When Guy Sebastian and Photoplay director, James Chappell, won their second ARIA for Best Video, Graham Donald, creative director of Channel 7 made a note of Chappell’s name. He had a project in mind and he had just found its director. It was quite a project, the new promo for The Voice with Keith Urban, Rita Ora, Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian and a wild neon-lit skyscraper.
Chappell talked The Stable through the process of making that video and we took a little detour to discuss his music video for Keith Urban and Amy Shark as well.
The Stable: How did you become involved in The Voice promo?
James Chappell: Graham Donald, the creative director of Channel 7, saw and heard my music video at the ARIAs, where Guy mentioned my name in the acceptance speech for Best Video. This was during COVID, so I was stuck at home watching in disbelief that we had won a second year in a row. Graham had written my name down and shortly afterwards called me to start the conversation around directing The Voice promo. This is the first time Channel 7 had produced The Voice, as Channel 9 was its previous home. Due to this TV network shake-up, I was keen to give Channel 7 the best promo they’ve ever had and quieten the naysayers.
TS: Tell me about the actual production.
JC: The concept was provided to me as a rough animatic made in-house at Seven. It was gloriously fun and camp so I kept what I liked and re-engineered the concept with a bit more cool, and added bigger and better locations like Casula Power Station, which had never been filmed before. The whole process was quite involved from beginning to end, which was exciting. I’m really hands-on and they let me do my thing while Graham and Trent [Chapman] at Seven we’re super supportive and collaborative. I created a pitch document with my idea for it and helped Seven sell it to each of the star coaches – Rita Ora, Keith Urban, Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy. In terms of challenges, the sheer size and ambition of the promo was a challenge. Six locations across two days in 12-hour blocks was really intense and tough. We just scraped through, but I like to work fast and I love a challenge. You need a great team behind you and I was lucky to have the support of Photoplay and amazing producer, Tom Slater, and DoP, Jack Saltmiras. The VFX side of things was lovingly crafted in-house by Seven’s team of wizards. I was able to come in and finesse each VFX shot over a long period of two months which was really enjoyable. We perfected everything as best we could.
TS: A promo is new for you. What differences did you notice and how did you adapt to them?
JC: While the nature of the promo was new, the main difference was the scale, as we were essentially making a huge budget music video with four famous artists singing an already proven pop hit of a track from Justin Timberlake. As I’d directed big music videos previously in Aus and the US, I felt I had the requisite training and experience for this type of job. Already having the inbuilt relationship with Guy Sebastian and having worked with Keith Urban only just a month prior to filming helped greatly as they helped to sing my praises to the other judges and teams.
TS: You also directed the Amy Shark & Keith Urban music video. Please tell me about making that.
JC: I directed the amazing duo of Amy Shark and Keith Urban just before The Voice shoot. It was an incredible experience working with two artists on the same video and really helped set me up for the experience of The Voice, where I had to balance each coach’s on-screen duration so that all parties would be satisfied equally. It’s a fine art getting that subtle balance working. Keith wanted to make sure that Amy was the key artist in the video and he was seen as only a support to her, which I thought was very admirable and kind. In terms of production, we shot at night in Centennial Park but chose our locations very carefully so that when we lit them up with big cherry pickers for moonlight, they would appear like an American woodland. The big tree I chose for the wedding scene also had a Southern Gothic aesthetic not far removed from Tim Burton’s films. Those were all very intentional decisions to fit in with the style of the song.
TS: What skills, experience, techniques, tools etc cross over from music videos into your commercials work?
JC: I think one of the main skill-sets that I acquired from music videos and directing big promos is the fine balancing act of managing the various stakeholders – artist, managers and record labels, TV networks – as you want to make sure everyone is heard and satisfied. And it’s a similar process in commercials collaborating with agency and client marketing teams.
Other similarities are pitching concepts and expanding on creatives’ vision. In music videos, I write the concepts and come up with the original ideas so essentially, the most creative thing possible. This has given me the ability to take an agency’s brief on a commercial and expand it, giving the client something wilder or possibly more original than they may have imagined. Equally important it’s knowing when to pull back and work within their brand guidelines. With music videos, the artists are so varied and I always try to take their brand and elevate it but still stay within their world and overall style. Again, it’s having the knowledge and intuition on how far to take something and when to pull back. Most of all, music videos have been my film school as I’ve directed over fifty music videos in eight years and really learnt my craft through this avenue. The main thing I’ve learnt and used in commercials is how to shoot fast by knowing exactly what I need. I do this by self-editing on set and not wasting precious time. I’ve been told I’m one of the faster shooters and I believe music videos have informed this a lot. I’ve always pushed hard for ambitious concepts over easy simple ideas. I always go above and beyond for clients and the music video world has seen me punch above my weight and given me a bang-for-your-buck mentality.
The Voice promo credits:
Director: James Chappell
Producer: Tom Slater
Executive Producer: Oliver Lawrance
Production Manager: Alicia Rashleigh Butler
DOP: Jack Saltmiras
Production Designer: Christina Bouzios
Editor: Brad Hurt
Colourist: Matt Fezz
Sound & Mix – Squeak E. Clean Studios
Sound Designer – Simon Lister
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