Rohan Blair-Mangat is a flexible director identified for the wealthy environment and visuals he creates in his work. Raised in London by a Jamaican mom and an Indian father, Rohan graduated from Central Saint Martins with a level in High-quality Artwork, and has since directed quite a few music movies and business tasks.
The winner of a number of awards together with six Cannes Lions, Rohan’s movies are outlined by their grounded human emotion mixed with imaginative, fantastically realized magical realism. Rohan locations his characters in heightened realities as a approach of externalising their internal selves and to make broader factors about our personal lives. His tasks are famous for his or her creative ideas, impressed manufacturing design, and reflective tone. He’s labored with skills equivalent to JAY-Z, Naomi Osaka, Lionel Messi, Maya Rudolph, Nas, Daisy Ridley, Lewis Hamilton and Don Cheadle.
His credit embody the brief movie ’Bam’ from JAY-Z’s album ‘4:44’, a Clio award-winning music video with Black Thought to accompany the documentary sequence ‘Relaxation in Energy: The Trayvon Martin Story’, the visible album ‘Nasir – The Movie’ for Nas’ self-titled launch, and the sequence ‘Centerpiece with Maurice Harris’, govt produced by Rashida Jones.
In July 2020 Rohan co-founded Change The Lens, alongside Savanah Leaf, Alli Maxwell and Jason Harper. The group was created to extend illustration and alternatives for Black filmmakers within the business and music video business. He resides in LA and is creating a slate of narrative tasks, together with the function movie ‘One Evening In Compton’ with Paramount Gamers.
Title: Rohan Blair-Mangat
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Repped by/in: Eleanor/US, My Confederate/UK, Diplomats/FR, Rekorder/Germany, Ransom Movie/India
Awards:
Apple ’Begin Up’:
Cannes Bronze Lion 2022 (Use Of Unique Music, Movie Craft)
Cannes Bronze Lion 2022 (Sound Design, Movie Craft)
AMP Awards 2022 (Greatest Artist & Model Collaboration)
Marketing campaign Model Awards 2022 (Model Movie of the 12 months)
Clio Music Award 2022 – Gold (Use of Music in Movie/Video)
P&G ’These Palms’:
Gold on the Anthem Awards (Range, Fairness, & Inclusion Marketing campaign – Model Consciousness Classes [For-Profit])
SHORT(Y) Record Influence Awards – Winner (Racial Justice)
‘Centerpiece’: Realscreen Awards 2021 – Winner (Digital Content material, Actuality and Life-style)
Black Thought ‘Relaxation In Energy’: 2 x Clio Silver Awards 2018 (Tv/Streaming), Clio Bronze Award 2018 (Tv/Streaming)
Geox ’Amphibiox’ – Interactive Marketing campaign:
Cannes Gold Lion 2013 (Interactive)
Cannes Silver Lion 2013 (Images)
Cannes Bronze Lion 2013 (Branded Content material)
Cannes Bronze Lion 2013 (Person Expertise)
One Present Gold Pencil 2012 (Interactive)
FWA Website of the Day 2012
Adidas ‘Lionel Messi at Hackney Marshes’: Cannes Bronze Lion 2011 (PR)
LBB> What are some upcoming tasks that you simply’re enthusiastic about? Inform us a bit about them?
Rohan> I simply shot my first venture with Eleanor. It’s a secret venture so I can’t say a lot however I’m very excited and happy with it.
I’m additionally creating a function with Kenya Barris (Creator of Black-ish) known as ‘One Evening in Compton’ for Paramount Gamers. It’s a sci-fi film set in Compton, impressed by my expertise volunteering with Youth Mentoring Connection the place I mentor younger males from Compton and the encircling areas. I wish to make a narrative that speaks to these youngsters and their lives however can be paying homage to the science fiction films I grew up with.
LBB> What excites you within the promoting business proper now, as a director? Any traits or modifications that opens new alternatives?
Rohan> I feel the advert business feels extra open than ever with extra alternatives for youthful administrators and numerous voices to make work. I’m additionally excited by the brand new mediums of communication the business has began to discover. In my 11 years as a signed director, there’s by no means been extra alternatives to discover totally different types of content material. I additionally suppose there’s now extra of collaborative spirit between company, expertise, and director — and I like working this fashion.
LBB> What components of a script units one aside from the opposite and what kind of scripts get you excited to shoot them?
