Director X (aka Julien Lutz) is the mega-weight music director behind Drake’s Hotline Bling video.
He is the other music industry mega-weight behind Drake's Hotline Bling video, a meme and GIF-friendly earworm that became a viral sensation faster than you can say turtleneck sweater. When he's not collaborating with Lord Drizzy, Director X (aka Julien Lutz) has also made career-defining music videos with industry titans from Kanye West to Justin Bieber. Here, the Toronto native shares some of the secrets to his success including why it's okay to agree to disagree.
Show your work … now!!
What I would say to anyone who wants to be making videos is that you have to always be ready to sell your work and show your work. No matter where you are, what the situation. It's not about seeing someone at a party and setting up a meeting or saying you'll send them an e-mail. It's getting your stuff in their face right then and there. It's a lot easier these days when everyone has an iPhone they can carry around in their pocket. When I was coming up, I'd be going to parties carrying my backpack that was full of all my equipment. Back then, that's what you had to do.
Sometimes you agree to disagree (with Drake)
Sometimes an artist will come to me with a concept, sometimes I will come up with something. There is no one way that I need to work. Often it's a case where an artist will have an idea – say, Iggy Azalea will know that she wants to be a ninja, or Drake will say [he] wants to make a video in Memphis – and then it's my job to flesh it out. The key to collaborating is about open communication. Drake and I will tell each other what we think, we will question each other and we won't always agree. Maybe he doesn't want to shoot a close-up or something. I'll push. It's my job to push for what I think is going to work best. Sometimes you win, sometimes you agree to disagree.
There's no 'I' in song
A music video starts with the song. You can have all of the concept ideas in the world, but you have to think about "What is it that this particular song needs?" When an idea comes to me, I just do it. I have never spent time thinking, "Okay, this is my style, this is what a Director X video looks like." This is my thing. I create the things I create and people can find the style in it. I get influenced by movies, photography, just being out there and experiencing life in general.
Art can be about anything, but it has to be about something
My mentor is Hype Williams. I interned for him and one of the things he taught me is that a video needs to be about something. When he first said that, I didn't quite get it. I was thinking, "What, like a story?" It wasn't that [literal]. Like Hotline Bling is about sets and colour changes. A video can be about shoes, or hands. Or it can be a narrative. It just has to be about something. It has to have a theme.
This interview has been condensed and edited by Courtney Shea.