Director

Will Robson-Scott

A young man learns a tough lesson in Will Robson-Scott's gritty and perceptive video for regular collaborator Hak Baker.The 'Cool Kids' of Baker's songtitle are portrayed here as two teenagers from the Isle of Dogs - Baker's home area - with the involvement of one of them in local drug dealing, and his mate as his enthusiastic cheerleader. But the excitement and esteem&nbsp;that the lifestyle brings comes to a sudden end, to be replaced by cold reality, and fear.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]Following the singer-songwriter and director's previous collaborations, on <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/06/12/hak-baker-dopehead-will-robson-scott/59173" target="_blank">Dopehead</a> and <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/04/28/crunch-ft-hak-baker-lucky-life-will-robson-scott/64483" target="_blank">Lucky Life</a>, the Cool Kids video takes a more conventionanl structure, but it resonates with palpable believability. It is partly&nbsp;due to the story arguably coming from Baker's own youthful experiences, but the execution and performances are also key to making this a riveting piece.There is an excellent dynamic between the two leads, played by Shak Benjamin and Hector Abbott - the latter acting as junior partner yet enabler of his quieter&nbsp;friend - and the&nbsp;use of a body rig by Benjamin puts the viewer at close quarters to his story, and his horrible predicament when things go wrong.As much as anything this&nbsp;is about the psychological impact of fear, which is why this is such an effective cautionary tale.[imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Scarlett Anderson

Gloria Bowman

Emile Kelly

Michael Kinsella-Perks

Phillips Nortey

Kristof Szentgyorgyvary

Jinzo Casting

Molly Hackney

Thomas Goldser

Ruth Wardell

Okay Studio

Shak Benjamin

Hector Abbott

Somesuch

Hak Baker 'Cool Kids' by Will Robson-Scott

Hak Baker - Cool Kids

Will Robson-Scott directs an intriguing fly-on-the-wall promo for Isle of Dogs rapper Crunch, featuring Hak Baker.&nbsp;From the vantage point of a peephole in a block of flats, the video for&nbsp;Lucky Life depicts a range of characters going about their daily routines in and around the entrance of the building.&nbsp;Exploring the hustle it takes just to stay alive, the video shows friends hanging out, dealers meeting clients and police investigating a disturbance. It's a brilliant slice of life with an unfamiliar but very effective performance setup intercut through the action.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]The use of a fixed camera is inspired, showing the area as a social hub, where a diverse set of people mix and meet up. With life unfolding in front of the camera, the characters are presented without any kind of prejudice or notions about who they are or what they do, which allows viewers to come to their own conclusions, and project their own ideas into the video.It's&nbsp;a brilliant and understated piece of work from the creative team, proving that the&nbsp;simplest concepts are quite often the best.&nbsp;WILL ROBSON-SCOTT ON THE MAKING OF THE VIDEO:<blockquote>This idea&nbsp;was based on a&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;piece I saw about&nbsp;a hidden camera in the South Bronx.</blockquote>PN: How did you get involved with the project, and what did the creative ideation process look like between you and the artists?WR-S: This is the third video with Hak, alongside&nbsp;photos and many hours spent in each other's company. Like all the work&nbsp;we've done together, the idea's journey from inception to finished product&nbsp;is long - very long. But this is what is nice about the work: the only people to please are me and him really. No outside voices which is a nice bit of freedom. With that though comes loads of favours from other people, so I'm grateful for everyone who has&nbsp;helped along the way.Usually me and Hak will have a back and forth on ideas. This idea&nbsp;was mine and based on a New York Times piece I saw about&nbsp;a hidden camera in the South Bronx. We spent a load of time looking for the ideal location, and found one in the Isle of Dogs, where Hak and Crunch grew up. We also tested a load of cameras, from motion-censored&nbsp;cameras, hidden peephole cameras, ring doorbells - the list goes on.[imgtoken data:2]<blockquote>It was shot just before lockdown, and has a slight weird resonance to how a lot of people are currently living their lives.</blockquote>How did you approach casting this project?​There wasn't&nbsp;really any casting. People were invited down -&nbsp;but we also just left the camera rolling.The peephole/fly on the wall perspective is intriguing, given our current lockdown restraints. Did this project shoot after lockdown, and if so, how did you make it happen logistically?​It was shot just before lockdown, and has a slight weird resonance to how a lot of people are currently living their lives; looking out, twitching curtains, waiting...What do you hope people will take away from the visual on a creative and emotional level?​The constraints of the creative were put in place by the execution. Once the camera was mounted, that's it really. I've never really even put a camera on a tripod before when shooting a video, so it did feel slow and static during the shoot. There's no specific take away&nbsp;emotionally. I just hope people enjoy the visuals alongside the tune.In terms of lockdown, how do you think the music video production process is going to have changed once the restrictions are lifted? Do you foresee an immediate return to the old status quo?​I think we are probably going to be in this self isolation limbo for a while. 2020 is most likely a write-off in regards to having a traditional shoot with crew, so people will have to somehow work around that. Animators and VFX people are gonna be busy, also people making domino-effect (Rube Goldberg) style&nbsp;videos, celebs singing awful, gag inducing 'Save The World' songs, etc etc.I'm sure&nbsp;when this is all said and done there will an avalanche of jobs. And if the status quo is trying to make the production&nbsp;value look four times the budget, then I'm sure it will be a swift return to that. :)&nbsp;

