Peter Thwaites: The chemistry of creativity

What’s your background, and your first steps into the industry? 

I was a teenager from the shires without a clue what to do with my life. Then I took a Film Photography and TV degree and it was like a switch was flipped and I became a different person. Obsessed, excited, driven. My whole life transformed. 

I got into the National Film & TV school and it got a lot more intense. It was a great place. I was shooting on film all the time. There was no digital. This was the early 1990s. I got a job as a DP two weeks after leaving the school and did my first commercial for Gossard bras with Adrian Moat at RSA films, in Spain. It all went bonkers.   

It was the golden era of commercials. People went out and made stuff that was different.

It was the golden era of commercials. People went out and made stuff that was different. I worked with directors who’d say, ‘What do you want to bring to it?’ And I’d say, ‘I’ve been playing with reflecting light off big sheets of CDs’, and it was, ‘OK great’. It was about experimenting and playing. It was a playground. 

Above: An early spot which saw Thwaites as the director of photography and Frank Budgen directing.  

Is analogue more of a playground than digital? 

Oh absolutely, because the thing about analogue is you don’t know. It’s chemistry, and uncertainty, and if you push the boundaries of that uncertainty and chemistry, with things like cross processing and other techniques, you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out. People would go, ‘It’s a risk, but we’re going for it’. It was more Wild West, and as a DP you were a magician. You were left to do your thing, and everyone would have faith.  

When did you switch to directing? 

By the time of my first directing job, I was already in advertising, working with people like Frank Budgen, Chris Cunningham, Tony Kaye and Jonathan Glazer. I’d done a test film for Saab, an abstract photographic piece, playing with camera techniques. Then Paul Rothwell, MD at Gorgeous, where Budgen was, saw it and said, ‘Do you want to be a director at Gorgeous?’. Again, nuts. At the time, it was the most exciting production company in London.  

It was more Wild West, and as a DP you were a magician. You were left to do your thing, and everyone would have faith.  

I was getting interested in tone and audience, how you engage viewers through the atmosphere and feel of what you’re doing, building more into performances and enjoying that sense of how you control a narrative. But that sense of play was still there. On my second job at Gorgeous, for the Army, I remember doing it on sound stock, which is what they used to process sound on, a very high contrast black and white, not meant for filming at all. A lot of the footage was terrible, but some of it was fantastic. And that’s the thing. 

Above: Thwaites' early career was more experimental and one of his early jobs with Gorgeous saw him shooting on sound stock.

What led you to open The Corner Shop? 

[Co-Founder] Anna Hashmi and I worked together at Gorgeous and that worked so well we decided to move to LA. We had an office there, as most of the work was coming from the States, and the culture of our shoots was becoming more distinctly ours. 

Those are the scripts I love. Tone and humanity are the worlds that I find interesting – to get an idea that will warm an audience and connect. 

We had created a warm, inclusive, positive culture we liked to work in, so setting up on our own just felt right. We wanted to look for new talent and help it grow – and Anna is such a creative producer, who has an eye and passion for working with new talent, that the company grew very naturally.  

Which of  your Guinness spots is your favourite? 

Guinness Cloud: it had such simplicity. It was such a lovely script. And it was confident in its simplicity, allowing the freedom to interpret. Those are the scripts I love. Tone and humanity are the worlds that I find interesting – to get an idea that will warm an audience and connect. The subtlety of doing that simple thing, a cloud, is a fantastic challenge. How do we make people feel for this cloud?

Above: Thwaites' 2012 spot for Guinness, Cloud. 

How has the industry and creativity changed since Cornershop opened in 2013? 

Content proliferation has spread out into so many different forms, but for some reason there is less creative work. Look at lists of the best ads ever made and there is very little from the past 10 years, much more from the 1990s early 2000s. Also, the humour is less playful and irreverent. 

I don’t see creative storytelling dying out. But if you’re a new director it’s really tough. Lots of people fear for their jobs. 

There is still very good work, just less of it. But the aim is the same in my mind. Ultimately, storytelling is the focus – engage an audience, create a relationship. I want an audience to melt, to connect, to smile in recognition, to be entertained.   

Tell us about the innovator you have chosen? 

Max Miechowski reminds us that photography is not only about seeing the world, but deeply feeling the people who shape it with their presence, resilience and humanity. His work is honest, intimate photography. Simple and human. The tone is usually understated, observed, quiet, open and honest, without feeling manipulated or adjusted. Quietly capturing ordinary lives with a warm empathy, it is the sort of approach that I find deeply satisfying.  

What’s your take on the state of advertising today?  

It’s harder now, and there’s less money. It’s a torrid time in the world, and that’s reflected in what we’re doing. There’s less space for the happy accident, the improvisation. And there will be a reaction to AI. People will crave uncertainty, humanity, all those elements that AI doesn’t give you. 

So, I don’t see creative storytelling dying out. But if you’re a new director it’s really tough. Lots of people fear for their jobs. The pressure’s very high on creatives. But we are so lucky to be working in this industry. I just hope it can continue.  

All of the Icons & Innovator interviews can be found in this year's shots magazine Cannes special.