Radar Award Winner Bob Gallagher Talks 'Paul'

It’s no coincidence that the majority of great short-form and commercial directors have worked in the world of music videos. The key skills needed are there from the get go – the requirement to capture the attention of the audience in a short space of time, the need for brevity in conveying the visual narrative, dealing with sometimes demanding clients. Because of this, shows like last week’s Radar Awards are essential for pinpointing the directorial stars of the future.

One such star is Dublin-based Bob Gallagher, whose work on the Girl Band video ‘Paul’ earned him the Best Director award (as well as a second gong for Art Department / Styling). Telling the story of an ill-fated children’s-TV performer, the film’s clean storytelling and stylised look caught the attention of the judges (Source Editor Jamie Madge included!).

We were taken with the film and Bob’s victory, so tracked him down in Dublin to quiz him on his career so far, the making of ‘Paul’ and what awards like Radar’s mean for him.

How did you start your directing relationship with Girl Band?

I think the guys had seen a video I'd done called 'Easter Morning for Myles Manley and really liked it, so when they signed to Rough Trade and had the chance to do a new video they just got in touch by email and asked me if I'd be interested.

At that stage I'd only heard 'Lawman' but I thought it was incredible and it was obvious they had something really special going on in their music. I was really excited when they asked me to do the video for 'Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage'.

I wrote a treatment about a dancing corpse, and when it came to meeting the band to sign off on it I was a little worried that proposing a naked body for the video would be a problem. The only note they had was 'more nob' so that sort of cemented our relationship then and there.

Where did you get the concept for ‘Paul’?

I was shooting an audition tape for my friend Kate (who appears in 'Paul' and 'In Plastic') for a kids TV show. She would almost get through a take and then curse if it went wrong. I found it pretty funny, that extreme shift in tone from absurd child speak to angry adult. We joked at the time about it being the next Girl Band video.

It prompted me to start researching the reality of doing kids TV, and the psychological pressure of being a clean cut children's entertainer, while also being an emotionally volatile adult. I watched a documentary about Big Bird and there seemed to be a dark undercurrent to that world that was bizarre and fascinating. I watched a lot of kids shows with my goddaughters, you start to read into the dynamics between the adult actors. People say Paul is Dark, but no-one asks what's really going on in Balamory.

The vid plays out like a short film – how do you balance hitting the beats of a music vid whilst maintaining a decent narrative?

I think it really comes together in the edit. We start with a story cut that's too long and then try to mould that over the framework of the song. You have to feel that out once you've got the raw material so really this kind of video is made in the edit because there's a big creative process in figuring out how it's going to work at that stage. I think the main thing is to plot the big story beats to cues in the song and then whittle down everything in between. We actually cut one scene that involved a dodgy wig and some Punch and Judy puppets. It was shot in what now seems like a moment of madness. Our editor laughed at me and cut it straight away. It's important to have a good editor between you and utter humiliation.

The casting is great – where did you find everyone?

I'd met Jim Roche (Paul) while operating a camera on a short film years ago, and I'd seen him doing a reading from Brian Friel's 'Faith Healer' that I remember had great presence. You're always keeping an eye out for people who are talented and nice to work with, so I kept him in mind as someone I'd like to work with. He really committed to 'Paul' and did a phenomenal job. It's satisfying when you have a good instinct about someone and it works out well.

Some of the other cast, like Kate Finegan I'd worked with before on music videos (she danced in a video for Spies, and helped choreograph 'Bodies'. Most of the other cast were suggestions from other actors I know. A sense of humour was key so I asked around for people who'd suit the roles but also find it funny. Cåit O'Riordan (the Pogues) was a fan of the Bodies video so she agreed to play the director role, even though she'd never acted before. I love that even though there's no sound she curses so expressively that you feel like you can still hear her saying 'for fuck sake'.

How was the prep? The art dept did a great job.

There was a lot of prep for the costumes and the set. Lilla our production designer and her team worked crazy hours on it to make it happen and did a brilliant job with the sets and costumes. There were many packets of garishly coloured card involved in constructing the background of the TV set and the band came down and helped out with that. The casting process was a big job too, but it all came together easily enough. Everyone had a great enthusiasm for it.

How was the shoot? How long did you have?

We shot the bulk of it in two days, with a few pickups after. It was tough because there were a lot of logistics involved with the cast and locations. I don't remember sleeping much at the time (and when I did sleep I had very feverish dreams) but I think it all contributed to the final video. It's a snapshot for me of quite a mad period. For one of the pickups I had to dress up as the chicken pig so I got to dance it all out. 

Was it tough to put together in the edit? Were there any issues?

We ended up with too much material in the story cut, so the difficulties were mostly in cutting things down. We had to find the structure in the edit, and it's quite a long form video so it was more like doing a short film. The dynamics of the song are so good though that it's fun to find the shots to suit certain sounds or tonal changes.

I had to travel to New York halfway through the online, with no fixed abode, so I was doing VFX shots and watching grades every time I could get a decent internet connection. I had blagged my way into the jump seat on the plane so there was very little sleep had and then I was grappling with After Effects on any flat surface I could get. That part I remember as being particularly gruelling.

What makes for a good narrative music video, in your opinion? What has influenced you?

The key for me has been to avoid very direct literal references to lyrics and to try and abstract it a bit. Even though they're not necessarily lip syncing the main character has to reflect the voice in the song in some way, as if it's their internal monologue, or something that they would identify with or relate to. Being such a short form way of storytelling I think the biggest challenge is to get an audience to relate to and care about your character

Stylistically I was very influenced by directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry who had absurd concepts at the core of their videos, and each video seemed to exist in it's own world, with its own rules, rather than trying to emulate reality. I think it's really evident across their work that they care about their characters too, they're emotionally invested. From a storytelling point of view I was drawn to the first person narration of writers like Kerouac and Hemingway, where you get that sense of experiencing the world through someone else's eyes. That really appeals to me in Dara's lyrics for Girl Band too, it's a subjective experience, and as a listener you relate really strongly to some elements of that experience. It would be hard to explain for example how when Dara sings 'chicken fillet roll' it can conjure up a well of weird nostalgic emotion for me about overcooked chicken from a petrol station.   

What are the challenges of making music videos as an unsigned director? What are the benefits?

The challenges are I suppose access to money and resources. You're typically working with very low budgets, but you want to make work that's of a high standard. I think that takes a lot of energy because you're compensating for lack of resources. It's also tough to access bands and labels without the weight of a recognisable company name behind you.

The benefits are that you have freedom, and the less money you're responsible for the less pressure you feel. You also learn how to make that money stretch, and realise what you're capable of doing with it if you have a good team around you. I'd feel more comfortable now doing a bigger budget video, but only after having done a lot of low to no budget ones.

What made you enter the Radar Awards?

My friend Cath actually submitted for us very soon after it was announced so I didn't even have time to think about it. She was on the ball.

Why are awards like Radar’s important for filmmakers?

I think that it's really important to have events that acknowledge music videos as an artform, and that recognise what an important training ground they are for directors. Big ceremonies like the MTV awards seem to be more about how well known the artists are, so I think it's really important to have events that are accessible to filmmakers and less well known acts, where you feel like work is just viewed on its merits.

What’s up next for you?

I'm actually producing a music video this week with some shadow puppetry, so trying to figure that out right now, and then I've another project on the go with Rough Trade that I'm going to shoot on film, which I'm very excited about. I'm also working on a documentary about seeking asylum and community so that's keeping me occupied for the next while. After the Radars it looks like there may be some more music videos on the horizon too.