Daryl A
“As I grew up in school it was really difficult for the teachers and even my parents to place where I was going to go because half my interest lied with very technical things. I was really into computers and building things from electronic bits, just really the geeky stuff. I was also really into art, drawing and painting, it was weird split. When I was a kid there was not really an outlet for that.”
“Cinematography was a high end thing and there weren't 3D packages as such, there wasn't that hybrid or art and technical skills that there is now. So it became quite difficult to know what I was doing! Even up to my A levels I was doing physics and I was also doing graphic design, which is a split right down the middle. I was trying to experiment how I could marry the two together, but I ended up doing more graphic design and doing loads of projects for people.”
“I then went to university and studied animation. I loved the idea being able to premeditate what you want and for me that allowed a great outlet for creativity but also involving the technical side of things. I could bring in the drawing that I was doing, it was really perfect.”
“I went into the university and showed some of the stuff I was working on a they were kind of impressed and they offered me a place at the University of Hertfordshire. That was a major turning point for me, it was a pretty incredible course really. I didn't really have the same experience that most others did where they went out and had fun. I still really enjoyed the course and I enjoyed having that creative outlet rather than going out and hanging out with people. We did forge a really strong unit on the course with everyone there and I am still good friends with everyone.”
“While I was at university I started a company and started freelancing in Soho under the guise of being just a general freelancer. I just blanked my way through work for a few years whilst I juggled university. Which was kind of scary, but it worked out. I had this gradual shift throughout university where I was there less and working more. I didn't get to the point where I got to the end of university and stopped that and started work, it was a sort of soft handover. I was working full time by the end of university. The angle I had was that I was really interested in graphic design and when I saw animation as a tool and thought this is a really interesting way to apply movement to graphic design.”
“When I was thinking about university I did not even know what motion graphics was, and it was not something they really taught on the course but they were really happy for me to go down that avenue of applying the skills that they were teaching to motion. Things like traditional life drawing, composition and color and shapes which were things I was really passionate about anyway.”
“I have always been heavily involved in music for most of my life, I play in a band and thats been a huge part of growing up. I think that has also fueled an attraction to moving into cinematography and music promos and stuff, because I have an empathy and feel for the rhythm. I play drums, that helps in understanding the rhythms of stuff and how things should feel and the way that stuff should flow. When you hear and see music and visuals together there is a certain synergy that sometimes make things better than the sum of their parts.”
“Music has been on of the biggest influences in my life and it still continues to be. I have spent the last 3 months supporting MUSE in Europe so I am still actively playing music. It was very interesting actually for me as a director traveling around Europe playing music and still trying to maintain and finish all the video projects I have on! But as I have get older I can apply the same disciplines across the different forms. It really comes down to understanding people I think and as I have learnt more about both it really is the same.”
“I came into the film industry sort of backwards, which a lot of young directors are doing now because of the tools are a little more accessible. I also think the industry has matured a bit in the last 5 years. I got into shooting and filmmaking through post as I realized that you could achieve things much more quickly with a camera as opposed to animation.”
“When I shoot I am really thinking about how it is going to end up, I think about the grade or whether I need visual effects just really how things are going to feel and run through the whole pipeline. Some other directors simply do what they need to on the day and shoot for the moment.”
“The way I approach directing is I establish what the final look will be and shoot for the final look from the outset. Coming from a post background has allowed me to have a full understanding of the larger process whereas some directors may not really know what goes on in post. I also know the pain of that statement 'Fix it in post'so I avoid that! Which helps a lot on my shoots as I cover visual effects and things right from the beginning. It also helps a lot with budgets, because budgets for music videos are very tight and you cant really afford to be fixing things in post. It just also makes everyones life a lot easier. You just have to be sensitive to the whole process to get the best out of everyone to get the best result.”
“I make sure that I am very well prepared, pre-production is very important to me. All of my videos are very well researched, I often do concept paintings for everything. I also pre-edit things to really understand the flow. You have to be very lean on set now, especially with music videos, you just cant shoot a load of things and try different things in post. I really like having it all wrapped up and planned in my head and when you get something more from the actors it is a bonus.”
“When its just you its fine to have it all in your head but when you have a bigger team you really need to communicate your ideas and your vision and I find my approach allows me to do this successfully. I am probably not the best communicator with speech but with my paintings, drawing and my treatments I feel it allows me to get that across.”
“In all my videos I always have a very clear idea of what I want the mood to be and the feel to be. I just try and be very specific with the wardrobe and everything. I do lots of concept drawings with everything in, its kind of a shame that nobody gets to see them as they normally just go to the record labels but it allows them to get a really good idea of what I am thinking.”
“As I get older my excitement for using software is diminishing! When I was 18 it would be all about learning software and sorting out the technical side of things. The older I get I have more sensitivity to narrative and scripts and that richer experience. I am working more on narrative script writing, which is something that I don’t feel comfortable with. Before I was very comfortable working on a shot and making it look good, but now I really want to focus more on the richer narrative, the pace and overall experience, not just making it look like a blockbuster shot.”
“I have also really started to look at editing, you can study the way actors do things and the pace at which you can deliver things. It is a really good learning experience allowing me to study how other people do things and deliver things.”
“I have found throughout my journey that the stuff that really matters is the core skills and creative process, its something that you cant really rush through or hurry. Anyone can learn software or how to point and shoot a camera but understanding the process and the composition, storytelling, shot flow and emotion, those are the things that are really hard to learn and get.”
“The people that really respect and look up to apply themselves to any bit of software or film making tool and it always comes out amazing. They really transcend using bits of software and bits of hardware and just use their art skills.”