Playlist: Nicholaus Goossen

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

I thought the King’s Dead video with Jay Rock and Kendrick was amazing. It felt like a super-stylised street video. The palm tree set-up was great and so was the Wolf of Wall Street scene. I really like the Migos Walk It Like I Talk It Soul Train-inspired video too. It looks like they shot it on real analog equipment. That’s what we did for the Human Sadness video I made for The Voidz.

What’s the first music video you remember being impressed by?

Sounds cliche but probably Thriller or Aerosmith’s Janie’s Got A Gun. I can remember my whole family gathering around the TV at my uncle’s house to watch Thriller on a VHS.

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

That’s a tough question, but maybe Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit or Beastie Boys’ So What’chu Want. I also really like Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Give It Away and Madonna’s Like a Prayer. I think I’ll give the edge to Nirvana since that was such a formative time in my life. I was 12 or 13 when that came out and it feels like I watched it a thousand times.

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

There’s a lot of people out there who are currently doing really cool stuff. When I was first starting out it was obviously the big boys: Fincher, Jonze, Glazer and Cunningham. Now, I like Nabil’s stuff a lot, as well as my friend Warren Fu’s work. I also think Dave Meyer's videos have been incredible lately. Directors who do great art direction set-ups are cool, but I favour the ones who can tell cinematic narratives. 

 
What are you listening to at the moment?

I’m currently listening to the new Pusha T, Dr. Octagon and The Voidz.

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

I like doing scout photos with the Artemis app on my iPhone and Paper by 53 [below] on my iPad for concept art and storyboards. Then I use my iMac with Adobe Premiere for editorial. All Mac everything, baby.

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

I sure would like to make a video with Radiohead, Tame Impala or Phantogram [below].

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

I started making videos when YouTube was in its infancy and it appeared as if nobody cared about them anymore. Now, those views actually count towards charting and people are able to monetize them. For that reason, they’ve become “important” again - though my love for them never wavered.
 

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

I think videos will continue to get bigger. Hopefully the baseline budgets get a bit more civilised again. Most of them are pretty shoestring. Thanks to YouTube they can actually make revenue off of them now!

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

I edit all of my videos myself except for the one I co-directed with Warren Fu, Human Sadness. He cut that one.