Camera Obscura: 'Levels of Feck' with Brian Williams

Brian graduated with a first-class degree in design for print, film and TV from the College of Art and Design in Dublin. His award winning work (including his U2’s ZOOROPA album cover) continued when he transitioned to moving image -- sweeping up multiple Kinsale Shark awards and ICADs for his live action productions. A highly experienced director, Brian has worked on major international brands like BBC, Coke, Virgin, Toyota, Bridgestone, Rolls Royce and Lexus. His vocation is horripilation (making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up). When he has some downtime from winning awards, his other hobby of note is packing. Neatly. Perfectly. For every eventuality.

LBB> What is your niche craft obsession?

Brian> My craft obsession is all about the ‘levels of feck’ involved in a shot. It's measured from 1-11 and it's useful in many situations. ‘Feck’ is an Irish slang word, but it has many applications. It was originally used as an alternative to another famous swear word – also made famous by UK sitcom Father Ted – but my family, most specifically my brother, used it to describe ‘stuff’. An untidy house would have ‘feck’ everywhere. A road with debris could be covered in ‘feck’. You get the idea…

LBB> Where/ when/ how did you first come across this thing? 

Brian> I was shooting a big Bridgestone commercial in Slovenia and I needed to describe how a bridge surface should appear in a very dramatic shot that preceded a puncture. We wanted it to be super dramatic with wind and rain, and we had a short period to dress the bridge for the shot. Different areas of the road surface were mapped out for parts of the sequence and the stunt driver had to hit each point with precision. I soon realised you need a lot of set dressing to make the shots look right. The word ‘feck’ came to me as I was talking to the production designer and props person. For whatever reason, he liked the word and knew exactly what I was referring to – general crap, detail realism... He began using ‘levels of feck’ with the crew and it stuck. I’m still in touch with some of that crew and they use ‘levels of feck’ 1-11 to this day.

LBB> Was it an obsession straight away or something that has evolved over the years?

Brian> It was always something I was obsessed with but not able to fully articulate. My background is as a graphic designer and my two most influential mentors were at either end of the spectrum. One was ‘more is more’ – his design work was intricate and detailed, often seemingly chaotic and hand drawn. My other mentor came from a Dutch design school of thinking where form follows function and design is always restrained and perfectly crafted. This translated into how I saw motion picture images, how David Fincher’s framing and set design is SO incredibly restrained and minimal yet never empty. I think one of the best examples of this is everywhere in Manhunter. He gets cinematic minimalism so right and his composition is beautiful yet some of the sets or shots are so simple – a drab room with a desk and a phone – yet it never feels cheap or under-dressed. This is all down to his eye for detail. Look at Se7en. It’s dense and covered in ‘feck’. 

I’ve managed to introduce the concept to Not Just Any and their ECD Aidan Gibbons when we worked together on Boom Supersonic – along with NJA’s parent company Ntropic. We work very closely anyway and he got the shorthand instantly. The project was detailed and arty, technical and very abstract all rolled into one so getting the levels of ‘feck’ right became vital both for shots that were photoreal and shots that needed that ‘just so’ arty abstractness. We produced a beautiful film very fast as a concept and the Boom launch film got the green light from this almost straight away.

So for me, ‘levels of feck’ is more than just more stuff, it’s an ever-evolving balance of visual stimuli in many formats – CG, photographic, set building, set dressing – that all come together to create a perfect storytelling tone.

LBB> What are the most interesting debates or conversations you are having around this obsession?

Brian> It’s been something that has translated really well to people outside the business directly. My wife is a big movie fan and when we met it was one of the first things she mentioned in passing about a show we were watching. She said it had ‘great levels of feck’. That made me think, “she’s a keeper!” 

LBB> How widespread do you think this obsession is with your peers?

Brian> I’m not sure but wider than I first thought, I’m pretty sure it’s not always referred to as the ‘art of feck’, apart from a few crews that know me well and use the system but many of the ‘Irish Massive’ we work with in NJA like Aidan Gibbons and Cian McKenna know it pretty well.

LBB> Can you share any examples of work where that obsession really came to the fore and elevated the final production? Can you tell us about it and share links if possible?

Brian> I think my latest film for Midleton Whiskey has huge ‘levels of feck’ in the macro shots and in the CG. I made the little sets myself in my studio, so I was able to push to level 11 on many shots. When it came to some of the CG shots, it was the same. Doing all of the CG myself let me create a lot of technically complex and visually lush moments – making things look like vellum or etched metal or creating very detailed motion graphics using a host of experimental 3D techniques. 

LBB> For anyone just getting into your field, what advice would you share to help them get their head around this particular thing?

Brian> The devil really is in the details. It’s no coincidence that the company name for one of my mentors is ‘Detail’. I guess understanding the difference between ‘more is more’ and ‘less is more’ is essential in creative decision making.