Into the Library with Miles Jay
'The Creative Library' is LBB’s exciting new launch. It’s been months - years, probably - in the making and we reckon our re-tooled archive will change the way you work, whether you’re a company looking to store and share your work, or a marketer or creative looking for new partners or inspiration for your latest project.
This isn’t a dusty old archive. It’s an easy-to-search, paywall-free library where all our members can store and share all of their reels and creative work.
To coincide, we launched regular feature called ‘Into the Library’ where we catch up with the industry’s most influential directors and creatives to talk about their career highlights, past and present. Think of it as a reel showcase with a big dollop of personality. We interview directors and top creatives about their favourite commercials and music videos from their catalogues to find out how these works shaped them.
Entering LBB’s creative library today is SMUGGLER’s director Miles Jay. The Emmy award-winning Canadian filmmaker is known for his intimate, narrative work in both the commercial and music video spaces, where he has directed Super Bowl spots and internationally recognised pieces for the likes of singer Leon Bridges, and brands Bose, Squarespace, Volvo and more.
Speaking to LBB’s Ben Conway, Miles discusses nine pieces from his career so far that hold the most significance for him, ranging from a Bond-esque blockbuster to a comedic spot with legendary actor John Malkovich to an emotionally and politically complex video for the iconic rapper Jay Z.
Leon Bridges - ‘River’
Much of my early work was chosen strategically. Pieces on a chess board. I found myself just grinding through, a little jaded. ‘River’ was the first project I made just because I loved it. The idea was based on a pitch for a feature film I didn’t get. People told me early in my career that luck is opportunity meeting preparation. [You] prepare so that when an opportunity comes, you can strike. This song landed in my lap as I had finished so much research for this film I had just lost. So I put blinders on and didn't think about anything else until this video was done.
The video was a brave departure for Leon - a rawer direction. Simple stories you don't see depicted after a riot or protest. The domestic moments and the beauty that people don't see on the news. It was also the first project I didn’t solicit a lot of feedback on. That was therapeutic. Growing up with a father and a sister who are filmmakers, always farming your work out for the approval of others... some veteran executive producer tells you how your work should be… you don’t ever learn to trust yourself. It was the first time I simply followed my intuition. I felt super connected. That’s where genuine confidence comes from. It's still one of the most meaningful experiences I've had.
Jay-Z - ‘Smile’
The emotional and political stakes were complex. The identity of a queer black woman in her 70s is pretty far from a younger, Caucasian, Canadian man. There was a lot of preparation that had to be done, but filmmaking is about empathy. If you can't gesture to feel another’s experience, why tell stories? That's a delicate conversation at the moment, but that’s what I believe.
‘Smile’ was about insight. As a child, Jay didn't know what his mother was going through. He saw the soul of his inspiration, couldn’t know the pain she was going through then, keeping secrets. Much later in life, he was able to understand what was going on.
I wanted to meet his mom. She read the script and thought it was pretty close, but was understandably concerned about being perceived in different lights. I didn't get to speak to her until the day before the shoot. And then I wanted her in the video, so that was difficult because she prefers to never be on camera. But she read a poem she wrote to her son after she heard the song. She was scared. It was emotional.
Squarespace - ‘Who Is JohnMalkovich.com’ and ‘Calling JohnMalkovich.com’
Heineken - 'Daniel Craig vs James Bond'
There's often more truth in humour than drama. I was tasked with making Daniel seem like himself. He was sick of doing ads where he plays Bond-lite. We got some funny moments. Lots of life’s absurdity there. It was so much fun, but probably the most stressful project of my life. There’s a beast of an army around anything surrounding the Bond franchise. P.S. - I'd totally direct a Bond film. I know how difficult those films are to make, how many people you’ve got to please, but I grew up watching them every Friday night with my dad. It would be a dream. Alas, this was the closest thing so far. We got to make some Bond-ish thing. We shot in only two days and I cut a seven-minute film, with tons of locations and moving. It was ambitious. One day we're shooting a chase scene in town, immediately followed by shooting in the middle of a mountain.
Volvo - ‘Late’
Much of advertising drowns in doing too much. Simplicity is always the most direct path to the heart. Spike Jonze always talks about skateboarding influencing his creative style because you have to use one ledge and do all these different things. Besides the opening, we shot this whole spot in 25 minutes. My goal here was to pare down the artifice as much as possible. We just captured the feelings between a real father-daughter. I think shooting the scene stimulated real feelings when she was dressed up to get married. It’s important to trust in the audience’s emotional intelligence.
Bose - ‘Alive’
This is the script that surprised me the most. A kid on a scooter going downhill with a kiss on his cheek...? I hated it when I first read it. I challenged myself to think about how to make it something I could get excited about. I know that feeling of being isolated at a high school dance. Hormones going bananas, no confidence, driven by fear, trying to fit in... I remember enjoying walking away from a dance more than the dance itself. There’s relief when it’s over. You feel alive because you went through this intense time, but it’s a fine line between relatable and cliché.
Sometimes you show up and do everything you can and no magic happens. But sometimes the universe grants you something special. I guess we make films to stay open to these gifts. This project had an abundance of that.
Senseo - ‘Wake Up’
I was regretting my lack of presence in a former relationship. Never taking moments of pause to have a cup of coffee and catch up with yourself. I ran with that feeling. The whole thing was improvisational and playful. We had a loose narrative, but I wanted it to feel like a stream of consciousness. At first, the client was wondering what was going on - 'Why are there strobe lights and a hand-cranked camera?'.
I can feel my brain always wanting to play in new genres and tones as a means of exploration. Here, I was pushing to make something quiet, spontaneous and romantic.
ESPN - ‘It Can Wait’
[This was] a low-budget project with basically no client or agency involvement. I pitched exactly what I thought needed to happen. Approaching pitches with that kind of certainty grants you these wonderful opportunities. Your artistic vision is 20/20. You develop quick instincts. Once you have that point of view and feel confident, you execute without second thought. If uncertainty is gnawing for a while, something’s off and it needs to be considered.
Werner Herzog had done an interview campaign for ESPN the previous year. I did not want to follow Herzog, because he’s so good, so we had to do something different. I knew if they let me tell Fletcher’s story without interviews, it could be great. Show the crash. Tell the story cinematically. That’s where the empathy would come from.
The Prince’s Trust - 'Parallel Lives'
Advertising is more interested in concepts than feelings. Our egos want to be clever, but what our souls are yearning for is connection. I’ve tried to move away from overly conceptual work because I can feel it’s just my ego talking, not my inner self. Now I try to roll with intuition. I don’t always know where it’s going, but I can feel it as trust.
Initially, there was no journey, no character arc, no mystery or intrigue [with 'Parallel Lives']. Just an idea. My responsibility was, ultimately, to discover feelings within the concept. Intrigue comes from tension, contrast, conflict. Deepening. Usually, jobs that are this technical (split screen meant matching the performances and timings) get in the way of unearthing raw emotion, but I’m proud of the balance we managed to find.
