The Stitch & HOMESPUN editor reflects on being glued to MTV as a kid, her favourite gig-going experiences this year - and editing a UK Garage music video for Andrex. 

Since joining Stitch Editing and its music video and content arm HOMESPUN two years ago, Sara Faulkner's work on music videos has reflected her eclectic taste in music, from TikTok queen Pinkpantheress with rapper Central Cee, to alternative artists King Krule and PJ Harvey, while also taking in the girl pop of Say Now, Girli, R&B of Ella Eyre and Chinchilla, dance music with Skream and indie rock with Sports Team. And she has worked with a number of directors making a substantial impact in music videos, including Jocelyn Anquetil, Charlotte Rutherford, Dora Paphides, Harv Frost and Kassandra Powell. 

Sara started her career in her native Dublin at the celebrated Windmill Lane editing house before moving to London. Her commercial work includes ads for the Zero Malaria campaign, Nike, Beats By Dre, Peleton, Mugler, Haig Club and the Grenfell Justice campaign.

And as she reveals in the latest SNAPSHOT Q&A, Sara is one of the most avid gig-goers, attending all kinds of shows. She's mad for a bit of Japanese avant garde metal-rock-jazz... 

Name: Sara Faulkner         

Birthday: October 1st (Libra)

Where did you grow up? Dublin

Where do you live now? North London

Best films you’ve seen this year? For style, The Neon Demon. For laughs, Bottoms. And for the vibes, Good Time.

Favourite song/album/music artist this year? Honestly my musical tastes are all over the place in terms of genres. Currently though, I am very much enjoying Fontaines DC, Kneecap, Lankum, Charli XCX, Shygirl, Agriculture, Sophie, clipping., Arca, Kendrick, Sigh, JPEGMAFIA, Soul Glo, Chanmina, Magdalena Bay.

Favourite music video/videos you’ve seen this year? A$AP Rocky - Taylor Swif by Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia is just incredible, while Aidan Zamiri’s 360 and Guess for Charlie XCX this summer are both iconic.

Lisa - New Woman feat. Rosalia, directed by Dave Meyers, is stylistically delightful. Chanmina - NG, directed by Kim Yeon-jo, is also incredible to watch and the overall imagery and editing is just stunning.

Artists like Lisa, Babymonster, Jesse, Chanmina and Le Sserafim... are consistently releasing fun, conceptual, technically stunning videos.

What has been (or usually is) your favourite night out this year? I go to a lot of gigs, but there have been two standouts this year. Firstly, the Japanese avant-garde-metal-rock-jazz band called Sigh in Hackney recently. It was such surprisingly wholesome fun, they even had their little kids singing backing vocals on stage with them.

Another incredible gig was getting to see one of my fave Dublin artists Lankum perform their full album False Lankum with some Irish friends. A reviewer has described their performances as being more of an exorcism than a gig and that is a better description than I can think of. They build such an overwhelming wall of sound layered and layered onto itself, it’s just extraordinary live.

Name a film or video or other creative work that had a huge influence on your career choice?

Music videos will always have such a special place in my heart. I was obsessed with them as a kid and I’d spend hours and hours obsessively watching MTV in my Nan’s house.

Those late 90s and early 2000s videos are still so iconic. The cinematography, the sets, the choreo, the edits are just insane. Missy Elliot, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ludacris, Outkast, Lady Gaga... just so good!!

I also got really into Kpop/Jpop videos. They have such interesting imagery and still have a lot of that similar hyperpop 2000s energy to them. Artists like Super Junior, Girls Generation were amazing, and those early BlackPink videos always had crazy good editing/cinematography/choreo.

And now with artists like Lisa, Babymonster, Jesse, Chanmina and Le Sserafim, who are still consistently releasing such fun, conceptual and technically stunning videos.  

In terms of the music video-related jobs of the past year or so, what were the most rewarding creatively, and why?

I adored working on Andrex - Do You Really Like It? directed by Chloe Victoria Hughes. It is such a fun concept, mixing the commercial with music video (and the Pied Piper remix is hilarious). It was such a creatively fun job to be a part of. Chloe always has such a strong vision on all of her projects. The edits on her job are always such a delight, and she is such a powerhouse, that she makes everything - even toilet jokes - look stunning.

Equally, I had a wonderful time working on Ella Eyre's Ain’t No Love That Blind directed by Dora Paphides. Dora is such an amazing talent, she knows exactly what she wants and it's always such a delightful creative collaboration with her in the room. It was just such a fun, fast-paced edit to work on.

I am lucky this year on music and commercial projects, I have had the chance to work with some very talented women, which is always fun!

What are you looking forward to most for the rest of the year? Seeing two of my very fave people getting married in a few weeks. Congrats A&R!! xxx

• Sara Faulker is an editor at Stitch Editing and HOMESPUN, see more of her work here. Contact Alex Lennox-Warburton at Stitch and Homespun for more information.