‘In My View’ by Young Fathers is one of my favorite songs of the last 10 years. It’s like someone kept a pop song in a cage and made it play with fire, resulting in something that’s slightly twisted and unpredictable. The music video, directed by Jack Whiteley, perfectly captures this energy.
Similar to ‘In My View’, Jack Whiteley’s music videos have an angle to them, I don’t quite know how else to say it; either through the concept or the costumes or the colors, he takes something that could be straightforward and makes it stand out. Another example is the stunning ‘Fixture Picture’ video, which takes the basic (and often kinda dull) concept of a band performing, and turns it into something surreal and dreamlike, and strangely magnetic. It looks so easy.
I first discovered your work through your music video for ‘In My View’ by Young Fathers. I love how this video manages to have its cake and eat it too, by first presenting all these evocative images, and then deconstructing them. How did you decide on the different vignettes used in the video?
I drew a lot of inspiration from photography, whereas normally my references come from films. One of the photographers I was looking at was David Uzochukwu, who funnily enough went on to direct their video for ‘I Saw’ a few years later. I was looking for images that felt quite simple, graphical and constructed – locked-off framing, use of theatre backdrops, etc. – to make the deconstruction process quicker/easier. I was also referencing a visual style that seemed quite popular in videos at the time: beautifully styled and evocative shots that also felt quite indulgent, superfluous and clickbait-y.
‘The Art of Making People Care’ is simultaneously a very sincere as well as a very cynical approach to meaning-making in art. Since directing the video, have this line and the guidelines you set out stuck with you?
You’re always trying to make work that resonates with people, that people care about, but it’s not something I’m consciously asking myself every time I make a video. It’s funny you use the word cynical because I don’t consider myself a cynical person, but I think looking back I felt I wasn’t winning enough pitches. So I started looking at other music videos that were popular and began to deconstruct them in the hope of discovering the winning formula – grabbing viewers’ attention in the first 5-seconds, using shock and surprise techniques, showing the artists’ softer side, etc. – and then decided to turn this investigation into the video idea itself as a sort of meta-satire.
Usually a music video shapes someone’s first impression of a song, but with ‘Bennie and the Jets’, you – and co-director Laura Brownhill – were dealing with a song that’s been popular since 1973. Did this influence your approach to making this music video?
No, not really. To be honest, I’m not a fan of Elton John – don’t get me wrong, I like his music, but I’m not part of his fanbase – and this was to our advantage as it meant we weren’t precious. We didn’t carry the weight of preconception or expectation about what the song collectively meant to people. All we were interested in doing was making something striking and original. But we didn’t ignore what the song meant, our idea is an interpretation of the song’s lyrics. We’re exploring the formation of the fictional band Bennie and the Jets. But we placed it in a genre and setting that I think was quite unexpected and perhaps even a little divisive for some people.
The costume design is such an important part of the ‘Benny and the Jets’ video, as well as other videos of yours, such as ‘Fixture Picture’ for Aldous Harding and Little Dragon’s ‘Lover Chanting’. What do your collaborations with costume designers look like? Do you already have a clear visual idea, or do they get a lot of freedom?
Sometimes I have a clear vision from the start, other times it’s a process of back-and-forth development with the stylist and occasionally it’s dictated by the artist. For the ‘Fixture Picture’ video Aldous was very specific about wanting to be dressed in red. With ‘Bennie and the Jets’, we had a pretty clear idea of how we wanted each character to look, which was informed by the name they were given, which in turn informed how they moved. For example, Rocket was all about fast, explosive movements, so we imagined him in a chevron-patterned, form-fitting bodysuit that would give him maximum aerodynamics and large tinted goggles to protect his eyes from wind and radiation. ‘Lover Chanting’ was very much a collaboration with our amazing stylist Taff Williamson, but it was all informed by the concept, which was the world of cosplay and role-play gaming, so we had a lot of inspiration to draw from.
When developing a music video, do you find that your approach is more based on visuals, or more on a narrative or central concept?
I would say I’m more driven by characters and story. I tend to start by imagining different scenes or scenarios, then from there I will develop a narrative and concept around it.
In 2024 you released the short film Brumation, with dancer and choreographer Mathilde Lin. I was really struck by the interaction between the dance and the urban space around it, both visually as well as in the choreography. How did the process in making this short film differ from how you usually make a music video? Were there different challenges?
Brumation was a personal project in that it was self-funded and there was no artist or label involved so I wasn’t answerable to anyone. This allowed me to take a much looser approach than I would have otherwise been able to. On a music video, you need to know exactly what shots you are getting going into the shoot, so you will have a shot list or a storyboard to work from. On Brumation all we had was a list of locations we wanted to visit that Mathilde had earmarked in her home city of Paris. The film was really a vehicle for me and Mathilde to work together and for Mathilde to explore an idea she’d been developing around the concept of being ‘Busy Alone’, which was also the working title. It wasn’t until the edit that the concept evolved into something else and the film became Brumation. Sometimes you don’t realize what something is until after the fact.
Massive thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Final one: is there any song that already has a music video, that you would’ve loved to direct your own video for? What would it have looked like?
My pleasure – thanks for asking me! There was a concept I came up with for Bonobo’s ‘ATK’ video that I would have really loved to make, involving a deep dive into the microbial world. I also pitched a concept for The Chemical Brothers’ ‘We’ve Got To Try’ video that combined elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Tron: Legacy, Ghost in the Shell and Under the Skin that would have been pretty mind-blowing (if I don’t say so myself) but there was no way that was getting made on budget!
More Jack Whiteley
Interview discussing ‘In My View’
‘Bennie and the Jets’ making-of
Website