Director

Hector Dockrill

Hector Dockrill directs a heartwrenching promo for new Lewis Capaldi track Pointless.&nbsp;The narrative for the video captures a mother-son relationship with beautiful and heart-breaking intimacy. Spanning a couple of decades, the concept follows a&nbsp;single mother who strives against all odds to give her son the life she never had, and is packed with an emotional punch.&nbsp;With a wonderful performance&nbsp;from&nbsp;BAFTA winner Niamh Algar (The Virtues, Raised by Wolves)&nbsp;and three actors playing the son at different stages of his life - including Charley Palmer-Rothwell as her grown-up son -&nbsp;the video reinterprets the song's lyrics to explore a different type of relationship, and it works perfectly.[imgtoken data:1]The naturalistic cinematography and relatable themes help make the video feel incredibly realistic and universal, and it will no doubt have viewers thinking about their own loved ones as we enter the festive period.&nbsp;With mixed dialogue throughout, we both hear and see glimpses into the ups and downs of their daily lives over the years including financial hardship and the tightrope of being a working single parent. And in keeping with the theme of family, Laura Dockrill – Hector’s sister - wrote the script, making this a family affair both on and off screen.“Lewis had a beautiful idea that focused on the mother/son bond, and how responsibility shifts as you grow older," says Hector Dockrill. "Niamh Algar is a phenomenal talent and we’re already chomping at the bit to work together again. With only a week’s prep, she managed to immerse herself into the role and completely make it her own. This is definitely a special film that everybody can connect with – a shout out to every mother.”

United Kingdom

Nnena Nwakodo

Joseph J Goldman

Hands London

Pulse Films

Zoe Gunn

Ty Hack

Patrick Golan

Anthony Mchugh

Steve Cameron

Robyn Wilton

Verity May Lane

Natasha Lawes

Begona F Martin

Holly Shearn

Stitch Editing

Sarah Adewunmi

Rich Woolway

Electric Theatre Collective

Oscar Wendt

Jason Wallis

Lane Casting

Caroline Clayton

Lewis Capaldi 'Pointless' by Hector Dockrill 

Lewis Capaldi - Pointless (Official Video)

