Adriaan Louw: mirroring moods through film

“I love the world film creates without trying too hard”

This statement by photographer and filmmaker Adriaan Louw explains his expansion into film. Over the years he has documented different genres and artistic forms, from art to skateboarding to fashion, with youth culture being the thread that ties these various endeavours together. “Everything I’ve done […] I just want to make bigger and better… If that means in a commercial realm, that’s cool too. As long as it grows the culture.”

When asked about his relationship with analog productions, he mentioned watching skateboarding videos in school. “Back then everything was shot on tape and 8mm or 16mm film cameras. So to me that is the base of my aesthetic education. It feels like my default in a way.” With a desire to do more productions on film, he is hoping he can see and capture youth culture through the beautiful, grainy textured world that film engenders.

Expanding on his desire to make more projects in film and reflecting on the renaissance of film, Adriaan explains that, “In South Africa it’s really hard to try and make it happen on every project. You have to order the film to SA and ship it back half way around the world to get developed and scanned again, but so far it’s been successful. Film is making a big comeback in the world at the moment, especially motion film. I would like to be part of that global movement. Shooting on film creates a certain mood on set that I really enjoy.” Riky Rick was jointly able to see the aesthetic value of film, resulting in the recently released video for “Family” being shot on 8mm film. The use of film creates a nostalgic feeling, with the video visually mirroring old home videos, making a connection to the words in the track.

Thinking about his conversations with Ricky about the video, Adriaan explains that, “We wanted it to feel underground in a way. If you look at my work up until now in the Hip Hop scene it never has fancy cars, half naked woman and other things like that in it. I’d like to keep it that way. I think visually creating a mood for an artist is way cooler than trying to make them look rich. So with this video I decided to shoot most of it on film to create a timeless feel. If you look at some of the city shots of Johannesburg in the video you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was shot in the ’80s or 2017. It was so magical seeing the rushes when it got back home. It really felt like images you would Google search of past Johannesburg. The film also added a bit of grittiness to the video that I wanted to add to the song. I feel like the video has a rock n roll approach to it visually.”

Adriaan has also recently joined the production company, Word. This speaks to larger shifts within South Africa’s film and TV commercial industry. “I think up until now I didn’t feel the need to do bigger productions and take on the TV commercials world. Til now I always thought of it being something I didn’t want to do in filmmaking, but these days people are really pushing boundaries with TVCs and I think perhaps my style is now suited for that world,” Adriaan explains. This change in the formula for filmmaking in advertising is encouraging for filmmakers like Adriaan. “I think there is a new generation of filmmakers who will bring this change and want to create content that is emotionally- and story-driven. The world of online content and traditional advertising media is starting to merge together.” Never forgetting his first love, documentary-style content, Adriaan is open to trying new things in filmmaking.