Face to Face with... Neil Gorringe

Having spent time on the other side of the world writing, directing and editing music shows in Hong Kong, Neil Gorringe returned to the UK with MTV and, ultimately, Channel 4's E4 to oversee the channel's image and branding. Since then, the creative director has won numerous awards for his work on Skins. Also repped as a director through Moxie Pictures London, the multi-talented Gorringe talks here about his new Misfits trailer, shot from a Thamesmead tower block.

How did the tower block idea come about?

The brief was fairly open; broadly speaking we wanted to do something with a bit of the show's humour and swagger. The show has obvious comic book allusions, so that was definitely in my mind as I was thinking of ideas. I was looking at the tower blocks on the Thamesmead estate (where the show is set), and thought that the windows of the tower block could easily become comic book panels that you could move along and zoom around, as if you were reading the page of a comic book.

It's pretty unique, was it hard to shoot?

It was quite a challenge to piece it all together. After writing the script, we approached The Mill who came on board to do the post and were involved from the start. We did a pre-viz of the whole thing with them so that we had the whole thing locked down before we shot anything at all. We storyboarded it, and approached (comic book artist) Jock, who I was really happy came on board - he drew the artwork you see in the windows.

The first day was shooting at Thamesmead where we got all the crane shots of people on balconies, the moves around the tower block, the cast laying the flowers and the camera starting to move "underground" down past a bit of fake pavement and earth. On day two we were in a studio where we shot Superhoody on a set of the roof against green screen, Nathan in the coffin, the other coffins, the rats in the pipe, the pigeon that flies away and reverses and the camera moving in and out of window frames.

We then edited at Final Cut, then the 2D/3D guys at The Mill stitched all these pieces together, animated the artwork, created new elements and 3D transitions so that the film eventually became a seamless single shot. We graded at The Mill and did the audio at Envy. Everyone who worked on it was really into it and did a great job.

What's the feedback been like?

The feedback at Channel 4 has been great, people really like the spot. The show has got a strong fan-base now so we're hoping for good ratings come November when the new series launches.

What's it like working with and tapping into British youth on shows like Skins and Misfits?

I've done all the Skins promos since the show launched, and they've always been a lot of fun. The first party one was really great and barely felt like an actual shoot at all - it was definitely a real party - we could have stopped filming and I doubt anyone would have particularly noticed.

Misfits won a BAFTA, if you could make an award up, what would the title be and who would win?

My (very subjective) award would be for 'Greatest TV Series Ever' and it would go to Twin Peaks. It blew my mind when I first saw it, and still hasn't been bettered, IMHO!

What have you read/seen recently that would be relevant to shots readers?

I recently saw Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void. It has to be seen in the cinema - an absolutely incredible, revolutionary experience; it really pins you to the back of your seat. I was dazed afterwards - but had to see it again a few days later.

What sort of things do you watch on a night in front of the TV?

I'm sure pretty much the same things everyone else watches - a mixture of quality stuff and complete trash. My current drama favourites are definitely Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

What's in the pipeline for Neil Gorringe and what can we look forward to?

I'm about to shoot another Skins spot for the new series, which has an all-new cast. The idea is all signed off and it should be a lot of fun. I'm also doing something for Mars that I think will be a great ad, up in picturesque Yorkshire. They'll both be rather different!