DOM&NIC, From School Gigs to Directing David Bowie
Iconic British directing duo DOM&NIC, composed of Nic Goffey and Dominic Hawley, are widely-known for their surreal music videos and commercial work. Most famous for their long-standing collaboration with The Chemical Brothers, DOM&NIC have directed videos like ‘Hey Boy Hey Girl’ (1999), ‘Believe’ (2005), and ‘Wide Open’ (2016). DOM&NIC’s work blends visual effects, edge-of-your-seat storytelling and an eerie, dream-like aesthetic.
Dominic and Nic met in their teens, at a comprehensive school in Wheatley, outside Oxford in the late ‘80s. Close in age and both musical from early on, the two soon found themselves jamming and learning guitar chords to songs by The Smiths, The Cure, or The Jesus and Mary Chain during lunchtime at school.
Having musical families, hanging out at local gigs, and having similar taste in music, Dom and Nic quickly developed what would be the start of a blooming friendship. But their similarities didn’t end at their joint love of music: “We even both loved the VW Beetle car,” laughs Nic, “and both had clapped out barely running Beetles as our first ever cars.”
Supergrass and the Path to Filmmaking
After a few years of raves, parties (with friends they still keep up with, including the members of rock band Supergrass) and playing in various bands, following sixth form, Dom went to university in Bristol; Nic followed but “promptly dropped out of the poly to start the directing duo.” Neither of them went to film school.
The abovementioned band Supergrass actually had a huge part in DOM&NIC forming as a directing duo. Dom explains that when the band signed their record deal, with Nic’s brother Danny being their drummer, Nic started shooting their early gigs on video.
On this, Nic explains that he knew he loved music, but “preferred taking photos, designing posters, and attempting to make films,” over actually being part of a band himself. So, when his brother’s band started playing in Oxford, he felt “a powerful calling” to document those early gigs on home video, making “shonky-punky music videos,” mostly for fun.
Dom continues: “I was really into film and had started shooting shorts on Super 8. Nic was into that too, so I went with him to buy a camera and we started shooting the gigs together, on film.”
At the time, Dom was also doing some running and art department work on commercials, to get himself on film sets.
“When the label commissioned the video for the first single off Supergrass’ album, we got our break. The commissioner rolled her eyes a bit at letting us lose with 15 grand and no experience, but she brilliantly put us together with Oil Factory Films, who at the time were pretty much the best music video company in town.”
Everything went brilliantly, and Oil Factory ended up asking Dom and Nic if they could represent them for future projects. “We were so young, we couldn’t believe our luck,” says Dom. “They teamed us up with producer John Madsen and within two years, we were making videos for David Bowie!”
Breaking into the Industry and Game-Changing Projects
Their first professional project together, for Supergrass, was the music video for ‘Mansize Rooster’. Dom calls the process “incredible” and says they were both “super prepared,” having drawn colour storyboards and driven around in a van with the producer to pick up appropriate props.
“We got to learn what a professional production company does,” says Nic, “We stayed overnight at the producers’ flat, so we could get to the call time in London on time. We drew detailed caricature storyboards out in pencil and coloured wax crayons to show the crew, who raised an eyebrow.”
This was the time DOM&NIC also worked with legendary DoP Seamus McGarvey, who was patient and kind enough with them as they were learning about art direction, cameras, special effects, cranes, all on the job.
“We were like two kids in a sweetshop,” says Dom, “We loved every minute of it!”
Fast forward from their first ever project to the one they’re most proud of and both Dom and Nic struggle to choose from their wealth of creative endeavours. Nic names Supergrass’ ‘Alright’, David Bowie’s ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’ and The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Setting Sun’, ‘Believe’ and ‘Wide Open’ – all of these projects, he says, “changed [their] lives” at each stage, moving the needle on their careers, knowledge, and development as filmmakers.
When it comes to commercials, Nic explains that the two always try to make every next film fresher and more interesting than the previous one. That said, he can’t help but feel proud of all of the projects they’ve done for charities, on minimal budget, all with the goal of achieving the idea. “The Prince’s Trust film, The Shelter ‘House of Cards’ film and the most recent Shelter and Barnardo’s films stand out for me,” he adds.
For Dom it’s equally hard to pick but, after some deliberation, he lands on The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Wide Open’ – “It looks so simple and effortless, and that was the intention, but the challenge was ground breaking technically and, more importantly, it has real emotional depth, driven by human performance.”
But of course, all great projects require overcoming creative challenges. As Nic puts it, “all filmmaking is inevitably a compromise,” so working in a team is what gives creatives the best chance to minimise this compromise: “you halve the odds against you.”
