FILMING THE CITY: www.bidolito.co.uk Dominic Foster anD Urban escapism Words: Samuel Garlick Photography: Jennifer Pellegrini
Bido Lito! <strong>May</strong> 20<strong>11</strong> 23 DOMINIC FRANCIS FOSTER is one of the most exciting new prospects in Liverpool’s cultural hot pot. A videographer, photographer and designer, he possesses an adept ability to portray the very essence of the bands with which he works. Hotly received videos such as the sombre All We Need by The Sand Band, Luke Fenlon’s jaunty Summer, and pieces for The Suzukis, Dustland, The Loud and Picture Book have positioned Dominic at the heart of the city’s music community. Throughout his work are overriding themes of escapism and surrealism, both of which are sutured by an undisputed apprehension of his surroundings. After acquiring a degree in film and fine art, Dominic shared his time between playing in local bands and photography, snapping up scenes of mayhem at every gig he could attend. Honing his talent and reputation, he extended his focus to videography, creating the video for The Suzukis’ Built In. “That got such a hugely positive reaction from everyone that I decided this was something I had to pursue.” And this was a pursuit that had to be carried out within familiar financial restrictions. “The necessity to create something out of nothing is the perfect breeding ground for creativity and originality,” he says. Possessing an ethos of self-sufficiency, he was not only able to achieve something remarkable from very few resources, but also give a distinctive personality to his work. “A big obstacle for me was trying to focus all of the ideas that I had into something coherent, and channelling them for long enough to create something tangible with the tools that I possessed.” Delivering pizzas for a daytime job has seen Dominic roving around the city, synchronizing him with his surroundings. “It is a job that gives me a lot of time to listen to music whilst I drive around the city thinking up ideas for videos and noticing cool locations to shoot in,” he states. “It really keeps me in tune with the vibe of the city.” This parallelism is vital to his work; it’s the unique scenarios within his pictures and the stories he tells through his videos that display the integration, all achieved with an intuitive guerilla approach. “All you need is a camera and your environment, if I used expensive equipment then the product ends up looking like everything else”. As an agent of impulse, he always starts a new project by travelling into the city and letting the ideas develop naturally, “the best approach is just seeing what you can use around the city to generate something original.” Dominic shares influences from various disciplines, “I am heavily influenced by cinema as opposed to other music videos and have a pretty wide range of directorial influences such as Jean- Pierre Melville and John Carpenter.” This cultural integration is particularly displayed in his music videos, as they are often thematically driven. Reflecting on this, Dominic states, “the mentality of directors from the nouvelle vague has affected my work, as I always strive to apply that energy to the videos that I make.” The energy that he describes is that of youthful dissidence, rejecting the traditional conventions of formulaic cinema. By striving for innovation, Dominic’s work possesses a vitality, harmonised with escapist intentions, “as by definition, music and film should always have escapist qualities, even if it causes you to flee to somewhere more disturbing than your real world setting.” Following in the same vein as Spike Jonze, Dominic is hoping to even further expand his horizons through the medium of film. “I’m currently working on a short script that Chris from The Suzukis has written, he’s got loads of dark existentialist tales, so hopefully we’ll kick start a North West new wave of indie filmmaking.” dominicfrancisfoster.com www.bidolito.co.uk