Sam Walker on the Spirit of Somerset House Studios

Below, Sam Walker, creative partner at Faster Horses, who also directed the film through Riff Raff, talk to shots.net about wearing both creative and directing hats, referencing movies and taking creative leaps.

Tell us about how this campaign came about and your relationship with the client?

Somerset House had seen our Uniqlo 311 campaign [below] and asked if we’d be interested in making something to help launch SHS. It’s nice to be able to help art and cultural organisations and it’s also a great start when they approach you looking for something ambitious.

How much did you know about SHS before this point?

We’ve always been fans of Somerset House but the Studios is a brand new development so we hadn’t heard of it before. The concept of SHS is really exciting: having 40 plus different creative companies, artists and collectives from various disciplines under the same roof shows the ambition and direction Somerset House is taking.

It’s a great stake in the ground and really solidifies their intention to be one of the most experimental and respected creative communities in London.

Tell us about the concept of this idea, the reference points for it and how it came together?

The idea was to have the ‘spirit' of SHS as represented by the drummer and the biker figure, both dressed in different but related costumes - guiding us through the different parts of the building.

There was a great line in the brief that said "Somerset House Studios is like Somerset House’s mischievous little sister", which is where the idea came from.

The building itself is epic and throws up so many different visual references, from Kubrick to Lynch, even to Fellini. I’m not sure we’ve ever referenced so many different films in the same project before, we talked about everything from Whiplash and Beware of Mr. Baker, to The Shining, Mulholland Drive, 8 1/2, Alien, The Abyss, Mad Max and even Godzilla.

We felt that communication for cultural institutions should be creative in itself rather than just talking about creativity. 

Did the client immediately get on board with the idea?

I think they were excited by it but had to take a leap of faith at a certain point, which is what all great clients do. It’s a bold idea that’s not easy to buy, so all credit to them. The film is actually remarkably similar to what we presented, even down to the costume and drumming references.

You’ve got some of the artists appearing in the film; how did you choose who would appear?

We chose three artists who represent different aspects of the SHS community: LoneLady (Warp Records) a musician who works in a room that used to be a rifle range; Project O, a collective performing experimental dance; and Minimaforms, creative technologists who have developed an incredible thing called ‘Pet’, which resembles the liquid alien creature in The Abyss and reacts to human interaction. Each one is visually quite different too which was also important for the film. 

You’re the director as well as a creative lead on this; does being the creative make the directing role easier?

In some ways, yes. You can translate what’s in your head directly onto the screen. It probably helps with something like this where the idea is so abstract and could be interpreted in a million different ways. It made it easier for the client to take the leap and buy the idea as, right from the word go, we could explain what we were thinking. 

I’ve always enjoyed the relationship between creative director and director though as well, and if you get it right the two disciplines can really amplify each other. It’s like the relationship between a writer and director on a feature film - each one bringing something different to the table. 

What was the most difficult part of the shoot?

The whole thing was, frankly, ludicrously ambitious, given the resources available to us. We worked closely with our stuntman, Andy, and the Somerset House operations managers to work out what we could do with the motorbike riding at speed inside the building.

It was a question of what could be achieved safely and without damaging any part of the building; even the carpets are valuable! Sometimes it’s best to accept the limitations of a particular location and focus on what you can control rather than try to achieve the impossible.

And what was the most rewarding part of the project?

Seeing through what we started, to be honest. It was amazing that the client bought the idea, but more than that we actually managed to pull it off. The idea was pretty ambitious for any budget let alone what we had to play with but that just makes it more rewarding in the end. Riff Raff did a great job, as always, producing something that seemed pretty improbable to start off with. It was also reassuring to know we had a great post production team backing us up at Final Cut, GCRS and The Mill.