Last winter Hector Dockrill had a call from Chase &amp; Status, via their creative directing tream Crowns &amp; Owls, to come up with an idea for one of the tracks of the producer duo's new album What Came Before. The upshot was the video for When It Rains, where a young man's singleminded attempts to find a cigarette, while the shadow of criminal retribution hangs over him, grips the viewer with its gritty, real-time intensity and unfolding narrative of mounting disaster.Jack McMullen, one of the UK's leading young actors, is mesmerizing as the flawed everyman who's nicotine addiction provides a distraction from his other troubles. He is the continued focus of a white knuckle ride through a grim urban landscape, evading his enemies as he pursues that one last ciggie...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[vidtoken data:0]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It is also arguably the best example yet of Hector Dockrill's talents as a narrative director within the music video medium. These have been evident for a number of years now, in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulsefilms.com/" target="_blank">Pulse Films</a>&nbsp;director's work for Maverick Sabre, Jorja Smith, Sam Fender and others. But the approach for When It Rains suggests at a wider ambition, and now the video has become an extended short film.With the video garnering award nominations this year - including for Best Editing at the UKMVAs in October - and short film currently on the festival circuit, we talked to Hector Dockrill about the project and the process of turning the&nbsp;music video into a pulsating&nbsp;short drama.PROMONEWS: How did the project begin for you? And at what point did Jack McMullen come into it?HECTOR DOCKRILL: Crowns and Owls (creative directors on the Chase &amp; Status campaign) gave us a brief, asking for a character profile - a character study that focussing on the kind of ways that people are currently expressing themselves.I'm a friend of Jack’s, and I bought him to the project, right at the beginning. I then replied saying ‘look, I've got an amazing actor here – who is down for the Chase and Status video.’I sent them 13 top lines of sentences of different characters in different situations where something inside their head is just kind of broken. I said: ‘Here's a bunch of top lines and I think this will work for Jack.’So they then picked out this one about a guy who is basically just on a hunt for a cigarette. It's something so simple that it's a man that basically will stop for nothing to get that nicotine hit.<blockquote>Quite a lot of stuff came from experimenting on the day.</blockquote>As the songtitle suggests the saying “when it rains, it pours”, was that a factor when you wrote the whole story about this character?In fact, When It Rains wasn't really in mind until right at the end, when it was like ‘hold on, what if I just rains on a cigarette?’ And then it all fell into place.When it came to the original script, it was just like a one-pager, where there was almost zero feedback. They kind of let me run wild with it.It just so happens that my idea was about a guy who just gets himself in deeper and deeper trouble. One bad decision can lead into another. Uncut Gems was a good reference for that.In short, the whole idea was based on the current climate of everything that's going on – something has clicked in his head on that day, and he was just going to stop at nothing until he got that cigarette. There doesn’t have to be anything too profound about it.I think the fact that Jack was tied to the project before it was signed off is probably why they gave us so much trust. And then the scripting evolved out of that. Jack also had some say in it. I would send him voice notes over WhatsApp about the idea and he would come back with ideas and kind of how he sees it.But if I’m honest, a lot of it was just hashing it out on the day. Yeah, there was quite a lot of stuff which came from experimenting on the day.[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>We shot everything&nbsp;on a long lens that felt observational while giving Jack the space to improvise.</blockquote>There's sort of suggestions in the piece like the beginning where you've got like a sort of funeral booklet. Is there a backstory there?Yeah, with the pamphlet in the beginning I wanted to lead you back to the idea that the world is against him – even to the point where his dad has passed away. There is no love in this world and it’s quite brutal and cold. That’s kind of what we were trying to lead to with that.Tell us about the shoot day. It really does capture that sort of real time experience, and clearly it wasn't that. But when were you shooting it?To be honest, it was that!&nbsp;We shot in a single day - a short day as well, because it was winter. We knew that we had limited time. We had from eight in the morning, maybe even nine, till about four in the afternoon. And in order to fit it into this day, we needed to have all the locations next to each other.The whole idea was that we had to shoot the story in order. So the flat was there, the stairs were there, the shop was there. He then jogged down to the cash converters, went through the back of the Cash Converters and that alleyway was at the back. The floor plan and shooting plan was an absolute miracle.[imgtoken data:2]Above: Hector Dockrill, director of When It Rains. "We were basically just turning over non-stop."Where did you shoot the video?In New Addington, near Croydon, which my producer Joseph [J Goldman] found. We needed a high street, where we could shoot for the whole day, and it was ideal. We blocked it out so we knew there would be six scenes, and we had about an hour in each. Just shoot and get as much as we could.We also needed to shoot everything on one lens. The idea was to shoot on a long lens that felt very observational while giving Jack the space to improvise.Jack's professionalism and talent is what allowed us to do that. In the nine-hour shooting day, we probably had three hours of rushes. We were basically just turning over non-stop. And I wanted every single scene to hit the ground running. As soon as we got into a location we just started rolling.The camerawork is as fluid as the action, but if you were shooting on a long lens did you use a Steadicam?It was just straight handheld. Great work by Pat Golan. He is an incredible DoP, and really rolled his sleeves up. He just got stuck in and wasn't fussy about lighting or particular in his angles. He's got an incredible eye for story.[imgtoken data:3]<blockquote>There is no love in this world, it’s quite brutal and cold.</blockquote>The scene in the Cash Converters is the big one. There’s a great encounter between Jack and the girl behind the counter – she’s really good.That’s Shakira Newton. Shakira is incredible. She was actually cast to be in another of the Chase &amp; Status videos, but we ended up shooting this first, and they suggested that we use her.When did it become a short film as well as a music video? Was it just the obvious thing after you shot it? Or did you have that in mind already?If you want the honest answer… there was always an intention to make a short film out of it. I wrote a short film, with the intention of cutting a 12-minute short. But then there was that moment in the edit when I was like ‘okay, now we've got to present this to the label.’Luckily the commissioner, James Hackett - the legend – said: ‘This is amazing. This needs to stay.’ So in fact, the music video is actually a cut-down of the short film.Who else played a role in making it happen?Nena Nwakodo is an amazing EP who, again, has an incredible taste in story. And she helped develop the script. And obviously <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/profiles/joseph-j-goldman/56173" target="_blank">Joseph Goldman</a>, my producer. Nothing was a no. We made 50K stretch that far. And we had a wicked AD, Joe Mulvihill, who also managed to fit a two-day shoot into eight hours.Elena Isolini, our production designer, was unbelievable. She created these mini-worlds, and with everything 360 that gave Jack that space to kind of immerse himself into it. And our editor, Rich Woolway, is also a great storyteller.Then there’s Lee Walpole at Boom Post – he’s an amazing sound mixer, top guy and he just did us a favour and did the sound on it. I also did my <a href="https://www.pulsefilms.com/work/item/post-malone-runaway" target="_blank">Post Malone documentary</a> with him. I sent him the edit and he just said: ‘I want to do this with you, this is wicked.’[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>In the short film, scenes just have time to breathe and invite you into the world.</blockquote>How does the short film differ from the video?&nbsp;You feel it in a different way; it’s all the quiet muttering, the swearing to himself, the candid little details that make him, him, where you really feel his frustration. It’s hilarious.It’s also nearly twice the length, so the scenes just have time to breathe and invite you into the world and hearing conversations is what takes this from a fun music video to a story, in fact, human that you’re invested in.What are you hoping for the short film?&nbsp;For people to watch right until the last frame. That’s where the gag is!What have you worked on recently?Shooting-wise - mainly commercials. We’ve just finished one that we’re extremely proud of - you’ll it see very soon. But in terms of writing, I’m in development on my debut feature. It’s a slow process, of course. But the craft cannot be rushed.Jack and I are also keen to make another short which will be set in Ireland. So we’ll be exploring that while the feature incubates.&nbsp;• Hector Dockrill is represented by Pulse Films. Watch more of his work <a href="https://www.pulsefilms.com/director/hector-dockrill/music-video" target="_blank">here</a>.