Recently, using virtual production (VP) in their work has created new challenges for DOM&NIC, both when it comes to using it as it was intended, and “hacking” it and coming up with alternatives.
For example, in the recent Chemical Brothers music video for ‘Live Again’, Dom suggested the basic one-take in a VP studio, with hidden transitions to different scenes. “This was a super complicated idea to produce,” says Nic, which led them to brainstorm separately and come back together with a few solutions.
“Dom had the idea for a wistful, magical feeling scene in a desert where a tumble weed rolls into the foreground around the dancer and then out again – something you can’t do physically in VP, as the screen is a physical barrier. Without realising it, I’d been thinking about the same creative challenge, but had come up with an ominous huge black alien disc flying into the scene. We were both trying to bring something extra to the VP process,” explains Nic.
Last year, the films the duo created for Barnardo’s and Shelter both had very limited production time and, of course, budgets, but were trying to achieve ambitious goals. “Finding ways to deliver this level of execution with limited resources required focus,” says Dom. “We had to be really hands-on, coordinated and inventive, but also generous with each other in terms of our individual ideas.”
“No Rules,” Only Ambition and Mutual Understanding
Generosity is one among a long list of things that make Dom and Nic work well together, but it all goes back to the things that brought them together in sixth form – love for the same music, the same people, and the same art. “We have a common baseline understanding of what’s cool and what’s not cool,” adds Nic. “Two heads are better than one to find the best results. A bit of competition is also healthy, as long as it doesn’t cloud your judgement.”
Even when coming at ideas from different perspectives, as Dom and Nic often do, collaboration and discussion is what brings them on their shared path.
“After that, we’re united on set – two directors, one vision.”
“I respect Nic’s opinions of art, film, music, politics and so on and hopefully that’s reciprocal,” agrees Dom. “Having that said, we are by no means carbon copies of each other in terms of everything we read, watch, and listen to, so together, we have more reference points, as well as individual life experiences to draw on when creating.”
He further explains that in their creative process, the two don’t necessarily ‘divide’ their roles, but naturally tend to focus on different aspects, based on each of their feelings when it comes to the project. “There’s no rules, as long as we complement each other and make the best film.”
Riddled with small disagreements, strong emotions, laughter, and moments of returning to the roots of their long-standing friendship, the creative process of DOM&NIC is by no means picture-perfect, but it always produces the perfect result. Stress and personal issues often bleed into our jobs, but for Nic, having a friend helps alleviate this stress:
“That’s why it’s great, working in a team rather than alone. I imagine it could get lonely.”
To him, understanding, empathy, and making space for mistakes is what creates a healthy working relationship and a healthy creative process. Dom adds: “We’ve worked together for a long time, and we are getting better at keeping emotion out of creative disagreement, but it’s impossible to do that completely. Emotion is important when tied to creative passion. And when it’s truly about belief in what’s good, it’s easier to deal with and can show the other how the project can improve.”
Creativity Born from Lasting Bonds
When it comes to inspiration, Nic admits that it’s stories like their own that move him most – ones rooted in childhood friendship, and a bond that stands the test of time.
“Lennon-Macartney, or Jagger-Richards… Those are musical hero duos that we love. They were friends from school or since their teen years like us, so maybe that’s part of it. It’s a slightly romantic idea that friends from school can work together successfully for 30 years… But it happened to us.
“I do like it when people we meet who don’t know us seem amazed that we have this long-standing partnership all the way from school. In fact, one of the assistant directors we work with also went to school with us!”
It was during those days that the best ideas came at the pub, while playing pool. Now, Dom and Nic have become DOM&NIC, live in different cities and have families, but they still find the time to spend that valuable time together, and with the large group of shared friends they’ve accumulated over the years. A lunch with their producer, John Madsen (who Dom points to as inspiration too), an art exhibition, or just a pint. “It does feel like we’re in a band together,” Dom adds.
So, from learning the opening guitar riff from ‘This Charming Man’ by The Smiths, to teaching each other camaraderie, perseverance, patience, humility, and courage, this duo’s story is one for the ages. Easy in each other’s company after all these years, with a heap of amazing memories to share around the fire, having seen the world together, and shared incredible friends along the way, Dom and Nic are the same but different, in the best way.
Nic leaves us with this: “We’ve managed to do all this together and still stay friends through it all. Being a directing duo isn’t a design for life, we’re all ultimately individuals. I think Dom and I are just very lucky – we met, we got on so well, we got a break, we got to work together for 30 years. I’m very proud of what we’ve created together.”
