Playlist: Zak Razvi

Winner of the 2015 shots New Director of The Year, Zak Razvi steps up for this week's Playlist.

Starting out as a ‘work-experience kid’ at BBH London, Razvi's tenacity rewarded him with a full-time job offer at the agency. From here, he joined  Pulse Films to head up the music video department, producing promos for international artists like The Chemical Brothers, Kasabian and Peace.

Now signed to Knucklehead as a director, he most recent work includes the beautiful and emotional promo Don't Worry About Me [below] for UK singer, Frances.

What’s the best promo you’ve seen recently and why?

I really loved Dom & Nic’s video Wide Open for The Chemical Brothers featuring Beck. The idea, casting, choreography and post… it worked perfectly with the track.

What’s the first promo you remember being impressed by?

I’m not sure impressed is the right word… but I remember at the time MC Hammer’s Can’t Touch This was amazing for all the wrong reasons.

And what’s your all-time favourite music video?

Just one? Hmm. It’d be one of the following…

Mark Romanek’s 99 Problems for Jay Z [below], Spike Jonze’s The Drop for The Pharcyde, Will Vinton’s animation in Speed Demon for Michael Jackson, The freaky little Busta Rhymes character in Gimme Some More always makes me smile, ODB’s Got Your Money was genius, mixing live action with scenes from the Blaxploitation film Dolomite.

What other directors/artists do you look to for inspirational?

Historically Spike Jonze’s videos have always been special.

In more recent years I’ve always enjoyed checking out new work from directors such as Hiro Murai, Romain Gavras and Martin de Thurah.

For inspiration, I mostly turn to photographers, artists such as Vanley Burke, Bruce Davidson, William Klein, Malick Sidibé, Trent Parke and JR.

What are you listening to at the moment?

At the moment these albums are on repeat…

James Blake’s The Colour In Everything [below], Solange’s A Seat At The Table, Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book [bottom], Francis and the Lights’s Farewell, Starlite!,  Vince Staples’s Prima Donna Jamila Woods’s HEAVN,  NxWorries’s Yes Lawd! and Dave’s Six Paths 2.

What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?

I use my Bose noise cancellation headphones daily, mainly to help zone out when on the tube.

What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why?

Andre 3000 [below] would be great… his energy, charisma and musical talent is pretty special, and I’d love to make a video for Ludovico Einaudi’s beautiful music [bottom].

How do you feel the promo industry has changed since you started in it?

Available technology is advancing so quickly at the moment that I think it’s inevitable people are becoming more and more interested in experimenting with new technique led visuals, which is really exciting.

Music videos have had a resurgence of late; where do you see the industry being in five years’ time?

Hopefully as relevant as they are today.

I still miss those days of calling The Box and eagerly waiting for hours and hours for my requested video to magically appear on the screen… but it’s incredible how a video can now be viewed on demand, at anytime, any place, on multiple devices or platforms at the press of a button, reaching millions of people worldwide instantly.

Artists are also becoming more daring with their videos, using the medium to comment on important social or political issues and themes, which when reaching such a huge audience can be incredibly powerful, creating significant cultural moments.

Music videos continue to be such an important form of art and creative expression, and there are some incredibly talented directors out there creating some of the most beautiful or funny or poignant or thought-provoking videos.

We’re extremely lucky that crews, editors, colourists, and pretty much everyone involved creating videos are so generous with their time for little money. If that generosity continues, I can only see videos getting better and better.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

I can eat more pasta than you.