Christopher Ranson on the Dardenne Brothers, Song Lyrics, and the Worst Town in the UK
Christopher Ranson is an award-winning director, working at the intersection of sports and docu-style commercials. Since becoming Christopher's rep, I’ve discovered more about his creative approach and his motivations as a creative person. When working on a project, he seeks inspiration from a range of sources, be that a song lyric, photo or scene from a film which informs his visual language: “I think I have two styles to my work, my favourite filmmakers are Lynne Ramsey, Ken Loach and The Dardenne Brothers, long takes, tonally focused. I also love big, bold, high energy films”.
Four things that have really stuck out to me through working with him: His fresh approach to working with talent, the authentic energy within his films, the way he brings creative research onto set to motivate his ideas and his instinct as a director.
From Aldershot, via Manchester to Soho
Christopher grew up in a place called Aldershot, he jokingly tells me that it was voted one of the worst places to live in the UK “on one of those polls”.
It’s interesting to discover the makings of a creative individual, and what the turning point was, be that a person or place. For Christopher, he was inspired by his uncle on his Dad’s side. He was a screenwriter from Manchester, which is where his paternal side of the family are from. He spent a great deal of time visiting the city and his uncle would introduce him to cult classics and art house cinema, which became a big inspiration for him and his brother: “He’d show us films we’d never seen before like the Princess Bride, they’d all be the best films ever.”
His dad shared this love for cinema, showing Christopher films like Blade Runner and Saving Private Ryan, he comments that for a young teen “Blade Runner is not an easy film to get on with, especially after you've seen Indiana Jones or Star Wars, you go into it expecting this Harrison Ford film”. He goes on to recall his first time watching The Thin Red Line with his dad: “I thought it was crap. But it really grew on me and I started to appreciate these films more as masterpieces”.
He came out of university with the slight misconception that you could leave uni and just make a feature film. He quickly found out (with shock horror) that this simply did not exist. Instead, he gained work as a junior editor in Soho and progressed from there. After four years, he wanted to pursue directing and started getting offers for more and more freelance work, in the end he made the leap to be a full-time freelance director but still tries to cut everything he makes. Between the shoot and the edit, he finds that “you consciously or unconsciously work with the tone on the shoot day, and in the edit, you sometimes discover the tone that you didn’t know existed. There is always something new to unpack, like a gift really…”.
Camera energy, tone and the talent
Christopher is deliberate in his visual tone. His work is characterised by frenetic camera energy and a naturalistic feeling which puts us at the centre of our talent’s universe.
He says “A lot of my work brings an energy, a bravado, attitude. If you were to shoot the same stuff on steadicam and tracking shots, it can feel arrogant, but if you have a more frenetic movement within it, it carries that bravado well”. This feels most apparent in his director’s cut of Non-Stop featuring footballer Mason Mount, for Sure. With the backdrop of the training pitch, we experience Mount’s POV through tactile locked-on camera motions, as he reaches for the can of Rexona. With fast pacing, we go as close as we can to experience what Mount experiences, the thud of footballs falling on the earth, the heavy whacking sound of the battle ropes. We lock ourselves into the action again with the camera in a tight profile shot of Mount, we feel the concentration and shallow breath as he steps (as light as a boxer) between marker dishes on the ground beneath him. It has a relentless feeling, sheer perspiration and big attitude - sitting comfortably amongst his portfolio.
Christopher has worked with numerous well-known names in the sporting world, including: David Beckham, Alex Greenwood and Virgil Van Dijk to name a few. Shooting big names with known personas, he is passionate about capturing the real energy of the character, finding out what makes them tick and representing them in ways that feel different to how we might have seen them before.
Inspiration and instinct
In the pitching stage, Christopher will research beyond the treatment for a single piece of creative inspiration to spur him along the creative journey; he takes this material into the shoot with him as an anchor point for his work. This token of inspiration could be anything, a piece of music, a scene from a film, an image, or song lyrics. During his lunch on set, he’d remind himself of this tonal reference, citing that “it’s almost like a pep talk at halftime!”.
Christopher prepares heavily for his shoots, creating what he calls “a safety blanket” for the day, but he loves to bring an open mind to shooting possibilities that can happen on set: “things can get thrown out the window” and “if an incidental moment happens when we shoot” he endeavours to capture these authentic happenings. For his Google documentary, he said the final film was “massively a response to how the tone felt on the day. But with the Dior Kids spot, I knew how I wanted to shoot that, the tone, it was more languid, more expression and bold”.
He brings a well-balanced humour and vulnerability into his films, playfully drawing the audience into the laugh. In Football Starts Here, we move through main character moments of notable female footballing talent, including the likes of Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter. We roll through the players repeating the controversial line: “Girls don’t like football”, looking down the barrel of the camera, Greenwood delivers the punch line: “...we love it” after effortlessly scoring a goal. The film has a stunning colour grade, delivered in 4:3 with incredible lens flare and smart use of low angles which champion the legendary talent.
Another side to Christopher’s work is this sensitive approach of docu-style commercials. In his spot for UEFA Wonderkids, Mohamed-Ali Cho, Xavi Simons and Luiz Henrique discuss the highs and lows of staying motivated, personal battles, family life and nurturing self-belief in the run-up to the UEFA Europa League. He is sympathetic to the immense pressure sports players are under in their outward image, noticing sometimes they retract into this for consistency, but in UEFA Wonderkids, he finds a way for the film to become a platform for each player to openly talk about their rise to fame. Cut amongst creative shots where car windows become a frame to look out from, or thoughtful camera motions guide us to what the player has foreshadowed through their words and eyes, the film is a space for them to reflect on their journey into the game.
His recent film for 3 Mobile is a merging of female footballing talent and words from well-known Scottish poet and playwright, Carol Anne Duffy. Carol Anne Duffy’s poem was still being refined on filming day, so they worked with a sketch of the idea, which Christopher said “allowed for more play and freedom on the day, it was more abstract so it gave way for the creation of a specific tone and feeling”. He set clear intentions before going into the film, it was really important to him to find a way to bridge the grassroots football teams and the well-known players together, whilst celebrating them for who they are. His approach was to have 2 DOPS, one documentary DOP called Stu McCardle - “who shot all the stuff with the grassroots teams, the second day was with the footballers, shot by Thomas Tyson- Hole”. Tom is a long-term collaborator of Christopher’s and they have a great short hand on set. His main goal was to make something that had real emotion to it -which he succeeded in- with this powerful piece of film.
Capturing the authentic moment
At Irresistible Studios, we always love how Christopher finds those breathtaking moments, and pairs them with high-energy shots to create a gripping narrative. His attention to detail of his subject, in combination with his electric camera techniques, offers a unique perspective. As such, he is planning on creating more narrative-led commercials, across the intersection of sports, fashion and lifestyle.