Rohan> I simply know the precise script once I see it. It’s uncommon that I get a script and I don’t discover one thing about it that excites me. I feel there’s plenty of nice work being made proper now. I like tasks that provide visible storytelling alternatives and tasks which can be emotional. I get excited once I can really feel a very robust intention behind the idea. That’s what I like concerning the marriage between model identification and storytelling. Getting to indicate what the viewers connects with within the topic. The basic Nike Frozen Second business with Michael Jordan actually impressed me once I was a child. I taped it off reside TV and used to look at it again again and again. I preferred that it offered one thing very common, everybody knew that what Michael Jordan did was particular and he may make you cease what you have been doing to look at him. They captured this in such a visually transferring approach within the movie.
LBB> How do you strategy making a therapy for a spot?
Rohan> An important a part of my therapy course of is my first name with the company. I wish to know the place the thought got here from and what elements of it are actually essential to them. What’s the intention of the spot? The company spends plenty of time creating and promoting within the idea and I wish to ensure that I’m constructing on all of their work. I’ll come to that first name with questions and a tough tackle the venture and current it to the company to collaborate and see what they reply to. Then once I’m writing the therapy I like to begin with the narrative. I put all my pondering into motion with the script and give attention to creating it, to ensure I’m actually injecting my very own distinctive perspective into it. Then once I really feel happy with the script, I transfer on to the strategy and the technical particulars. The visuals of the therapy are actually essential to me as a result of there’s solely a lot you may talk by way of textual content.
LBB> If the script is for a model that you simply’re not aware of/ don’t have a giant affinity with or a market you are new to, how essential is it so that you can do analysis and perceive that strategic and contextual facet of the advert? If it’s essential to you, how do you do it?
Rohan> It’s essential to for me to know what the model identification is, the market they’re talking to and infrequently if there’s a want they’re making an attempt to serve or a problem they wish to resolve. I attempt to get a few of this information on my name with the company, however I additionally analysis current work from the model. I wish to construct on the model’s picture but in addition push it slightly additional. I wish to discover out the story and message and supply the easiest way to convey it within the piece.
LBB> For you, what’s crucial working relationship for a director to have with one other individual in making an advert? And why?
Rohan> One factor I like about filmmaking is that you simply make one thing as a staff with a bunch of actually gifted individuals. As a director, it’s your job to have a imaginative and prescient and lead everybody. In the event you’re doing all your job proper, you construct a staff that works nicely collectively. Once I was first beginning out, I might have stated an editor is crucial working relationship to me however now I see each single a part of the method as crucial. I actually like working with company creatives as a result of the script originates with them. I see plenty of similarities between soccer (soccer) and filmmaking. A coach and a director are comparable. You might have the technique, and also you construct the staff, and you then assist them play their finest sport.
LBB> What kind of labor are you most obsessed with – is there a specific style or material or type you might be most drawn to?
Rohan> I’m most drawn to narrative work. I began my profession as a self-shooter doing documentary work. I preferred the liberty it offered however over time I actually acquired into the craft of constructing very intentional selections. I’m actually drawn to a narrative and it was spots I noticed as a younger boy like Stella Artois ‘Crimson Sneakers’ that acquired me focused on commercials as a result of they have been like little tales. Commercials are at their finest once they get to the guts of what individuals join with about that model.
LBB> What false impression about you or your work do you most frequently encounter and why is it unsuitable?
Rohan> Since I moved to America, my work has plenty of Black expertise in them. Telling these tales is essential to me being a Black and South Asian director. Nonetheless, I feel each artist can inform a wide range of tales and I don’t wish to simply be considered for tasks talking to the Black neighborhood. I’ve shot all all over the world and I like experiencing totally different cultures and locations, and attending to work intently with many alternative individuals.
LBB> Have you ever ever labored with a value advisor and in that case how have your experiences been?
Rohan> I’ve circuitously myself however my producers and EPs do.
LBB> What’s the craziest downside you’ve come throughout in the midst of a manufacturing – and the way did you resolve it?
Rohan> My first skilled spot as a director was taking pictures the well-known footballer Leo Messi for an Adidas advert. The idea was that Lionel would land in a helicopter on Hackney Marshes (a grassroots soccer subject in London) and hand out new pairs of footwear to the youngsters taking part in there. Nobody knew we have been coming, however in some way it leaked. When the helicopter landed, Messi was mobbed by tons of of followers, who got here out of the bushes and over fences. I used to be nervous concerning the security of everybody (particularly Messi), however the safety dealt with it expertly and Leo signed autographs with a bunch of native individuals — it was magical. Out of the blue I used to be capturing a distinct story and the spot grew to become about that explosion of pleasure.
