Playlist: Maxim Kelly

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

Duncan Loudon’s music video for Tourist - Your Love, is a true masterpiece. It stands out from other music videos due to its clever storytelling. Music videos should be eye-catching and setting someone on fire is undoubtedly spectacular. But he takes it one step further to involve the character’s young daughter witnessing the act, adding emotional depth and transforming it into something more compelling.

More recently, I enjoyed Abteen Bagheri's Benjamin Earl Turner - Headspace/Bent video in the last few weeks. I love how it flips from narrative to classic hip-hop visuals. It’s one of those videos that, when I watched it, I wished I had made it.

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

I was living in Venezuela in 1991/92. And my older cousins had got dodgy cable installed. I remember going around to their apartment, and they were watching MTV. I was confused by the music television concept and was too young to understand it properly. 

But I vividly recall watching Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time. And immediately, I knew I would be a Music Video Director. I didn’t want to be a musician or Kurt Cobain; I wanted to be the person that made the film. I’m not particularly impressed by the video, but it made the biggest impression since it set my life’s direction. It’s a shame my cousins didn’t have Doctor TV, Finance TV or Lawyer TV instead because Music Video Director isn’t much of a career.

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

I will say, Jonathan Glazer's one for Richard Ashcroft - A Song For The Lovers. What impresses me the most are films that master the basics. This is one man in a hotel room, and it’s suspenseful to the end. When you first start Directing, you never think something is enough. But if you understand the basics of filmmaking/storytelling, you can make something simple and exciting. 

This video is that famous Hitchcock quote about “suspense vs. surprise.” A lot of people think directing on set, is telling actors what to do. But the truth is you’re really “directing” who sees what? And when? And that applies to both what the audience sees and what the characters see (like Duncan Loudon’s Tourist video.) So, the Director’s most significant role on set is deciding where to put the camera.

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

I consume a lot. I look at everything. I’m also very pretentious, and my girlfriend hates me. I didn’t get into film school when I first applied to university. So I went to art school instead and came to film from photography. So, I still look at a lot of photography books. I love American landscape photographers Joel Sternfeld and Stephen Shore. The classics are classic for a reason, so Larry Clark’s Tulsa, Richard Billingham’s Rays a Laugh, Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, But my absolute favourite is a photographer called Mark Steinmetz. It isn’t easy to put that inspiration directly into a film, though. I don’t think Film and Photography are in any way related. But there’s maybe a feeling or an aesthetic, which I find inspiring.

What are you listening to at the moment?

If I answer this question honestly, I listen to The Wheels on the Bus. I have a two-year-old, and suddenly, your stereo isn’t your own anymore. Anytime I try to put anything on, he says, “Not this!” So we listen to the “Bus Song.”

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

I don’t own anything. I have very few possessions. I have an 11-year-old Macbook Pro, a phone, a decent hi-fi, books and a drawer of clothes. I have one camera, a Panasonic miniDV I bought seven years ago from eBay for £90. Last year, I had a few low-budget videos where we struggled to make the budget work. So, I pulled the MiniDV out of the cupboard and won several awards with that work. Most people didn’t even realise it was shot on DV, so it shows how unimportant tech can be.

But I guess it’s my laptop; my whole life is on that laptop, and it’s still going strong. I’ve done loads of editing, and After Effects work on it; it’s slow but gets there in the end. It’s the only thing I need. And it still works, so I see no reason to upgrade it.

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

I want to work with Radiohead and Massive Attack, bands that have stood the test of time and still make good music, but also have a reputation and history for making exciting music videos. I have never pitched on either, but I hope you get a lot of creative freedom.