Henry Hobson
Henry Hobson is a live action director, artist and graphic designer. Born near Stonehenge, England, currently living in Los Angeles.
Curator’s note: Throughout my career to date, there’s a handful of projects I almost always reference no matter what, even if it’s for a totally unrelated brief. They just never fail to get the creative juices flowing. Henry Hobson’s work and in particular, his design work for the Oscars is one of those projects. Being a staggeringly skilful, award winning designer is impressive enough but what’s more, Henry is a terrifically talented, did I mention award winning, live action director too. Having directed the feature film ‘Maggie’, starring Arnold Schwarzengger and a plethora of other spots and campaigns for big time brands. It’s our pleasure to bring to you some insights from the hugely diverse career of the man himself. Without further ado… Action!
Henry Hobson working with actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I was always fascinated by film. Not being able to afford a camcorder in the 90s, I opted for a super 8mm film car boot sale find. Making films with friends ignited my passion for it and it wasn't until I was able to meet someone in the film industry who informed me (as I was picking what degree to do), ‘You don't know anyone, you have no connections, there is no proper film schools in the UK, so you're a bit stuck. Why don't you study something else at university?’
Ridley Scott was a Graphic Designer, so was Tony his brother, Hitchcock painted title cards for Paramount, Abbas Kirostami designed too. Maybe that’s a way in, so that’s why I chose graphic design… And it was graphic design that taught me how to direct.
Design studio Why Not Associates (RIP) taught me and a handful of others the ropes. From Mark Malloy to Kim Gehrig, it’s a shop where design was always moving and the vibrancy of the concept allowed for animated, filmed and creatively ambitious projects to flourish.
This all helped when it came to the design I did for the Oscars, which was a stand out project for me, as it fell at such a bizarre and pivotal point in my career. It was 2015, I had worked on the oscars for about 7 years in various guises, and had managed to become more and more entrusted by the producers to the point that in 2015 they had almost given me free rein with the design.
I had been pitching an idea for a couple of years to them, built from the fact that there are 24 categories (from Best Picture to Best Short Documentary), some of which people care deeply about and some people don’t know what they even are… So my idea which I had started to ferment maybe 4 years previously, was that the small films that announce the names of the nominated film could be small films telling the audience what that category does. A unique moment to avoid the repetitive glare of the same 9 films ‘best bits’ being repeated every time they are nominated.
The show producer Lee Lodge, a visionary stage producer (Oscars, MTV VMAs, Sam Smith, One Direction stage show graphics production) was instrumental in helping creatively navigate the layers of Academy bureaucracy, pushing for bolder and bolder creative visions.
With him I was able to put forward 24 unique design ideas, one for each category, the only trouble was time, with just a couple of weeks between the announcement of the nominated films and the show. This meant I needed to scale up, and I co-opted a larger team. I ended up designing half the categories myself, notably Production Design, Best Picture, Cinematography, Actors, Actresses, Score, Adapted & Original Screenplays, Costume, VFX and more. The brief was unique, to cut down time, (less than 30 seconds to announce 5 films) but to reveal a little glimpse as to what that category means.
For example, with Production Design my producer Carol Salek, managed to secure dozens of original props from the nominated films, (we beefed them up with some solid stand in props too) so I was able to lay out the articles to produce a clear and playful guide to what production design is.
All of this was happening at the same time my first film was coming out, Maggie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger… so I was creatively fired up, happy to take what others might think of as hugely risky decisions. ‘The academy will never like this’, is probably what I would have asked myself if I didn’t have the fact that, ‘oh well if I fail at this I have a film being released, so that’s not a bad thing to fall back on’.
When I moved to the States I found the clash of cultures immense, so it took me forever to eventually call myself a Director. In the states I would always cringe when someone would say they were a director, fresh out of college with nothing to show for it. So it wasn’t until I released Maggie that I felt I could say it, as I crossed through US immigration... stiff upper lip restraint and lack of self belief.… Ridiculous, thinking back, as really I had been directing before I had been a designer.
Also while working in the states it was a particularly strange time. I had moved over to design title sequences. The Walking Dead, Sherlock Holmes, Rango and whilst these were very cool title sequences... I realised then that this was a turning point for me. Learning how to elevate ideas, how to direct and crucially coming to acknowledge that directing should be the focus…or at least the next goal.
Did I have doubts?
Every. single. day. the doubts come in every direction. Social media can fill you with a sense that you’re missing out. Walking whilst others are running, not as strong as someone else or simply not as good as you think you are… But the key is just to think about what is in front of you, if you focus on what you need to do, how you want to tell it, then that’s when I find the best stuff comes out. Blinker yourself as much as you can.
Talking of putting the blinkers on… It’s very easy to get inspired nowadays, its almost banal. Scrolling through Instagram or Tumblr feeds, but it’s amazing how numb you soon get to this. I find still that when you have to create quickly and need ideas even quicker, the best way is (and it sounds corny to say it) but to step away, to walk, run, cycle… even visiting a gallery. Getting in front of work in the real world never fails to inspire.
A behind-the-scenes shot of Henry working with actor, Idris Elba.
Whats more, I travel a lot, well not so much right now… I am extremely fortunate that my career(s) allow for me to keep busy, either working on film ideas, or design projects. Whilst the commercial film world is shut down, it’s a perfect time to create, and fortunately I’m able to keep that going. When I did travel however, I found that because I do a lot of scouting I get to peek behind the tourist curtain, and see the real cities, towns and villages of the countries I’m in. Each cities unique culture can be immensely inspiring, like a stunning slow moving Instagram feed, where you can’t scroll quickly you have to stand and let it sink in… Being able to do that, is inspiring, I’m hugely fortunate to get to work like that (which is also a key motivator).
Given all my experience, it’s strange actually how separate live action and graphic design are for me. ‘Me and the Bootmaker’ (the design shop I run with typographer Manija Emran, who is a tour de force in her own right, having come from being one of both Phillipe Apeloig and Vince Frosts first employees) rarely crosses paths with my directing work. In fact, sometimes it’s quite amusing when a directing job comes in and the client wants to take a design approach and they don’t know about my design world…
That being said, having that design skillset is immensely important, how do you tell a story in 30 seconds (for a live action commercial), is a similar approach to how you would tell a story via a poster or a book cover. It’s about narrowing down the idea to its core and then fleshing it out after you’ve honed it down. Using an engaging or intriguing style to captivate the audience, then they can be sold whatever you need to communicate. I still find that as a director I’m opening Indesign and Photoshop all day, to piece together concepts and ideas. So that I feel gives any designer a head-start in getting into the film world.
If I was to look to the future, the perfect project would almost be an amalgamation of those worlds however. I’d love to combine both fields, design and film. Perhaps the Bond title sequence! Wait, scrap that… I’d love to do that and a Bond film, the first director to tackle both… That’s a lofty goal I know…
In fact, whilst working on the oscars there were a small series of rumours circulating about Arnold possibly getting a nod for his performance in my film. Then that year would have been insane, designing the oscars and having a part of the film nominated… Sadly I missed out on that but thats another dual pronged goal. To design your own nomination category… insane…
Well. That was cool. If that's successfully whetted your appetite, then please, please go and have a look at more of Henry’s work over at his website or at his design studio, Me and the Bootmaker. There’s such a staggering back catalogue of work that it was literally impossible to showcase it all here, (it took serious restraint not to feature a visual every other line), so be sure to click those links. You’ll be a fool not to!