Hector Dockrill on When It Rains - "It's based on the current climate of everything that's going on."

Chase & Status, BackRoad Gee - When It Rains (Official Video)

A day from Hell just won't let up, in&nbsp;Hector Dockrill's tragic promo for Chase &amp; Status and BackRoad Gee.&nbsp;&nbsp;The video for When It Rains features actor Jack McMullen as a down-on-his-luck everyman, trying to go about his day to day life to disastrous effect.&nbsp;It all starts with an antagonistic phone call and a cigarette lit the wrong way, and builds to a high-octane climax full of suspense, blood, chase scenes&nbsp;and the opportunity for the character to finally get the nicotine hit he's gagging for.&nbsp;Brilliant work which anchors on McMullen's performance and a Dockrill's keen eye for narrative.&nbsp;

Emily Mulkerrins

Joe Mulvihill

Josh Tue

Elena Isolini

Homespun

Angela Hart

Seb Bruen

Oliver Witworth

James Hackett

Lewis Munro

Crowns & Owls

Rik Green

Chase & Status, BackRoad Gee 'When It Rains' by Hector Dockrill 

Hector Dockrill directs the promo Sam Fender’s Get Me Down, an emotional film symbolising the end of a relationship.The video opens with Fender revving a car engine, looking totally exhausted, moments away from speeding around a racetrack.&nbsp;A flashback montage encapsulates the ups and downs of a passionate relationship,&nbsp;flicking back and forth between memories with increasing intensity, before we return to the first frame... Fender hurtles towards a bloody accident, flipping the car, but surviving to tell the tale.&nbsp;Punchy and cinematic, the video has the same raw, authentic feel as all of the artist's videos, with an extra layer&nbsp;of action-packed drama.&nbsp;

