Caswell Coggins’ film career started out when he joined a globe-trotting BBC documentary production team. He’s spent the last few years carving out a niche for himself in music video, but now he’s taken the plunge into commercials with a Lily Allen mosaic for Xbox 360.
https://vimeo.com/9030087Can you remember the first time you picked up a film camera?
I remember the first film camera that I carried! It was the first shoot I was running on. I was 16, it was in Poland in 1986. It was a documentary for an Old Grey Whistle Test special for the BBC called ‘My Blood Your Blood’ about the only rock festival allowed to be held in communist eastern Europe at that time, it was a pretty defining experience!
Starting out working on BBC documentaries in places like Ethiopia and Dubai seems like an unusual introduction to the industry! What was that experience like and what were the most useful lessons you learned from it?
I think the strangest part of the experience is being involved in other cultures for long periods of time whilst also being young and relatively inexperienced. A lot of learning to do on many fronts..
What were the most challenging things about making the jump to commercials!!
Making the jump to commercials!!
And how different is it working with agencies rather than musiclabels/commissioners?
It’s a very different medium in many ways, primarily with music videos the concept/narrative generally comes from you inspired by a band and their music ie the commissioner is asking you for and idea, So you have generally more control over the execution of the film.
In commercials, for the most part, you are trying to interpret and embellish an agencies already agreed central idea, you have to steer and influence the film which is much more a collective vision and this sometimes requires you to be able to step back, adapt and even compromise at times!
How did you go about bringing the Lily Allen Lips spot to life?
I was asked by X Box to create an idea based around a multiplatform campaign, which had multiple strands (TV, radio, online, events) but at the heart of it involved a number of sound booths touring the country over a six week period, where the general public would be asked to sing the Lily Allen song The Fear.
How could hundreds of performances of this kind be incorporated into a music video in which Lily Allen would perform and a TVC that would promote XBOX 360’s Lips game?
We came up with an idea involving a mosaic image (that would be able to incorporate thousands of people singing at the same time) would be the most effective way forward. I wanted then to take it a stage further to make it a moving mosaic. Lily would be able to perform as the embodiment of all of her fans. To achieve this we found a great team of technologists called the ‘Rumpus Room’ who we worked closely with throughout to realise the vision.
What piece of work are you most proud of?
I’m proud of the documentary I have just completed called “Destino’ It is my first long form film as a director and took me a year to complete. It was a real journey.
I’m also very happy with the way the Lily Allen came out, it was a long process and I worked with a fantastically involved team of people.
As names go, Caswell Coggins is sublimely Dickensian… I’m guessing that to have such a distinctive name is quite useful in an industry like music video or advertising where image and profile can be crucial to picking up that next job. I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on that.. or maybe its something that doesn’t really bother you?
A name that gets you recognised for the good things that you do can also work against you for the not so good!
Outside of filmmaking what gets you excited?
Hanging out with my wife and going to watch Arsenal with my son Jack.
To find out more about the Lily Allen spot and the Rumpus Room, click here..
