for David Wilson?

Well, after a few months away from the pitching process, I'm back in the heart of the action. I'm also starting to make plans for a solo exhibition of my artwork. It's some way off at the moment, but it's an aim I've had for quite some time, so hopefully that'll be on its way in the not-too-distant future.