Jerome Franc

Shabier Kirchner

Andre Reid-McKinley

Kevin Corry

Luke Morrison

Ross McDowell

The Assembly Rooms

Electric Theatre Collective

Oliver Whitworth

Alternative

Grime

Crunch ft Hak Baker 'Lucky Life' by Will Robson-Scott

Baba Crunch ft Hak Baker - Lucky Life

Hak Baker tackles male depression in the video for Grief Eyes, in his second collaboration with&nbsp;Will Robson-Scott.&nbsp;Raw and honest in its execution, the video is largely made up of lo-fi, vlog style footage, depicting Hak and his friends in their day-to-day lives, smoking, drinking and helping out elderly neighbours at home. The naturalistic approach to shooting helps get straight to the truth of the concept, showing the vulnerable side to these men, and visualising the thoughts and issues that have been kept quiet, out of fear of looking weak.&nbsp;Emotion is laid bare throughout the video, and the juxtaposition of Hak and friends enjoying themselves without a care in the world makes the issue hit home even more- although we often put up&nbsp;a front that we are okay, life is complex and everchanging, and we need to be able to talk about these issues openly.&nbsp;Poignant and true to life, the performances are as natural as they come, and the understated action in the few actual performance scenes helps keep the focus on the overarching narrative and concept.&nbsp;