Bruno Loureiro

Ella Taylor-Palfrey

Lee Parfitt

Louis Simonon

Amy Stephenson

Amber Sibley

Alex Cowburn @ Jinjo Casting

Monica Armario, Lewis Shelly

Alternative

Rock

Sam Fender 'Get You Down' by Hector Dockrill

Sam-Fender-'Get-You-Down'-by-Hector-Dockrill

Hector Dockrill directs an imposing promo for Tendai's Not Around.&nbsp;The video opens on a city rooftop at night, as the skyline unravels behind the artist, and a palpable sense of danger lingers in the air.&nbsp;Cutting inside an apartment block, we see Tendai perform the track in a series of gritty vignettes, all shot in high contrast black and white.&nbsp;The final third of the visual - that was filmed on location in Kiev -&nbsp;is an impressive feat. As the artist steps out onto a balcony, the camera backs away to hang suspended in mid-air above&nbsp;him. Then it&nbsp;pans back across to the skyline, revealing a post-apocalyptic scene which signals the end of humanity.&nbsp;

Denis Kumeiko

Kristina Ilyina

Ilya Maksimenko

Serge Panteleev

Max Ruban

Kirsty Oldfield

Martin Kolejak

Nicola Sheppard

0207 Def Jam

Dasha Deriagina

Margarita Shekel

Katerina Makimova

Hip Hop

Tendai 'Not Around' by Hector Dockrill

Tendai-'Not-Around'-by-Hector-Dockrill

Hector Dockrill directs a powerful promo for Bakar's 1st Time.&nbsp;The peaks and troughs of young love are studied through fly-on-the-wall, sporadic vignettes, aided by&nbsp;Rich Woolway's adrenaline-pumping edit.&nbsp;DoP&nbsp;Jaime Ackroyd uses&nbsp;intimate framing juxtaposed with jarring camera techniques, to take the viewer on a visual journey through a modern day relationship.

Jaime Ackroyd

Lee Parfit

Chloe Brady

Jamie Judd, Elliot Long (bakar Stylist)

Robyn Rowan

Bakar, Razan Nassar

Black Butter

Indie Rock

Bakar '1st Time' by Hector Dockrill

Bakar-'1st-Time'-by-Hector-Dockrill

Hector Dockrill and&nbsp;RUFFMERCY present a haunting visual for Ghetts' IC3, featuring Skepta.&nbsp;Dividing the workload on the enigmatic promo, Dockrill directed the live action footage, with RUFFMERCY creating and directing&nbsp;the&nbsp;overlaid animation. The resulting video is an exceptional piece of work,&nbsp;dark and minacious with an otherworldy, gritty aesthetic. The strobing textures and hyperactive scribble-style animation add a surreal vibe to the promo, and the frenetic camerawork builds upon this style.It's also a suitably strong addition to the current visual campaign around Ghetts' new&nbsp;releases&nbsp;in which RUFFMERCY has played a crucial role - including directing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIhWBhf1lPY" target="_blank">the&nbsp;video for Mozambique</a>,&nbsp;nominated for the Best Animation award at this year's UKMVAs.&nbsp;

RUFFMERCY

Natalie Steiner

Pru Ainslie

Joel Honeywell

Chris Dowling

Liz El Kadhi

Jess Summer

Edward Cooper

The Assembly Rooms

Oliver Whitworth

Nathan James Tettey

Warner Records

Erin Sayder

My Accomplice

Jamie Clark

Hip-Hop

Grime

Ghetts ft Skepta 'IC3' by RUFFMERCY x Hector Dockrill

Ghetts-'Icu-Ft.-Skepta'-by-Live-Action-Directed-By-Hector-Dockrill,-Animation-And-Edit-Directed-By-Ruffmercy

Hector Dockrill goes to Ballymun on Dublin&#39;s Northside, to tell real stories of young men suffering mental health issues, and the result is a moving, thought-provoking video for long-time collaborator Maverick Sabre.Through a combination of personal testimony and footage shot on different formats, Dockrill&nbsp;shines a shrewd light upon the reality of depression and hints at its possible causes, including a town blighted by economic deprivation, and the traditional macho attitudes inculcated through the generaions.And then there are the often desperate and dangerous attempts made by sufferers of mental health problems to escape their torment. A stirring piece of work for Maverick Sabre&#39;s powerful and rootsy Glory. We&#39;re featuring Dockrill&#39;s own Director&#39;s&nbsp;Cut.

