Luke Jacobs' Gritty Idyll

How did this video come to you? Were you approached or did you have to pitch for it?

I met the commissioner Sam Seager when I was shooting a music video that Craig Roberts was directing. We got on well and when he found out I was interested in directing myself he sent be a couple of briefs and I pitched this crazy idea and it got selected.
 
The narrative for the film is noticeably very strong, was it your concept or was there a brief? If yours, how did the music inspire it?

The brief was to create a narrative video that would target a certain age group. I had the location in mind as it’s where I’m from in West Wales (Solva/St Davids) and so it was a question of listening to the track and thinking of potential stories. The music felt dark to me, and so I opted to go from something moody, twisted and dark with uplifting elements. The idea started with the boys out shooting rabbits on the cliffs and developed from there.  

 

The video feels like a short film but also accomplishes the task of complimenting – and promoting – the music. Was this something you were conscious of or did it happen naturally?

I knew the two had to work together obviously but I was more concerned with making the story work at the start of the edit as we had to cut a scene of it in order to fit it to the track.  In earlier cuts the music did feel slightly disjointed from the visuals and Sam was on my case about that, but I knew the edit would get tighter as we could pace it to the song more and the track did become more of the driving force of the video. There was a lot of compromising though. I lost some very beautiful shots, performances and story in order to make it work well with the track and kind of wish I could have made it as short film too and put some of those elements back in.
 
In many ways this piece feels like part of a coming-of-age story, is there any connection here to your own childhood or anything you experienced?

The bag of drugs being stolen is not based on any real experience but lots of other elements are inspired by growing up in a rural environment. I knew lots of kids who would go shooting rabbits on the cliffs as teenagers. Before we were old enough to drink in pubs people would hang out and drink by the sea and have parties with drugs. There was also always a group of lads obsessed with cars and girls would hang around with them because they seemed cool, usually being a bit older. There were some unsavoury characters around too. This film is kind of taking all of that to the extreme though.

 

 

Can you explain to us the background of the characters – who is the girl and how did she wind up with those dodgy guys in the first place?

The girl is one of those girls around the age of 16 who is still quite innocent but at the same time very confident in some ways, and is seeking the attention of older boys. There was a whole scene that had to be cut where we see the girl partying with a group of teenagers around a fire and the dealer there getting her to take some pills. Sadly this section had to be cut and now we first see the girl when the dealer is forcing himself on her.
 
How has your background as a cinematographer influenced you as a director?

When I’m working as a DOP I’m always thinking about how shots will cut together, the best ways to cover the scenes, ways of moving the camera to help tell the story, lighting to reflect the mood and choosing locations that will be interesting back-drops to the piece. All of these things have strengthened me as a filmmaker and I’m already considering these things very early on in production as a director too. It’s given me the tools as a director to know how to get what I want technically, the really exciting part has been casting and directing actors! I’ve worked with lots of great directors who know how to work with actors and others who don’t. For me this process was something I was really happy with, working with actors directly is incredible as you can see your vision coming to life.  

 

 

On that note, it’s unusual to see someone make the transition from DOP to director and also managing to maintain such a strong sense of narrative storytelling, how did you manage this?
 
I studied directing and so after I graduated I did direct two UK film council funded shorts early on in my career, one of which won a Fantastic Film Festival award for best UK Short. I was really pleased at the time and I loved the experience but found is easier to build a career back then as a DoP. I still love being a DoP but I was itching to try directing something again and really enjoyed it.

One of the many impressive factors with this music video was the excellent casting, and we noticed the lead guy cropped up in a previous video you worked on with director Josh Cole.  What was the casting process like and how did you find everyone?

Yes I worked with Fred Schmidt on the “I See Monstas” shoot directed by Josh. Fred was a trooper, never a single complaint and just gave breath-taking performances again and again. I really didn’t expect him to do my video as he’s a very busy man and getting lots of interest in Hollywood. I took a punt and sent him the treatment and he went for it. Casting everyone else was much harder work in fact!!!

