Director Chris Robinson is moving his career along in steps. One might even say he has a master plan that will eventually take him down the road to feature filmmaking. It started six years ago when he began directing music videos, first through Squeak Pictures, Los Angeles, and then through his own shop, Robot Films, New York. A year ago he signed with bicoastal/international Partizan to direct commercials and music videos, a move that he believes will bring him closer to that big feature in the sky.
"It’s all part of growing," says Robinson. "[Directing spots is] about learning how to tell a story in thirty or sixty seconds and the process is much more collaborative."
Robinson has already secured a name for himself in the clip biz, helming videos for the likes of P. Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Cyprus Hill and Alicia Keys, among others. And while he loves the freedom and energy associated with making music videos (he’s often the driving force behind the creative), he was missing some of the collaborative aspects of filmmaking, where there is a script and dialogue and he’s working to realize someone else’s vision.
"[With commercials] there are agencies involved and clients and I find the experience good because filmmaking is a collaborative medium," notes Robinson. "If you don’t want to collaborate in films, you can paint."
While others sometimes experience problems working within the confines of the agency approval process, Robinson embraces it. "It wasn’t as much a difficult transition as something that’s totally new," says Robinson. "But I understand it. I get the process and I think the more you do commercials, the more people trust you."
Lately, he’s been honing his collaboration skills on his first two commercial projects since joining Partizan—a pair of spots for And 1 featuring Kevin Garnett, the small forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves, titled "KG1" and "The Interrogation," out of Fallon Minneapolis; and a PSA sponsored by the Ad Council called "Freedom/Arrest," which was done via DDB Chicago.
"KG1" tells the story of Garnett’s rise to the NBA through a surreal, dreamlike sequence backed by a track by rap artist Styles. In the spot, Garnett plays basketball by himself in the rain. At one point he is surrounded by people—doubters—trying to stop him from playing. He breaks through that crowd and these same people turn into paparazzi photographers. They line up to take his picture as he drives the lane to dunk the ball.
Fallon copywriter Linus Karlsson and art director Paul Malmström had come up with the initial idea for the spot after brainstorming with Robinson in Cancun. "I had organized a retreat for my directors at Robot and those guys showed up," recalls Robinson. "You can imagine two Swedish dudes down in Cancun kicking it with us. It was something … we really bonded."
On that trip, they’d come up with an idea to illustrate Garnett’s journey from South Carolina to the NBA. Upon returning from Cancun, they met with Garnett to discuss their vision. "Kevin Garnett told us a three hour story about his life," explains Robinson. "Towards the end of this story he told us about how he finally figured out he wanted to go into the NBA—he played a game by himself out on the court and it started to rain, but he kept on playing. That became the basis for the spot."
The follow-up ad, "The Interrogation," shows Garnett being questioned in a holding cell about his dedication to the game. "Paul and Linus had come up with the idea because Kevin had been so questioned in the media. Then all at once we all thought we should do something like the interrogation scene in Scarface," recalls Robinson. "None of us had talked to each other, but we all had the same idea."
It’s that kind of creative synergy that brought Robinson to Partizan. Robinson initially sought Partizan out because he was a big fan of the directing collective Traktor, as well as helmer Michel Gondry, both of whom are with the shop. In his first meeting with Stephen Dickstein, owner/executive producer of the shop, the two talked for hours about their favorite films and about what Robinson wanted to do with his career, including his feature film aspirations. "I’d gone to a lot of places and the first thing people said was that I billed a lot of music videos," notes Robinson. "Dickstein was the first person to talk about what I wanted the next step in my career to be."
Looking ahead, Robinson hopes to bring Robot Films into the Partizan fold, allowing Robinson and Robot’s five clip directors—Jessy Terrero, Risa Machuca, W.D. Hogan, Kevin Defraidus and Vin Rock—to direct music videos through this entity. "I like Steve Dickstein and I want him to be involved with Robot," explains Robinson, "just like they want me to be involved with Partizan. It’s like bringing all our families together."
So far he’s been happy with the work this surrogate family has afforded him. Robinson was thrilled when the script for the Ad Council’s "Freedom/Arrest" through DDB that came his way because it was so different from the And 1 work. The PSA opens on a twentysomething guy getting pulled over by the cops. They ask him to step out of the car while they search his vehicle. The boy is visibly worried as the policemen pop the trunk and shine flashlights into the back seat. When the contraband is found, he’s cuffed and taken away. Was it drugs that did him in? No, in this Orwellian world, it was newspapers. The tagline: "Imagine America Without Freedom."
"I’m a huge fan of Blade Runner so I grabbed from that," says Robinson. "This was the future. I cast a young Harrison Ford who could tell a story with his face. I wanted cops that looked like they were doing their jobs, but were very by the book. For me, it’s never about the look of the film as much as it is about the subject matter. Jobs might be very different, but I still draw from the same brain space."
Robinson’s love of film started as a kid growing up in Baltimore. His father was a film fanatic and always took Robinson to the movies. When friends started forming their own rap groups, Robinson used his father’s VHS camera to shoot music videos for them. Following his passion for filmmaking, he enrolled in film classes while attending Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, Calif. After graduating, Robinson worked as a production assistant on a few films on the West Coast before moving back to Baltimore. During this time, Robinson entered a contest sponsored by Island Records to remake a LL Cool J video. He used his friends and family to act in his version of "Boomin’ Sister," and ended up winning first prize—a trip to New York to meet Mr. Cool J himself. "It’s so funny because all the people who were eighteen and PA-ing at the time of that trip are now the presidents of record labels," says Robinson.
The experience prompted Robinson to travel to New York as much as possible, where he would shoot clips for underground artists or rappers signed to small labels. "In my career I don’t think there’s been a watershed moment. It’s just my persistence and getting to know people and building it and getting better every time," he relates.
These days Robinson is dividing his time between Baltimore and Los Angeles, although he’s been so busy he claims he’s a nomad. He’s also splitting his time between commercials and music videos, but is admittedly energized by his recent spotmaking experiences, including a third project that’s in the pipeline, for Reebok out of Arnell Group Brand Consulting, New York, featuring Allen Iverson, the shooting guard for the Philadelphia 76ers. "To a degree I have to take it as it comes," notes Robinson, "but I’m really moving forward with commercials and I’m learning more about it every day."n