Samona Olanipekun

Nick Hayes

Howard Jones

Ed Cooper

Jack McGinity

Chloe Saunders

Jonathan Shaw Di-doi

CHEAT

Soul

Singer-songwriter

Maverick Sabre 'Glory' by Hector Dockrill

Maverick Sabre 'GLORY' DIR. CUT (SHORT DOC)

Having previously worked together on music videos for Lay Me Down&nbsp;(featuring Stormzy), as well as on&nbsp;BLF&nbsp;and the now classic&nbsp;On My Mind,&nbsp;&nbsp;Jorja Smith reconnects with Hector Dockrill for the music video for The One - which comes&nbsp;hot off the heels of her first Grammy nomination.Inspired by the song&#39;s poignant lyrics, and shot in a California motel,&nbsp;Dockrill&#39;s visuals tackle Jorja&#39;s inability to walk away from a troubled relationship. But by keeping the emphasis upon her and her emotions, and avoiding narrative detail, there is no&nbsp;explanation for why she&nbsp;keeps getting dragged back in.Dockrill says: &ldquo;I wanted to leave [viewers with] a question: what has happened here?&quot;

Holly Harding

Deryck Highbridge

Paige Macmillan

Allen Scudder

Jason Schuyler

Seth Lawrence

Sergey Nikitenko

Chris Loh

Arjun Prakash

Forrest Penny Brown

Pele Kudrin

Kevin Beebe

Jorja Smith 'The One' by Hector Dockrill

Jorja Smith - The One

Shot in&nbsp;Ballymun in Ireland, Hector&#39;s video for Maverick Sabre explores the life of a young man who runs through a gamut of emotions as he searches for a path in life.&nbsp;With a cinematic aesthetic that resulted from the artist and the director discussing&nbsp;their love of cult-films like&nbsp;La Haine, the video for Drifting&nbsp;demonstrates Dockrill&#39;s passion and skill for getting under the skin of a narrative and in doing so creating a genuinely visceral atmosphere.

Dean Scurry

Adam Clarke

Absolute Post

Paul Sumpter

Maverick Sabre 'Drifting' by Hector Dockrill

Maverick Sabre - Drifting

A group of young men sitting on a moor, drinking and smoking, takes an increasingly ominous turn in Hector Dockrill&#39;s vdeo for Jordan Max.In one single steadicam shot, a bigger truth comes out, as Jordan and his buddies hunker into their battered and dirty Mitsubishi, as a police car burns across the moor. The clue for what is gong down is in the songtitle - War.&nbsp;And these young men can be taken for soldiers as the city burns below.A dark vision of a harsh world from Dockrill, making his second video for Jordan Max.

Bianca Lai

Bryony James

Deepa Keshvala

Matt Allsop

Mike Hannides

Paul Skyes

David Hamilton

Chelsea Graziano

Daniel Breheny

Geri Krasteva

Jordan Max 'War' by Hector

Jordan Max - War (Official Video)

Jorja Smith plays a contract killer who faces a moral dilemma when she&#39;s hired to kill the man she loves, in Hector Dockrill&#39;s dark tale for our times.Filmed in Kiev&#39;s historic October Palace - in 2013-2014 it was occupied by protestors in the Euromaidan conflict and served as a makeshift hospital - the setting helps to create a sense of Bond-style intrigue and danger, while the&nbsp;apparent amorality chimes with grim events chronicled in TV shows like McMafia.And if you&#39;re a little uncertain of the fate of the innocent victim, Stormzy&#39;s cameo appearance at the end seems to answer that question. It&#39;s certainly not&nbsp;a case of romantic &#39;happy-ever-afters&#39;.

