In Conversation with Grant Gee

On 19th February, Screen and Film School welcomed director and cinematographer Grant Gee to our Central Site for an exclusive Masterclass.

Students were delighted to attend this brilliant masterclass with Grant, who has had decades of experience in music video, documentary and feature films, and has participated and won awards at festivals all over the world. Grant discussed how his career went from creating a 27-minute short film for the band Spooky, to almost drowning Thom Yorke one of the most iconic music videos of all time – Radiohead’s No Surprises – to adapting a Turkish novel into his documentary Innocence of Memories.

Grant doesn’t see himself as a director – he wants to create images that represent the feelings of the world, rather than make money. When asked how he became interested in filmmaking, particularly music videos, Grant explained that, “My basic impulse is staring at things, then choreographing them to music very tightly.” This is highlighted in his Found Sound work for Spooky, where Grant utilised the 20 seconds-per-wind available on a Bolex to create eerie shots that were juxtaposed with progressive house music.

Grant’s Joy Division biopic sparked his career-shift from tour video to documentary, with the historical aspect influencing much of his later work too, including upcoming The Gold Machine. This project sees Grant collaborate with writer/filmmaker Iain Sinclair on an essay-feature that took them to Peru, London and Hastings on the ultimate quest to quell writer’s block.

A huge thanks to Grant for visiting Screen and Film School, and for being part of such a great masterclass.