Over the next few weeks, we’ll be interviewing a handful of inspiring individuals, starting in London. These interviews won’t be long reads, just a little 5-10 minute dose of daily storytelling that perhaps, might spark some creativity, thought or self-reflection. I personally have learned something from each individual and can not wait to share their stories with you.
Hey, my name’s Jack Thompson-Roylance, I’m a Director of Photography and Creative Director of @deadbeatfilms alongside my identical twin brother Boris.
Nunu: What was your moment of manifestation?
Jack: Back in the day I was obsessed with Parkour and Freerunning. You would find me every day after school or at weekends leaping off buildings and giving pensioners heart attacks.
I was lucky to train with some now world-famous practitioners of the sport including @kieparkour & @pip_andersen.
This was in the very early years of Youtube, armed with a cheap DV camera we started capturing our different antics then putting little edits online. To our teenage delight, these videos started gaining worldwide attention.
This was a massively experimental time, I loved exploring the relationship my camera had with the moving subject, and considering how my own body’s movement would influence the crafting of a shot. It was like a dance. Looking back, my Parkour days were a huge influence on me as an operator.
Nunu: Can you describe a time when you felt most happy or proud of yourself?
Jack: 5 years ago Boris, myself and a small crew visited the Jungle Refugee Camp in Calais. It was a time of mass uncertainty and fear surrounding refugees; the reporting of the right-wing media angered us and we wanted to try and make a film that would humanise people stuck there and not sensationalise them.
Through a turn of events, we encountered a young man who would change our life. @eymensy took us under his wing and exposed to us the true reality of The Jungle and the injustices he fought every day. I don’t want to say too much (as it would ruin the film) but the events that unfolded through that journey had a major significance on me. It was the first time I truly understood the responsibility that the filmmaker has to their subject matter, and its potential as a tool for social change.
If you’d like to find out more about the film please visit the website www.ayman.org.uk
Nunu: & finally, who or what inspires you?
Jack: I get a lot of inspiration from nature. Growing up in Somerset I was always getting lost in the woods or climbing trees. Moving to London in my 20’s was exciting, I love its people and all the possibilities it offers, but the disconnection city life has with the natural world concerns me. 1 in 5 children in the UK have never seen the ocean, that’s scary. Nature heals, and I think a lot of what’s rotten with society can be amended by how we alter our relationship with the natural world.
Sebastio Salgado /@sebastio.salgado.photographs sums it up far better than I could, his work resonates with me on a spiritual level. As do the films of Andrei Tarkovsky & the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki / @chivexp. Baby Yoda is pretty freakin awesome too!
~ Now, get yourself a drink, sit back and watch the incredible films Deadbeat create and share with the world. This duo are unstoppable and it’s been a real honor to get to know and work with both Jack and Boris.
