Raghav Rampal

Collider

What was your first professionally directed work and when was it?
I’m not sure if this counts, but my friend and I somehow got the opportunity to produce and direct a music video for a local artist who had $500 in 2020. We somehow convinced an art gallery to let us shoot there, wrangled 15 extras, and hired some lights and a lens, and shot it on our DSLR. It was mayhem, and I don’t think I knew what I was doing, but that’s the first time someone hired me to direct something.

How did you get into directing?
When I was 10, I was a huge fan of pro-wrestling. I convinced my mum to use her flybuys points to “buy” a little JVC camcorder so that I could make little stopmotion videos with my action figures, and film live shows of our little friend group’s trampoline wrestling federation. From there, I just held onto that camera, and made a bunch of little films with my sister as we were growing up – like Mission Impossible spinoffs, and horror films. I just kind of kept going with that camera, until I could get the next one, and then the next etc etc.

What is your most recent project?
I’m working on a bunch of stuff at the moment, so it’s hard to say, but I’ve just finished a bunch of jobs with Collider (who I love working with a lot) for Mazda, Cricket Australia and Macquarie Bank, and a couple of music videos for Hellcat Speedracer, The Buoys & DZ Deathrays. As I write this, I’m about to shoot another MV for Skeleten, and a commercial for New Balance! Super thankful to be doing a bunch.

What is the best part of being a director?
Definitely the part where I point my fingers, and people do things haha. I think directing is a such a loose job. I’m really just making decisions, and guiding the ship creatively. The best part is working with people, negotiating ideas, and figuring out how we’re gonna make this thing good.

What is the worst part of being a director?
I don’t like when people aren’t being real with you, because you’re the “director” and therefore they don’t want to step on your toes, or challenge you. I feel like that can really kill the potential of making something great, and coming up with fresh ideas.

What is your current career focus: commercials and branded content, television, movies? Do you plan to specialize in a particular genre–comedy, drama, visual effects, etc.?
I really just like making shit, so I think I’m gonna continue down my path of working on things that interest me, and figuring out ways to make them interesting. I really like the challenge of making a music video with barely any cash, or trying to make a commercial feel fresh or fun, or interesting. I wanna make some movies too, and tell stories about characters on screen. And hopefully stay true to something about myself while making whatever it is I’m making.

Have you a mentor and if so, who is that person (or persons) and what has been the lesson learned from that mentoring which resonates with you?
I’ve had a lot of mentors through the years. An earlier mentor would be Gabriel Gasparinatos, who gave me a lot of confidence in my work, which lead to a bunch of opportunities. He allowed me to have a passenger ride while he worked on commercials, writing treatments, being on set. It was so important in figuring out how I want to do my thing. Recently, it’s been the EP’s at Collider, who offer me a lot of guidance in terms of where else I can go. I feel super lucky having so many people around me who support what I’m doing, and how I do it.

Who is your favorite director and why?
I can’t say one…I love the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. He crafts some very complicated characters, and each revisit adds a new meaning to a scene, and they feel honest. I think about his movies a lot. I fucking love Jonathan Glazer – he’s a great model for what a director who has no bounds. I love all his films…Birth is especially slept on. There’s a bunch more, who make compelling films to me, Park Chan-Wook, Ari Aster, Julia Ducournau, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Gaspar Noe, David Lynch, Sidney Lumet. Everyone offers something different. This is like a conversation that goes on for a couple hours type question.

What is your favorite movie? Your favorite television/online program? Your favorite commercial or branded content?
Another hard to answer question…there’s lots of films to love. I watch PTA’s The Master a lot – it’s such a blurry movie with so much to be rediscovered. I watched Cure recently, which was so fucking good. I love Cache, and Amour, 3 Idiots, and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (this one for nostalgia). And definitely Oldboy. I watched All We Imagine As Light recently…so heartbreaking but so good. And Challengers is definitely one of my fave’s this year. City of God. There’s so many good films. I recently finished watching Shameless (TV Show), the U.S. version, which I loved. I loved watching William H Macy walking around, and The Gallaghers somehow felt very comforting to watch. I got super sucked into The Ultimatum, Queer Love on Netflix – the betrayals are craaaazy on that show. I love everything that Walid Labri does in the commercial world. I love all the MVs and commercials Jonathan Glazer’s made, especially the “Karma Police” music video. I love commercial Valentin Petit had made. Oscar Hudson, also makes some amazing work. Aube Pierre, Aisultan Seitov, Ian Pons Jewell. Anything Tyler the Creator makes for his own brands is sick.

Tell us about your background (i.e., where did you grow up? Past jobs?)
I was born in Kolkata, India, and lived there for 10 years, before my parents migrated to Melbourne, Australia. We then moved to Sydney, maybe when I was 14. Went back to India here and there to see our family. I did a bunch of creative projects while doing random jobs. I’ve done retail and fast food jobs. I worked in a call center in sales and customer service. The last “real” job I had was as a medical receptionist for a year and a half, before getting a job at a production company as front of house/creative. I feel super privileged to be able to make a living as a director nowadays.

Have you had occasion to bring your storytelling/directorial talent to bear in the Metaverse, tapping into the potential of AR, VR, AI, NFTs and/or experiential fare? If so, tell us about that work and what lessons you have taken away from the experience?
Nothing in the metaverse, but I did make a music video for 1300 when stable diffusion for AI had just come out. We made that as an experiment, and it wasn’t too hard to learn and play around with. It was fun making the video, but we realized at the end of the day it only worked because we came at it with a fun idea, and it wouldn’t have worked had it just been random AI images. I feel like AR and VR are tools to tell stories. I’m sure as the tech advances, people will figure out a way to make something interesting with it. We should probably regulate AI before it’s too late?

Contact

Collider https://www.collider.com.au/directors/raghav-rampal/ Contact Rachel Ford-Davies via email here.
Videohead https://www.videohead.com.au/ Conatct Raghav via email here.