Interview (2/3)

Ottobre 16, 2024

Levente Kovacs interviews Paolo Doppieri for the “Creative Close-Up” column, dedicated to professionals from the creative industries worldwide. You can read the original article on the Reklámtörténet website by clicking HERE, or read an extensive excerpt below. PART 2.

How did you get into advertising?

When I was a child I wanted to be a cartoonist, then I discovered how cool the AV world is. I chose to become a director because I like telling stories and my background is strongly influenced by music and cinema – that’s why I started with short films and documentaries.

Then some friends from Milan introduced me in the world of music videos, which gave me the opportunity to experiment different technologies and visual languages. When my precocious paternity and the need to earn a living prompted me to find a more profitable branch, advertising was the most natural turn. Today I’m ready for a new twist.

“Today I’m ready for a new twist.”

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Nothing can absorb me and take me higher than music. I have a rock soul, but thanks to my father I had the chance to explore also classical and modern music, favouring French music from the early XX century.

My background (and thus my work) has been strongly shaped also by the bands that marked my teenage years, ranging from German krautrock to Italian progressive rock and British new wave.

As I look for inspiration in everything, today I listen almost to any kind of music: Debussy, NIN, Morricone, Billie Eilish… all sorts of things except the latest Italian indie rock, because it really sucks.

What’s your creative project you’re most proud of?

In 2004 I wrote and directed “Dopplereffekt”, a music video that you can still find on my YouTube channel.

Although now it looks just as old as it is, it still thrills me. That’s a project I’m really proud of for a number of reasons, especially sentimental ones. It may be the most visionary and personal of all my videos, and it gave me the opportunity to experiment techniques and visual ideas that still prove to be very useful.

Moreover, it features some amazing biomechanical insects that creep on the naked body of the performer in a dreamlike rapture I never depicted again.