 

I held casting sessions in London and Cardiff and it was relentless. I saw so many people and videoed all the auditions. But I just couldn’t find the right cast. I remember I had narrowed the boys down to three teenagers from Cardiff but none of them had ever shot a gun and they were basically city boys. I was getting desperate and when I was recceing for the shoot in St Davids, my sister told me I had to meet Ifan Price. She told me he would be in the pub that night so I went down. I walked in the pub and there was a fresh faced lad with welly’s and a baseball cap on, sipping on a full pint. Are you Ifan I asked. “Yep!” “How old are you?” “16” he said with a cheeky grin. Looking at his welly’s I ask him what he had been doing that day.
“Well I shot 20 crows this morning before feeding 200 cows” he said.

5 minutes later he had agreed to audition for the role in the beer garden and I had my 20 stone focus puller pinning him to the floor with a broom handle. He wasn’t fazed at all and I felt he would be very natural on camera. I chose the strongest lead from Cardiff sessions, who was Dafydd Thomas.

Casting the girl was the toughest. I had to hold extra casting sessions at Warner. They provided me with a lovely broom cupboard type room! I wanted to act out sections of the video for the audition so I even managed to rope in the commissioner and the intern into acting out the other parts so the girls could react. It was hilarious, using coat hangers as guns and a wooly hat as a rabbit all in a tiny room. Totally surreal. Eventually Lilly (Newmark) auditioned and straight away I knew she was right. Not only was she a brilliant actress but she had the perfect balance between looking young and innocent but also being a bit of a rebel. Plus the DoP side of me knew how great the long ginger hair would in the green landscapes.

 

Did you find it easy to balance directing the actors with being the cinematographer, or were there any issues?

That side of things was fine. I always manage to pay attention to the performances even when I’m running around with the camera. Plus we often played key shots back.

From a DOP’s perspective, how did you approach this video? We noticed a lot of wide / aerial shots of the landscape and relatively few close-ups, was this an important stylistic choice?

My recce was the key to the look of the film, finding the locations where the scenes could play out and have scale and drama were important and I definitely had my DOP hat on for much of that. Also the clothes of the cast, the colours, the props all contribute to the overall look and feel.

I decided early on that I wanted lots of movement, and so I was constantly thinking how to use what was around me as tracking vehicles etc. We persuaded the farm to loan us a quad for the chasing scenes and the I sat in some farm machinery, a kind of cherry picker so do the rising shot when the boys and girl first walk out at dawn together, it was all classic low budget filmmaking.

In regards to close ups. I’ve always felt close ups are a powerful tool and should be used sparingly.  This goes the same for aerial shots, they help the film breath give a scale to it as do wide shots. I wouldn’t have said there was a lot of them in the film really. There’s only one aerial shot though I was hoping for 3 but the weather was against us.

 

 

Despite the very urban sound of the music and the gritty themes in the video you’ve chosen to set it in quite an idyllic looking rural environment, what influenced this decision?

I wanted the contrast. I love the fact that the two don’t go together. The beautiful picturesque landscapes with a very raw gritty story make it different and striking. Also these rural areas have an edge to them: there's often a dark underbelly. They have the same issues as urban areas with teenagers like drugs, alcohol and all that comes with it, it’s just this video takes it a bit further and out the realism of social realism ;)
 
How was the shoot itself – did it run smoothly or were there any dramas / fun anecdotes you can share with us?

The shoot was gruelling. It was December so it was freezing cold!! One of the biggest battles was keeping the actors warm. There were plenty of funny moments though.

The commissioner Sam had to cling to me on the front of a quad to stop me from falling off whilst doing shots on the gimble which was pretty funny to watch. On the way back the actor Ifan offered to drive the quad. He’s a crazy boy and he bombed across the fields in pitch black and was determined to put the fear of god in me. I really thought I was going to be flung in a hedge and he loved every second of it!
 
What’s next for you? Do you have any more directorial projects lined up aside from your DOP work?

I will chose carefully what I direct next, I’ve been offered lots of music videos but it takes a month out my life with very little pay so it has to be the right project to go for it. Right now I’m enjoying working with other directors and helping bring their visions to life. It’s fun and I love working with new directors as well as the like’s of Josh Cole, who I’ve worked with for years now and love every new adventure.