Entrevue avec Keith Schofield!

Keith Schofield s’enligne pour avoir toute une carrière de réalisateur. Après avoir réalisé Toe Jam pour The Brighton Port Authority, il revient cette année avec un clip encore plus marquant (selon moi): Lenny Kravitz- Let love rule (remix par Justice). Comme si ce n’était pas suffisant, monsieur a réalisé le clip à venir de Beck & Charlotte Gainsbourg: Heaven can wait.

Keith Schofield est aussi un amateur de Wu-Tang (Wu-Tang forever Keith) et il avoue vouloir suivre les traces de Spike Jonze & Michel Gondry. Rencontre…

L’entrevue n’est pas traduite de l’anglais, car je ne voudrais pas la traduire tout croche (I’m not a traducteur)

The buzz around Let love rule video is huge. Would you say that this
one is the biggest video you directed?

No!

I think the BPA one I did last year will be remembered longer. I actually think my next clip (for Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck) might be the best thing I’ve done, at least the director’s cut of it.

Did you have to deal with Lenny Kravitz or Justice for this video?

No, I never met them or had any correspondence with them.

How was the whole experience of shooting this video?

It was a lot of fun.  I like working with artists, but I like working
with actors-for-hire even better!  They’re just happy to be there.
The whole thing was like shooting a little short film for 2 days.

Any funny story about it?

When we were filming along the train tracks (with the city in the
background), we saw a really creepy homeless woman who had these dogs
with her covered with tumors.  She picked up a rock and threatened to
throw it at us.  Not stop laughs.

I realised since Toe Jam that almost all the videos you directed are
not very technical and they don’t have a lot of 2D/3D. But everytime
you come back with a video, you’re always the first one to exploit
an idea (by example: the generic on Let love rule)! Explain me how
you do this!?

I’m just always looking for new ideas.  I mainly do this by spending a
ton of time online. I go to a lot of link filter sites (like
reddit.com), read a lot of wikipedia, watch a lot of youtube videos,
look at found photo sites (like ffffound.com).  By absorbing enough
stuff, the ideas eventually come.

Also, I have a background in editing & compositing. A few of my ideas
came in when I was doing work for a different project.

Is it tough to always try to imagine something never made before?

Yes!  It takes for-fucking-ever.  The worst is when you spend a whole
weekend trying to come up with an idea and you can’t.  What do you
do?  Submit a shitty idea?  Pass?  What if it’s a band you like?  It
can suck sometimes.

Should it be the way that a video director should always think?

I think it depends on the type of director.  I definitely am trying to
emulate the Spike Jonze / Michel Gondry type of career,  They went on
to make great commercials and then segued into great movies.  It all
comes back to having ideas!

How you started to be a video director?

I began doing a few spec music videos in college.  After I moved to
LA, I did my Notwist jellyfish video (also on spec).  It played at a
film festival and I met director Ruben Fleischer, whom I had contacted
earlier about an editing gig.  I then edited one of his videos, and he
in turn threw my first two « real budget » videos my way – One Block
Radius and DJ Format.  After that, I was able to get bigger budgets,
and then smaller budgets, little jobs here and there for years.  I
signed to Caviar for commercials in 2006, and still did a few music
videos but nothing that really stuck out.  In 2007 I made the
Wintergreen « How to Make Meth » video for $200, and it ended up playing
at the Bug screening series in the UK.  It caught the eye of UK
commissioner Joceline Gabriel, who sent me the Supergrass track to
pitch on.  After that video came out, I signed to Streetgang Films and
have had a « real » music video career since.

You seem to have a real passion for old video games (your website
design, the Wintergreen video). Why? Is it always a source of
inspiration?

Everyone in our generation grew up with video games, so we have a
nostalgia for them in a way our parents can never understand.
Cherished memories staring in front of  a TV screen.  I just think
that’s funny.

What’s the big difference between a music videos and commercials
when you shoot? (NDLR: Keith a également réalisé cette populaire publicité…)

The big difference is creating 30 seconds of material for a
commercial, vs. creating 3-4 minutes of material for a video.

On music video shoots, you’re scrambling to get all your shots in a
day; and it’s always a challenge.  Several shoots of mine have ended
in disappointment, only to try and pull it together in editing.

On commercials, you’re usually only doing 10-15 set-ups a day – and
it’s always achievable.  I don’t think I’ve ever come out of a
commercial shoot wondering if we got it all.

Actually, this Justice video was my first 2 day music video shoot in a
long time – and it made such a huge difference.

What was the last movie you saw?

Just saw Terminator Salvation on the plane.  Meh.

What was the last album you heard?

Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II.  it’s pretty great.

I also got the new Ghostface album, Ghostdini presents The Wizard of
Poetry.  It’s an R&B album, though he only raps on it.

So yeah, Wu Tang forever.

Did you come in Montreal before?

I was there a few months ago on a pitch.  Nice town!

Any question you would like to answer?

Nope!

Votre bonbon après avoir lu ma bonne entrevue:

Regardez un TOP5 des meilleurs vidéoclips de Keith Schofield!

2009

10/11

POSTED BY

tomselect

CATEGORY

Entrevue
Vidéoclip, music video

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