Submarine Channel

2Pause: The Docu-Style of Ewen Spencer

It’s so refreshing to see how some creators are so infected with the docu-style virus that everything they do, whether it’s photography, ads, shorts or  music videos, has to revolve around the same ideas and aesthetics. Such is the case with director and photographer Ewen Spencer.

In 1997, freshly graduated from the School of Art and Design at the University of Brighton, Spencer was quickly snapped up by The Face & Sleazenation magazine. During his editorial time there, his interests in subcultures, music, graphic art and youth culture, soon became apparent, together with his skills of seemingly achieving a strong bond with his subjects. According to his bio: “What separates him from other social-documentarians is the feeling you get from the pictures that he knows and likes his subjects, that they trust him enough to allow him entry and that he has an understanding of what’s going on without being embedded in the scenes himself.”

Following a natural progression, in 2001 Spencer embarked on the Teenagers project where he documented British adolescents’ experiences with socializing, dating and sex through photographs.

The exposure Teenagers brought Spencer also facilitated his connections with the music world, the director collaborating with The Street and The White Stripes for their covers art and behind the scenes tour materials. Years later, Spencer would also work as a director for music videos.

For Massive Attack “Flat of the Blade” he chooses a Birmingham gang member as his subject. Using the same aesthetic as in his photographs, he successfully portrays the idea that he truly knows his protagonist: up, close and personal.

‘Flat of the Blade’ – Massive Attack from Ewen Spencer on Vimeo.

A marginal character is chosen also for Naughty Boys’ “Fuckery” promo, this time the director focusing on the universe and portrait of a suburban goth youth. In an interview for Promo News Spencer says: “With this piece for Naughty Boy I was attracted to the uncompromising nature of the MCs performance – it’s unabashed escapism. I always want to capture that existential youthful moment – clean living under difficult circumstances, or vicariously living out the fictionalized aggression of an MC from a world not so far away. Yet it is a long way away if all you know is an uneventful suburb in North London.”

from We Folk on Vimeo.

And the flirtation between Ewen Spencer, the music world and docu-style, does not stop with these music videos. Recently, he released a short documentary for Dazed Digital’s weekly series Doc X,  providing a nostalgic look back at the early days of the UK garage scene, with the high and lows which ultimately led to the genre’s downfall. Brandy & Coke naturally continues the aesthetic of Spencer’s previous work, while taking things further.

Brandy & Coke by Ewen Spencer and Create Studios featuring Mike Skinner from WeLoveCreate on Vimeo.

Clearly, Ewen Spencer is not yet done with exploring this space and its characters and whether his future project will be another music video, documentary (long or short), book or photography exhibition, we’re sure it will be wickedly exciting!