Maurizio Von Trapp

Chrystel Fournier

Assembly Rooms

Fred Pearson

Radioaktive Film

Jorja Smith ft. Stormzy 'Let Me Down' by Hector Dockrill

Jorja Smith - Let Me Down ft. Stormzy

Patience is Hector Dockrill and RAY&nbsp;BLK&#39;s third video collaboration - following their partnership for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/07/28/ray-blk-ft-stormzy-my-hood-hector-dockrill" target="_blank">My Hood </a>and <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/02/05/ray-blk-5050-hector-dockrill">5050</a>&nbsp;- and even though their first video&nbsp;came out this time last year, we can already sense a strong progression from&nbsp;the pair.Patience feels like&nbsp;the matured version of&nbsp;5050. It was also shot&nbsp;at the hair salon - where else would you shoot a video about the virtues of patience - but with a beautiful steadicam treatment that feels far&nbsp;more considered.Ray&#39;s musings on society&#39;s&nbsp;dreams of instant, viral fame becomes strikingly tangible as&nbsp;beautifully lit portraits of women at the salon - sitting, waiting, dreaming themselves - capture our imagination and somehow&nbsp;exemplify those human desires for&nbsp;validation, self expression, approval, and in our day and age, instant fame.[imgtoken data:1]

Sarah Boardman

Stephanie Paeplow

Danny Groombridge

Evelin van Rei

James Mills

Leo Naessens

Grant Sandy Phillips

Jordan Tewkesbury

Justin Rose

Naomi Richardson

Bernicia Boateng

Hal Hudson

Contemporary R&B

RAY BLK 'Patience' by Hector Dockrill

Ray BLK - Patience (Freestyle)

Hector Dockrill&#39;s spare treatment of South London singer RAY BLK&rsquo;s autobiographical My Hood, where people and scenes loom out of the darkness, serves&nbsp;to focus upon RAY&#39;s performance and the reflective&nbsp;lyrical content - and Stormzy&#39;s contribution later in the track.It works well, treading a fine line between realistic&nbsp;and theatrical, and not overstepping the mark as it&nbsp;replicates&nbsp;the essence of growing up in South London.

Andrew Richards

Emily-jane Robinson

Kelly Smith

Esteban Gimpelewicz

Elliot Lipley

Natasha Abeyie

Michaela Selway

Charlie Reddie

Ray Blk

Urban

RAY BLK ft. Stormzy 'My Hood' by Hector Dockrill

RAY BLK - My Hood ft. Stormzy (Official Music Video)

South London director&nbsp;Hector Dockrill&nbsp;takes us on a filmic tour through&nbsp;the&nbsp;streets of singer&nbsp;Jordan Max&#39;s hometown of Oldham, Lancashire,&nbsp;in this&nbsp;slice-of-life video for his song&nbsp;Hell. Gritty, grey and&nbsp;darkly atmospheric,&nbsp;the video portrays&nbsp;the toughness of the place - the inside of the local butchers&#39; and boxing gym -&nbsp;and the people who inhabit it.&nbsp;&nbsp;As Jordan Max explains, the video is all about&nbsp;&ldquo;the journey from past to now, how these young days paved the way to hell. It&rsquo;s real to me, you get to see my brothers and where I still am present day. It&rsquo;s not Hollywood, it&rsquo;s Oldham&hellip;&rdquo;

Matt Posner

Ed Cooper @ The Assembly Rooms

Jordan Max 'Hell' by Hector Dockrill

Jordan Max - Hell

Hector Dockrill has taken an honest, doc-style&nbsp;approach to his performance video for&nbsp;London R&amp;B singer-songwriter Ray Blk. Shot in South London&nbsp;by&nbsp;Deepa Keshvala, the video provides a portrait&nbsp;of Ray and her crew, capturing their style and&nbsp;attitude, as well as their&nbsp;hairstylist and kebab shop&nbsp;of choice.&nbsp;

Hector Dockrill

Director

Interviews featuring Hector Dockrill

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