Where Hector Bell’s Love for Directing Began

As a director, Hector Bell's biggest strength is being able to inject a healthy dose of mood and atmosphere into whatever he's working on.

Whether it's a 10 minute narrative short or a 30 second fashion promo, his aim is to always make sure that the work makes the viewer feel something.

Having gained lots of experience as a self-shooter and editor, he always develops ideas with a clear image of how the film will look and how the story will be pieced together.

Hector is particularly interested in working on projects across the sports, fashion and lifestyle industries. Hector has recently been shortlisted for two Shiny Awards. 

LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me… 

Hector> Funnily enough, I don’t actually watch many music videos.

So whenever I think of favourites they’re all ones I saw as a child anyway. Most likely when I was ill, off school, and I would watch the music channels like MTV Kerrang, 4Music all day.

For me the best ones are simple and just a really good idea at their core, I guess the ones which are like little short films or skits. I find now too many are just artists performing against different backdrops, they kind of feel like a video version of a magazine editorial and just a bit empty, maybe this is why I’ve gone off them. 

But the one I consistently watch back all the time is Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice. 

Super simple, so effective, really funny. 

LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry… 

Hector> When I was about 12 me and my friends used to stay up all night at sleepovers making Call of Duty montages. Didn’t realise it at the time but this was 100% where the love of the craft started. 

It sounds really dumb but watching some of them back as an adult and they’re actually really artsy and a bit emotional, we’d cut them to different things like classical music or jazz, and teach ourselves After Effects and Cinema 4D. Then a load of them are totally unwatchable, full of artificial lens flares and terrible dubstep. 

LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting… 

Hector> I’m a bit of a classic film school kid, so am obsessed with all the usuals, Bergman, Ozu, Varda, etc. I actually wrote my dissertation on Tarkovsky. So when I’m procrastinating I love watching those YouTube videos where people have just put all their best shots in to montages.

The best ones usually have audio of Tarkovsky talking about time or something really pretentious.

LBB> My first professional project…

Hector> The first time I was hired (and paid) to direct was some social content for Nike Berlin. 

LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous… 

Hector> I don’t know if jealous is the right word because it’s not the sort of thing that anyone can just go out and make, but I’ve always been obsessed with the Volvo commercial with Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits. 

It would just be so cool to be able to say you made that happen. 

LBB> The creative project that changed my career… 

Hector> I guess this would have to be my first short film, 'Coming to Light'.

It didn’t kickstart a career or anything close. But it was the first thing I properly directed, it’s a student film, so it’s full of amateur mistakes and will 100% make you cringe if you watch it now, yet it made a handful of people, who are close to me, cry - which was the first time I’d made a thing that caused an actual emotional response.

I suppose it made me realise that filmmaking could be a career if I kept working at it.  

LBB> The work that I’m proudest of… 

Hector> Not in a self-deprecating way or anything but I don’t think I have one yet. I’m proud of my body of work as a whole, because I think you can see it improve and maybe start to see my own style develop. But in terms of the individual projects I only see things I’d do differently.

LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe… 

Hector> This will have to be the same answer as earlier, my first short. 

I physically can’t watch the first four minutes any more.

LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most… 

Hector> Hopefully this is more positive! Or maybe it’s because it’s not finished my dreams are still yet to be crushed… But we wrapped on my third short back in November and this was easily the best time I’ve ever had on set. So let’s hope that translates to screen!!

You’ll find more information about STORM+SHELTER and their roster of directors at https://stormandshelter.com