Youth Hymns: The Director Collective That Can Do It All
Above (left to right): Jolyon Thomas, Jake Ben-David, and Johnny Goddard
Meet Youth Hymns– a filmmaking collective with talent to spare. Represented by A Running Commentary (A.R.C), the directing trio of Jake Ben-David, Johnny Goddard, and Jolyon Thomas also edit, animate, and oversee VFX, music, and audio design. Oh, and Jolyon happens to be a renowned music producer for Kendrick Lamar, U2, and Royal Blood, too.
The group first came together in 2012, initially envisioning a record label; but, in the words of Jake, they “immediately got distracted by the prospect of making cheap lo-fi live promo videos with broken VHS cameras bought from eBay. From there, we’ve steadily increased the number of pixels in our films over a fair few music videos and now more TV commercials and branded content.”
With the support of A.R.C – which they joined back when it was still known as ‘Dirty Films’– Youth Hymns have combined their wide-ranging skill set to curate a colourful portfolio dipping into all kinds of short-form content. In the advertising realm, the collective have shot everyone from a pimped-out mobility scooter crew for JBL to an infant army for Heinz, and even a Lego Star Wars orchestra. The likes of Snoop Dogg, Wolf Alice, Pale Waves and more feature in their surreal and saturated music videos, and Aimee Lou Wood stars in their Nowness short film, ‘Facefixx’, which uses VFX to point out the sinister effects of editing our own images.
LBB’s Zara Naseer caught up with Youth Hymns to delve into the breadth of their creative capabilities, their most challenging projects to date, and their dream briefs.
Above: JBL ‘Made To Be Heard’
LBB> How do you all complement one another? Do you each take on a defined role?
Jake> These days, just myself and Johnny work on set when filming. Jolyon’s more behind the scenes. Like any healthy wedlock relationship, we have our similarities and differences. Although we crossover at points, I’m more involved with the technical, logistical, shooting and post-production elements (such as editing/compositing/animation/VFX). Johnny deals more with the talent, agency and client comms (especially in pre-production), art/production design decisions and wherever possible, he writes/produces the musical elements and sound design too.
Johnny> We cover a lot of bases… and being long-time musical/post geeks, we’re good at quickly cutting animatics together with bespoke audio experiments early in pre-production to show what we are thinking to clients, like with our recent ads for JBL.
LBB> As a multi-talented collective, what’s your collaborative creative process like once you’ve received a brief? Do you consider every aspect – from direction to editing, special effects, music, and sound – in turn, or does it come to you all at once?
Jake> It depends on the brief, however we like simple concepts rather than piecing together too many small elements. Once we’re agreed on the main element that ties the film(s) together we’ll systematically work through VFX, camera moves, casting, music, sound design, etc., in order to amplify that element.
Johnny> Generally if we both agree on a concept or approach early on then we know we’re onto a winner, everything else slots neatly into place as we get more excited about how all the individual elements can work together.
Above: Think! ‘Party Car’
LBB> You’ve now made commercials and music videos for some massive names – Heinz, Lego, Nike, Snoop Dog, and more. Which best represents your capabilities?
Jake> ‘Party Car’ for Think! was a great use of all our skills. It was a dream script as the concept was super clean. Casting was hilarious. The limitations of shooting havoc in such a tight space was a fun problem to solve, especially as it was an early example of mobile first (9:16 aspect ratio) which really changed the way we worked as commercial directors moving forward.
Johnny> Our Lego jobs are my favourite to work on. We generally do those with our pal, Look Mum No Computer, who is absolute chaos in the best possible way. The Snoop video is bragging rights for life though.
LBB> And which has been your most challenging project to date? What makes it stand out to you?
Jake> I think the Nowness film ‘Facefixx’ we made back in 2017 was great fun to shoot (although hellish in post-production to get through). We got to work with some amazing actors, such as Aimee Lou Wood, allowing us to mix some scripted and totally unscripted elements together, inspiring some ridiculous VFX and sinister music. We’re especially proud of the film as we feel it became more relevant as time and tech moved on.
Johnny> The JBL commercial campaign we just finished was pretty full on. Five films shot in South Africa in three days. Orchestrating five OAPs on pimped-out mobility scooters to drive in a flying V formation was fun and hellish in equal measure.
Above: JBL ‘Made To Be Heard’
LBB> How do you ensure your work feels innovative and fresh?
Jake> We just do what we do. If you try too hard to innovate or force something, you’ll go mad – and not in a good way. We of course would get bored shooting the same thing over and over, so we like to steer our style into the aspects we currently enjoy and feel is within our strength.
Johnny> What he said; don’t overthink it.
LBB> What inspires your work? Any specific creative heroes?
Jake> Honestly, we just love the great adverts from the ‘90s/‘00s. There are some brilliant ideas, practical effects and tightly written punch lines if you look around. Like this gem.
LBB> Finally, what does a dream brief look like to you?
Jake> We like a brief with well-written humour, a complete lack of subtlety, weirdness and contrary to belief… no green screen. Or just an episode of ‘Black Mirror’ would do it!
Johnny> I’m holding out for the Pot Noodle x Irn-Bru collab.
Above: Heinz ‘Nourishing Pure Joy’