Saskia Whinney

Paco Sweetman

Tim Smith

CHEAT

Hak Baker

Hak Baker 'Grief Eyes' by Will Robson-Scott

Hak-Baker-'Grief-Eyes'-by-Will-Robson-scott

The remarkable video for <a href="https://somesuch.co/uk/directors/will-robson-scott/reel/hak-baker-dopehead/" target="_blank">Hak Baker's Dopehead</a> is really a short documentary in disguise. The East London singer-songwriter teamed with photographer and filmmaker&nbsp;Will Robson-Scott to explore the lives of the people&nbsp;that many of us wish to ignore.For more than a year, the pair documented the lives of Londoners gripped by serious drug addiction. They show us how they deal with their world, including their own families, and their continual battle to retain their dignity and humanity.We talked to Hak Baker, Will Robson-Scott and executive producer Saskia Whinney about how&nbsp;it happened - and how they feel about it now.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]How did the project come about?&nbsp;Hak Baker:&nbsp;The project came to fruition initially through coincidence. I didn’t reply to&nbsp;many emails then however this one I did. Which led to me meeting Will. Once I figured out I didn’t mind the geezer, lol, and that he was the Guerilla lens man I needed to capture this near-impossible thing, we just hit the roads.Saskia Whinney:&nbsp;I’d heard Hak's music and really liked it, so I messaged him. He rang me out the blue and then we ate some food and chatted about the sort of videos he wanted to make. Authenticity was really important to Hak and he wanted someone to tell the real stories about where he lived and the people he knows. Will is very good at spending time with people and in the past has&nbsp;made some 10/10 docs. I introduced them and Will took it from there.<blockquote>I figured out [Will] was the guerilla lens-man I needed to capture this near-impossible thing. &nbsp;</blockquote>Will Robson-Scott: Me and Hak were introduced through Saskia at Somesuch about a year ago, and we had a loose plan to try shoot something, a music video or short film. As me and Hak got to know each other,&nbsp;this idea came up. It was a long process, as we had to gain access and get people to trust us, a lot of it was spur of the moment. They would let us know with very short notice when they where available and we’d just have to scramble.[imgtoken data:2]Who had the idea of filming the subjects?&nbsp;HB: MeselfWR-S: Hak had the idea, wanting to get into people's lives and show the full spectrum of addiction. It was just me, Hak and a couple cameras. It wouldn’t have worked with a big crew, or any crew at all. The limitations and constraints helped form the relationship and trust.How long did Dopehead take to make, start to finish?SW:&nbsp;I hit Hak up in January 2018… so 18&nbsp;months.&nbsp;Will spent that time chasing down opportunities to shoot more footage. With this sort of project it doesn't really work to&nbsp;have a 12 hour shoot day with crew, etc. So&nbsp;Will and Hak just shot whatever&nbsp;and whenever&nbsp;they&nbsp; could over a year or so.How did you find your subjects?&nbsp;HB: It’s not that hard when you’re actually from a place and don’t just move there and claim it, like most bods these days. It's very common place in the manor. Drug use in families. It's not hard to know someone who is in the midst of all that. They’re very local; people have some weird misconception that they’re aliens. LolWR-S: Addiction is everywhere, it’s not hard to find. The sad thing is when addiction defines someone’s lives, they can’t see past it at points. The goal was to show their faults, but also their human sides.[imgtoken data:3]What were the challenges of filming them?HB: Making them feel comfortable at first. You’d be surprised how open they were when they realized we wasn’t trying to sell 'em&nbsp;down the river. They were quite keen to show, how it were a part of their life and not their whole lives. Like myself and alcohol as an example. I like it, but it ain't me whole being.But yeah, normal shit. Not being there when they said they would and stuff. That were it really. [A couple had]&nbsp;second thoughts but when they see what we was doing and listened to the music they were sweet.<blockquote>I’m proud of this piece. It was a grind. It brought up a lot of feeling along the way. But it’s a part of society that is often misrepresented&nbsp;</blockquote>WR-S: Gaining trust is always difficult, we had to approach this with sensitivity. At the end of day people are people, we wanted to show the quieter side of life as well of the harsher side. The last thing we wanted to do was to make something that felt overly voyeuristic. It was important to feel present, show their dark side alongside their funny and caring side. Everyone can relate to that.What were the positives?HB: Everything was positive there was nothing negative in sight. Awareness was achieved, my eyes personally were opened and I learned even more.WR-S: I’m proud of this piece. It was a grind. It brought up a lot of feeling along the way. But it’s a part of society that is often misrepresented and I think we’ve managed to make something that feels a bit nuanced.• Will Robson-Scott is represented by Somesuch in London for music videos. More work <a href="https://somesuch.co/uk/directors/will-robson-scott/reel/nike-x-carhartt-flohio-2/" target="_blank">here</a>* A Promonews and Somesuch production. Behind The Video is a series of sponsored content on Promonews. For more information, email&nbsp;info@promonews.tv

Behind The Video: Hak Baker, Will Robson-Scott and Saskia Whinney on 'Dopehead'

This powerful music video documentary for singer-songwriter Hak Baker delves into the mundane truth of drug addiction.&nbsp;Dopehead&nbsp;is a sometimes difficult watch. It follows different Londoners&nbsp;attempting to balance their drug dependency with the unremarkable rituals of daily life. And amidst this unravelling, Hak Baker makes brief appearances as a witness and balladeer. Baker's music is cheerily frank and observational, and this video is a provocative counterpoint.Director Will Robson-Scott is a documentary filmmaker and photographer. The TOPSAFE alum cut his teeth alongside cult London musicians, observing the working lives of King Krule and Jimothy Lacoste. He has also made two unflinching documentaries about gun violence in South Chicago.&nbsp;He both shoots and directs his second music&nbsp;video, achieving&nbsp;a startling unity of medium and message&nbsp;on Super-16 and DV. The grubby quality of the image has an atmosphere of decay, skipping and glitching as if it is threatening to expire.&nbsp;

Adam Biskupski

Jack McGinity

Pete Duffy

Alternative, Folk, Indie

Hak Baker 'Dopehead' by Will Robson-Scott

Hak Baker - Dopehead

Will Robson-Scott creates a striking new promo for&nbsp;Gorgon City. Considering the upbeat feel and name of this dance track, the subject matter of the video takes a sombre turn as we follow a woman who&#39;s trying her best to make ends meet in LA, as the city tries its best to swallow her into obscurity.Through scenes of misery-soaked exotic dancing, navigating the city and bonding with those closest to her, the message of the video is clear: family is vital to survival, and men are generally the worst.A well-shot, quietly powerful short portrait that contrasts the track&#39;s pacing to create an engaging story.

Will Robson-Scott

Director

Interviews featuring Will Robson-Scott

Videos featuring Will Robson-Scott

2021 (1)

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