Chaos Chaser - Inside the Mind of Director, Harry Cauty

Harry Cauty has a geniality about him that comes across instantly. On the day of our interview, he’s wearing a hat and has an unassuming demeanour. He’s mild mannered and speaks with a hard to pin down twang, singular to someone who’s grown up in Brighton and came to adulthood chasing footage around London. Now, his work has edges and is held together with the refined, structured disorder that defines it. 

Graffiti, Music, and a Canon 550

Harry reckons ending up in the arts was always inevitable. Growing up in Brighton — a place where you can’t stretch your leg without kicking a creative — as well as being from a family of artists, meant there was pretty fertile ground for Harry’s artistic development. “I was lucky, to be honest. Lucky to be able to pursue creative things and live in a place that encouraged it.”

It all began with a keen interest in music, followed by a love affair with graffiti — something that came full circle in his 2022 work, ‘It’s a Brum Thing’ which was commissioned by the BBC, celebrating the launch of the Commonwealth Games. It wasn’t until he hit his mid-teens that he got into the visual side of things. Harry remembers being in bands when along with his friend they decided, “fuck it, should we just make a video?” Armed with a trusty yet bulky Canon 550 which he’d borrowed from his dad, he fondly recalls roaming around Brighton, completely clueless, “shooting some weird shit.” But as we know, practice makes perfect. Flash forward a couple of years and the music videos were still happening, but by then he knew what he was doing. With the Brighton music scene expanding, Harry began meeting the labels of different artists and building his network.

But the videography, even at this stage, meant a lot to him; “apart from myself and a few of my mates, no-one was doing it in Brighton. It felt like something we could own, in a way.” Way more than a mere hobby or passing interest, film became a passion that would shape his creative journey for years to come. 

Soon after, Harry would shoot his first music video, “we were driving around East London, with the boot of a rental car open and cameras strapped in with seatbelts shooting out of the back.” He smiles, speaking about those early days, “someone found old behind-the-scenes footage the other day and Jack was there operating a smoke machine. We were just babies back then, you know?”

What the Fuck Did I Just Watch

We asked Harry about how he would describe his style, he said, “Hopefully a little bit funny. It’s about laughter; being surreal, bizarre and slightly odd;” he continues, “if I can make someone laugh and also say, ‘what the fuck did I just watch?’ I think that’s kind of the reaction I want to get from my work.” But where did this come from? According to Harry, “There’s always been something in me creatively that loves chaos and confusion. I love doing that kind of work, and that’s exactly the kind of work I enjoy watching as well.” This is a trait partly inherited from his parents, who encouraged rule breaking if it was in the pursuit of creative expression. 

His style has evolved over time to take on its own bespoke shade. Dabbling in the heavier, deep and meaningful stuff never felt like home for Harry, “I did some of those projects back in the day when I was still trying to find my voice but I never felt like it fit. But then there’s this other side of putting a smile on someone's face or even raising their eyebrows, and I’d rather use my energy doing that..” The rustic nature of the early days of filmmaking is something he still finds himself drawn to, “I like getting my hands dirty, I think that’s when you’re able to relay that little bit more chaos.” 

When looking at the kind of work he admires, Harry speaks in high esteem about the recent satirical and VFX work of Walid Labri of DIVISION, also citing the commercial work from the team at MEGAFORCE. “I love anything that pushes the obscurity of concepts; both in camera and in post” he explains. But in terms of comedy, he loves all things dry British humour. His favourite writers include satire legends like Armando Iannuci, Simon Blackwell and Jesse Armstrong; painting a clear picture of the underlying pillars that have shaped his style.

Fat Budgets & Meaningful Work

“What draws you to commercials?” we ask. “Budgets” Harry says simply, in a moment of candour completely typical of him. Advertising has always appealed to him, but he admits it’s a natural progression for a director; luckily, the briefs are usually well suited to his style because they involve a lot of fun. But there’s love for the challenge involved too — trying to squeeze the portrayal of a message into such a short timeframe, means constantly stretching creative muscles. For Harry, above all else, it’s the end product that makes it all worthwhile, “seeing your vision come to life is really the reward, that’s why everyone is here.” 

One of his latest spots celebrated the birthday of EA Sports FIFA 2023. The ad follows a team of scientists fumbling to create a birthday party for the FIFA Ultimate team. It’s a two and a half minute watch, but it’s filled to the brim with all of his signature mayhem. Harry described the brief as having three pillars, “there was a science lab, sarcasm and a birthday theme. We got hold of the script and usually I can’t help myself from getting involved in the writing in some way. On this job, I contributed to the writing on most scenes. Given that this was my second project with EA, there had been trust built there.” Working with fictional characters however, was the stand out highlight from this project, “It’s great to have that bit of creative freedom to carve out what the ad should look like. Luckily that matched what was in their heads too.” 

There’s an unintended depth to this kind of work. In a world filled with so much darkness; sometimes, offering a temporary moment of respite in the form of a chuckle, or a raised eyebrow, is one of the most meaningful things a creator can do. Often it provides exactly the kind of glitch in the matrix we need — a palette cleanser of sorts. Harry does just that.