Sunbeds in the dessert, lurex camels, and ballet troupes pirouetting with neons are just some of the surreal moments Roy Raz has conjured up in his music videos. Based in Tel Aviv, Raz has been working as a producer for four years, mainly for Israeli commercials, and spent two years at McCann Erickson’s in-house production company before setting out as a director.

Did you go to film school or are you self-taught? And how long have you been making videos?
Yes, I studied for four years at TAU and have been making my own private vids for a few years now, but only recently “came out” with them publicly.

The narratives are very surreal – do you collaborate or write them yourself?
I write them all by myself, it’s cheaper than therapy (:

What do you shoot on?
Depends on the script and budget. I prefer the Alexa, and most of my works are shot on Alexa, Red or Phantom. But I am beginning to grasp the love for the small cameras like the 7D for example.

And what kind of budgets have you been dealing with – just an indication of whether they are tiny or substantial!
From extremely small budgets like 2000 euros up to 130k for a music video. Because I’ve produced commercials for many years, small budgets do not look so intimidating to me.

What is your five-year plan?
To conquer the world (:
To keep on making music videos and commercials for happy and open-minded people who like my way of film-making.
Hopefully to keep on writing scripts for my projects and a feature film as well, surreal as possible, of course.

Roy Raz can be contacted at www.ooops-agency.com