Sometimes the most straight to the point approaches are the ones that touch our hearts the most. We can create an outstanding narrative just by using the most rooted things one has: family, places, love. That’s what made us feel so curious about Julio Bashmore’s album teaser. Knockin’ Boots was written and directed by our friend Daniel Brereton, who came to 180 Creative Camp 2013 and was picked for a 180 ID (watch the video on the bottom of this page).
We’ve made him a few questions about the process of working in this film, which portrays deeply yet simply a piece of electronic music.
How did this collaboration with Julio Bashmore begin?
Red Bull Media got in touch with me, and said that Matt (Julio Bashmore) liked my work and wanted to work with me on a film documenting his album, a kind of visual world for his music. Red Bull had given Julio studio time to make the album, and they were also releasing it too. I then came up with the idea of doing a track by track taster and images to accompany the tracks. I then thought of adding subtitles as a fun way of providing info whilst the songs were playing, but also being playful with what it was saying. I made a test film for it, can possibly show it you if you want. I think Julio really got the humour and the feel and so from there we started developing it together.
Tell us how did the idea of filming those characters and cities come together.
I often like the idea of revealing the people behind the music, and how those people have been shaped by their environment. So I wanted to include Julio’s family and friends in the film as I thought it would bring the idea a sense of place. So we went to both Bristol and London to film, thats where Julio is from and where he lives now. His friends and collaborators were filmed in London, and family, fans and places he likes to hang out were filmed in Bristol. We got two beautiful days in the summer, and everyone we involved were in a good summery mood!
We feel connected with Julio’s life and family. How was this process of having Julio on the film?
Julio was totally up for being involved, and when we talked about his family being in it, he just asked them who would be ok with being on film. We found out his grandad was up for it, and he was perfect, the way he says in the film that he doesn’t really get the music, but you can tell he’s really proud of his grandson. We filmed that in Julio’s mums house. And this all brings that feeling of home into the film.
We also asked Daniel to share with us some things he’s currently listening👂, reading👓 or watching👀 .
👂 An album
I absolutely love the Whitney album “Light Upon The Lake”, would love to work with them. Its got a feeling of the past in it, but in a way to me their sound feels timeless, and I always like that quality in music. You can tell they had fun making it.
👓 A book
I am reading “An actor prepares” by Stanislavski, it’s a really good book to read as a director as you can understand things from an actors perspective.
👀 A film
I liked the film “Paterson” recently, it had a really nice feel to it, and it said to me that you don’t need to do too much to tell a great story.
