Film: Reality of the Dancehall

November 21, 2012May 8, 2020 News Room

Film by Jamaican-born film producer based in London

Many of you will have come eye to eye with Video Ropes’ camera at one of the many dances he has recorded. After studying film editing and directing at University the video-man has now turned film-maker. His debut film ‘Reality of the Dancehall’ has premiered in October in London.

What drove you to making videos?

I used to be a selector in Jamaica before I came to England, spending a lot of money on dub-plates. I reached a stage where I wasn’t making back that money – maybe because I wasn’t good enough. So I decided to change the genre.

I got a camera and this marked the transition from selector to video-man.

Jazzy Hype form Lord Gellys came to see me and saw the camera, laughing: you have turned a camera-man now? I was promptly invited to a party. At the time I didn’t even know that I needed light. I only had a flash and within 5 minutes the battery was dead. I learned a lot from watching other video-man. I took my chances at house-parties to get a name. Sometimes people would not pay me but I could use it to practise until I got my slogan: The girls dem video-man.

As the jobs came in more regular I took the trade more serious. Life is strange: as the videoing took over I did no more constructive work. It changed my whole life. People where asking for me like crazy and I then decided to take it even to a next level. I am very bright but I never used my degrees to further my education. So it came that I applied at London University of Arts and got accepted. I ended up in Frankfurt, Germany being on set with a lot of big names to learn my trade.

When I eventually decided to make my own film no-one believed me at first.

Tell us about the movie and the intention to make it.

Reality of the Dancehall explores the life and culture of dancehall music, money and girls. It looks behind the scene, the glitter and the glamour. It’s an eye-opener and shows a small portion of the reality of the dancehall.

It follows two main characters: Sweeper and Sue. He is a road-sweeper who came to England and couldn’t find another job. Always impressed by the dancehall culture he wants to get involved, but is not quite sure how. Sue a black, blond-haired girl from Manchester, who is very beautiful thinks that she can use her face to get anything she wants. The tables turn on her and the rest is for you to watch.

It’s an eye-opener for people who think they can live the party lifestyle on the road. I have been videoing dancehall for more than 10 years. I can tell the story. I heard and saw it all.

There are a lot of things happening around me: Black on Black violence, absent fathers and so on. I realised that filming has the potential to bring the community together.

For the film we used British-Jamaican actors who were in front of the camera for the first time. We used our own people from the community to create our own stars. We are trend setters. Something like this has not been done in the UK before.

What happens after the premier in London?

We have set up a few premiers in Jamaica and Japan and we are negotiating a deal with a producer in Washington.

We are not going to sell it on DVD right now. We want to push it to be shown at cinemas first.

Next move?

There are so many things in my head right now. This movie was also there to get the right people on my team for my production company. We are creating a movie industry within the black community. I want all the people, even those who are on the street thinking they got no future to come and sign for Videoropes Production. As we are multi-regional everybody is invited to join the team.

If we work as a team we can do it. I don’t want no hype, I just want to create an industry where my people can get jobs. If you alone get big, people will bad-mind you.

I want to tell everyone to support and encourage me. I know there will be critics but I don’t mind. I am always learning.

www.videoropes.com

07932505925