LBB> How do you strike the steadiness between being open/collaborative with the company and model shopper whereas additionally defending the thought?
Rohan> I benefit from the technique of collaboration. Rising up, I admired administrators who’ve a robust voice of their work and I’m at all times pulling inspiration from totally different mediums. You’re being introduced on a venture to collaborate however the company additionally desires your enter as a director. I’m not making an attempt to be the loudest of voice, however I wish to do my job as a director as successfully as I can. I attempt to inject my voice and magnificence into each venture.
LBB> What are your ideas on opening up the manufacturing world to a extra numerous pool of expertise? Are you open to mentoring and apprenticeships on set?
Rohan> I actually consider in opening the manufacturing world to extra variety and it’s why I’m a co-founder of Change the Lens. The extra views you may carry to the business the higher and richer it is going to be. Once I was developing, I might’ve appreciated having a constant mentor, which is why I do plenty of mentoring for youthful filmmakers. I feel mentoring and apprenticeship are actually essential and it’s superb to see organisations like Free the Bid and plenty of people within the business working in the direction of extra fairness and inclusion.
LBB> Your work is now offered in so many alternative codecs – to what extent do you retain every in thoughts when you’re working (and, equally, to what diploma is it attainable to take action)?
Rohan> It’s true, there are such a lot of totally different platforms and codecs now and it offers me extra alternatives to do fascinating issues. I grew up with YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, and so on. and I noticed huge alternative in them. I see the significance of various narrative kinds, facet ratios and edits as a result of individuals devour content material in several methods on totally different platforms, and I take into consideration this from the start of the method.
LBB> What’s your relationship with new expertise and, if in any respect, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work?
Rohan> I’ve at all times been very into the tech facet of issues. Earlier than I used to be a director, I made interactive media for Channel 4 within the UK. They might give me an current linear broadcast present and ask how they may make interactive on-line content material for it. In 2013, I directed an interactive expertise for Geox and it ended up successful 4 Cannes Lions. I thinks VR is basically fascinating as a result of it opens up thrilling potentialities for the filmmaking course of, and I’m exploring VR for movie/television tasks. I’d additionally like to do a VR business.
LBB> Which items of your work do you are feeling present what you do finest – and why?
Rohan> Apple ‘Begin Up’: I was a DJ and a musician, so music and particularly music in movie is essential to me. What I preferred about Begin Up is that music performs a very essential half in it and the movie explores the superb sounds which have come to outline Apple’s software program and {hardware} over so a few years. It’s such a tremendous option to have fun that wealthy historical past. I actually loved the problem of displaying AG Prepare dinner’s artistic course of within the movie as he constructed a tune utilizing these sounds.
Jay-Z ‘Bam’: I beloved that this venture let me go someplace deeply essential to me and my household, as I’m Jamaican. It’s a movie about legacy, as we discover the hyperlinks between Reggae and Hip Hop, how music and tradition comes full circle, and the way it conjures up and connects individuals. Jamaica has such a disproportionate affect on world tradition for an island so small. I like to seek out deeper layers throughout the topics I discover and I used to be in a position to do this with this piece. Working intently with Jay-Z to develop the themes and the story was superb as he’s a real artist and somebody I’ve at all times admired. It was extraordinarily particular to shoot in Trenchtown with Jay-Z, Damian Marley and Sister Nancy.
BMW x Alexander Wang: I’ve achieved a number of automobile tasks and I actually loved them. I just like the story inside a automobile, capturing the inspiration and which means behind its design. It’s fascinating to take an object like a automobile and present why it’s made a sure approach and the way it feels to drive it. I additionally preferred the connection between Alexander Wang and tying the standard of what he does with the craftsmanship of the BMW.
Centerpiece (Episodic sequence on Roku): I beloved this venture as a result of I acquired to collaborate with the host, the artist Maurice Harris, to design the look of the present and make it relate to who he’s. It allowed me to indicate one other facet of my directing. I used to be at all times actually into fantasy and artwork path, and I beloved the chance to discover totally different kinds of filmmaking. It jogged my memory of being again in Central Saint Martins. I additionally set to work with nice expertise in Maurice and his visitors. What a privilege!