Director Hugh Mulhern grabbed a Gold in Music Video with their Riff Raff Films aided promo for Hak Baker – Doolally. Here, He talks about jumping Prime Ministers in public, big weekends, and his future projects.
What was the inspiration behind the music video?
I guess with a song like this that is so direct in its storytelling you really have to embrace it so that’s what I was trying to do.
I wasn’t interested in showing a big weekend as something seductive but more as something manic and disconnected from reality. Ugly and gross, not slick and sexy. Ralph Bakshi was a key reference.
How long was the shoot and what was the most challenging aspect of the project?
We split it over two days. It’s hard to say. The first day we had seven police cars with an armed response unit show up because of the scene of the two guys in balaclavas beating up Boris Johnson which slowed us down a bit.
The second day we wanted to put on a real party and just do our best to capture Hak in his element but we were herding cats.
What have you learned during the process of making the music video?
Don’t stage prime ministers getting jumped in public.
What does it mean to you to win a YDA and what can we expect to see from you in future?
It’s a huge honour and incredibly uplifting. I’m excited to see where the next year goes. I’ve got a really gross video coming out for an incredible Irish group called Bricknasty, it feels like the third and final piece of a trilogy after Telephone 4 Eyes and Doolally.
I’m really keen to make more docu-fiction this year and make some music videos that lean on in-camera action and are a bit more graceful versus grotesque. I’ve a feature in development with screen Ireland that I’m really excited about, it’s a magic realism body horror called It Comes In Waves. Hoping the world gets to see that sooner rather than later.
Do you plan to work in the advertising industry and if so, what most excites you about that prospect?
Yeah definitely. I think right now with the way the industry is going and the rise of AI it means advertising needs to really stand out and strike conceptually and visually harder than ever before and that fills me with excitement.
Interview by Daniel Huntley shots
