Face to Face with... Ben Newman

Ben Newman began his career with eight years of directing/producing experience at MTV and the BBC. But since signing for London production company Pulse Films back in 2010, he’s broken into the commercials world with work for clients such as Lucozade, Nike and Asos; shot promos for some of the top urban artists on the music scene; and his debut short, War School (above), has scooped accolades including the 2010 Junior Award and recognition from the BFI.

Most recently, the young director applied his skills to a poetic promo for a new series of BBC programmes. Shakespeare Unlocked nods to several of the Bard’s plays with delightful drama and a handful of classic lines of dialogue. Here he tells us about the shooting in Surrey, his short career in commercials and what he sees as his “next step” in directing.

Tell us about your recent Shakespeare promo for the BBC…

Karmarama and Red Bee Media asked me to pitch on a trailer for the BBC’s Shakespeare season. After reading the brief I knew instantly that it was a job I had to do. I saw a great opportunity to work with actors and treat each vignette as if it was a scene from a film. I was also excited to interpret some of Shakespeare’s iconic plays and transition between them without it feeling contrived.

Tell us about the locations and shoot…

The locations were amazing. We shot King Henry V and A Mid Summer Night’s Dream in Bourne Wood, Surrey, which was used in the opening scene of Gladiator. It was exciting for me to think that Ridley Scott had directed an army there. I’m a bit of a geek thinking like that but he’s one of my biggest inspirations. The Romeo and Juliet scene was shot in Osterley house outside London, I was lucky enough to work with Michael Howells who has art directed for Mario Testino and John Galliano. He’s an amazing man with a great talent.

Who’s your favourite recording artist you’ve worked with?

I think I connected most with Wretch 32. I did his first three videos and was able to really work with him on all of them. He was open to approaching them in a different way and really trusted me to interpret his tracks in a way I thought was original.

You began your career in music videos but was it always a personal goal to get into commercials?

I’ve always loved the creativity in both music videos and commercials. It was always a goal to start with music then move into commercials. I never thought I would be in the commercial industry so soon and I’m really excited to see how far I can push it.

Did you have an idea of the type of commercials you wanted to shoot or does it just depend on the script?

I always pitch on jobs that I believe in. I think that’s the most important thing for any director to aim for. If you’re not 100 per cent behind the creative or brand, how can you achieve good work.

From a young age I would be mesmerised by sporting adverts. I loved the old Jordan commercials from Spike Lee (one of my favourite directors). I guess I love projects that have amazing energy and bring to life an idea that resonates with an audience.

And would you like to do more shorts after the success of War School?

I’m writing a feature film at the moment that I hope to shoot next year. War School gave me a hunger to work within narrative and although I enjoy and see the benefits of honing your craft within shorts, feature films are the next step for me. 

Did you have to do much research into Shakespeare for this piece or were you already hot on your poetry from school?

I remembered none of it from school! We did read Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth but when it came to writing the treatment I had to swot up on all the plays we featured. I wanted to approach each of the films in a new way but realised that in order to modernise the spoken lines, I had to understand the principals of Shakespearean language. I worked with experts from RADA acting college to take me through everything. It was really interesting and a pleasure to learn.

I feel really fortunate working in this industry. I just want to keep pushing myself and hopefully produce work that inspires audiences. That’s the most important thing for me to achieve.