Hungarian version / Magyar változat
This year, Little Mix celebrates their 10th anniversary, and throughout the years, they gave us many iconic music videos. Their latest for their track „Confetti” featuring Saweetie is without doubt one of their most creative ones. The director behind it is none other than Samuel Douek, for whom it was a dream come true to work with the girls, especially that the opportunity came only 2 years after he had made his first music video.
Samuel told us about the hardest part of shooting the video, the funniest blooper that happened on set, what it was like to work with Little Mix, how the concept for the video came about, and how much time it took to turn the girls into boys – exclusive interview with Samuel Douek.
How did you get into directing music videos? What inspired you the most?
I’m not one of those directors who claims to have picked up a camera at 3 years old and never looked back. Since I was a teenager, I wanted to be an Architect so I trained for 7 years in the field. It wasn’t until I actually worked in Architecture that I realised it was definitely not for me. During my Masters, I started making documentaries about gay bars closing down and fell in love with filmmaking. So, at 26 years old, I gave up on my career and pursued a life in film. It sounds easier than it was, I really struggled to break into the industry and it wasn’t until 2019 that I got signed to a production company and started making my first music videos for emerging artists. My inspiration takes many different forms. From my own experiences as a queer man to sci-fi novels and overhead bus conversations. I always note down ideas in my phone as they spring to mind.
Congratulations on the „Confetti” video. What was the best part of working with Little Mix?
I’ve always been a fan of Little Mix and their music, so the fangirl inside of me was really excited to work with them. But the best part of working with them was watching professionals do their thing. They’ve been together for 10 years now and they are so in control of what they’re doing. Everything is calm and laughs until the camera is rolling, action is called and they turn it on like the superstars they are. The other amazing thing was getting to cast some incredible queer people from London. It was important to me to have representation of the diverse community and celebrate the city that I was born in.
What was your first impression of the girls after meeting them?
I met the girls at rehearsal after a handful of informal zoom calls. My first impression is that they are just normal girls who like having a proper laugh. They reminded me of my sister who is endlessly cracking jokes, they’re a lot of fun to be around and made me feel so comfortable. It’s always a little nerve-wracking when you’re meeting a big artist for the first time. They’ve seen it all before so you want to show that they can trust you. By the end of it, they seemed really happy and excited to be working with me. Hopefully they are still happy!
Did you instantly have ideas for the video when you first heard the song „Confetti”?
I first heard „Confetti” when the album was released in 2020 and knew this would be an instant hit. To be honest, even though I always hoped that I would direct a Little Mix video one day, I didn’t think it would happen so soon, so I was surprised and excited to pitch on the track’s revamp featuring Saweetie. I had a million ideas when I first heard it but I knew that I wanted to do something that celebrated underground nightlife. The film is a love letter to London.
How did the concept of the video come about? Whose idea was it to turn the girls into boys in particular?
The brief sent by the label had a few guiding keywords like ‘Club, Underground, Playing with Gender’, so I really just went wild and proposed a few different ideas including a dance off between Little Mix and their male alter-egos. This was the one everyone loved so we went with it. The girls told me that they have wanted to transform into men for years because they always wondered what their careers would have been like if they were men. Given their 10 year anniversary and this being their first video as a three-piece, it felt like the perfect time to have fun with an alter-ego.
Where did you shoot the video and how much time did it take?
We shot the video at FOLD, a nightclub in East London that I have been to many times before the Pandemic. It was a 2 days shoot, the first with Little Mix as girls and the second with Little Mix as boys after a morning of prosthetics. It was so amazing being inside a club again and I was really happy to support a venue that I know and love. It’s been so difficult for nighttime venues during the pandemic and it was fun to be reminded of what a club looked like!
How did you manage to shoot Saweetie’s scene from a different location? Was it hard?
Due to the pandemic, we were unable to fly Saweetie to London from LA and I was unable to go to the States. So, we set up a 2nd Unit directed by my good friend and collaborator Mattias Russo-Larsson. The idea was that Saweetie would be the boss bitch on the door of the club deciding who gets in and who gets the boot. It wasn’t hard but because of the time difference, we started shooting in LA at 2am London time, so I was a bit out of it watching remotely on a live feed.
How much time did it take to turn the girls into boys?
It took AGES. The poor girls had done a full intense day of shooting the day before, got home around 11pm and had to be up at 4am to go into prosthetics for day 2. They arrived on set after lunch time but were on top form and ready to go for it on set. The prosthetics artist Alexa Riva-Ravina and her team did an incredible job.
Which one was everyone’s favourite scene to shoot?
I think the roof scene was everybody’s favourite as the setting with the gorgeous London background was just so special and the sun was setting. The weather in London this winter has been awful and we were so blessed with the most amazing weather at the end of March. It was a moment.
Which one is your favourite scene from the video?
I loved filming the toilet scenes. At first, the label and the girls weren’t sure it was going to work but we had some time in between a lighting change so I said, ‘let’s just shoot it and if we don’t like it, it won’t make the edit’. Safe to say it worked really well!
What was the funniest blooper that happened on set?
The toilet scene was honestly hilarious to film. Nothing was scripted. I just gave the girls pointers or topics to discuss and they ran with it. There were a few occasions where I committed the cardinal sin of filmmaking and started laughing whilst we were recording sound. I just couldn’t hold it in.
What’s your favourite memory from the shoot?
My favourite memory from the shoot is after we wrapped on Day 2 and everyone was busying themselves striking equipment etc., Perrie, Leigh-Anne and Jade came up to me individually and just said a big thank you and gave me a hug for everything. It was such a huge amount of work pulling together this shoot that had 88 people on set in 2 and a half weeks so it was lovely to know that they were really happy with what we managed to shoot.
What was the hardest part of shooting the video?
The hardest part was probably the final shot on the 2nd day. It was Perrie’s solo scene as a boy in the 2nd verse on the stairs and we just couldn’t get it right. The camera was moving too slowly or a dancer wasn’t in the right position. Everyone was exhausted after 2 days and Perrie had been up since 4am. It must have been the 18th take or something until we got the right one but in the end it was worth it.
Which artists would you like to work with the most?
My dream is to make a music video for Ariana Grande. And by hook or by crook I will make it happen. I also would love to work with SZA, Dua Lipa, Sabrina Claudio. Call me.
What advice would you give to aspiring directors and filmmakers?
Just start making. I had never made a film before until I was 25. I got my first commissions off the back of the documentaries I had made completely by myself and I got signed to a production company because of the small fashion films I had made with friends. Contact people you think are doing interesting things on Instagram, get a crew together, borrow a camera and just start shooting!
