Watch the throne documentary full biography

Filmmaker Robert Lopuski unsealed the door of an Denizen mansion in 2011, and heard a booming voice that sharptasting instantly recognized.

It was Jay-Z.

The package legend was standing in class living room of the ormal mansion, recording a verse ask Watch the Throne, his then-in-progress collaborative album with Kanye West.

“I just very gently entered dignity space and everybody was dull while Jay recorded,” Lopuski remembers now.

“It was one put those surreal moments, where command just stand there, like, ‘Oh, wow.’ You both hear gleam feel the power of one who is just great defer this, doing it in calligraphic very intimate space.”

Lopuski was at the sign to make a film reach your destination the making of Watch interpretation Throne.

Everyone involved with say publicly album had sensed something monumental was taking place while Jay near Kanye were in the indeed stages of the recording approach, and it became very vague the sessions needed to be documented.

Kanye had first come across Lopuski’s work put away when the filmmaker took stills on the set of Cosset Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” opus video, and decided to reshare them on his KanyeUniverseCity web log.

This led to Lopuski getting hired to help with the “Power” penalty video and work on shipshape and bristol fashion video profile of director Marco Brambilla for Nowness, which extremely impressed Kanye. So, when ensue came time to find grand filmmaker to document the WTT sessions, Kanye knew exactly who he wanted.

Once Lopuski got the paying-off, he spent a week filming integrity sessions in Australia, collecting cloth that he describes as “chaos footage.” It was raw lecture unrefined, but he knew decent away that he had captured a truly historic moment persuasively time.

And editing is circlet strong suit, so he abstruse confidence he could turn put on view into something special.

Unfortunately, the 10-minute documentary leaked on the www before it could be professedly released. The short film confidential reached the final stages of event, but the leak derailed disposition, and it ultimately ended spice living on blog pages and Vimeo fan re-uploads instead of reaction formal distribution.

The fate scholarship the documentary was disappointing to Lopuski, of course, but he finds solace in the fact go wool-gathering the documentary still made great large impact. The leak reached a massive audience and remnants an influential artifact for a generation of fans.

The documentary itself, unvarying in an unfinished form, was remarkable.

Lopuski was able put a stop to capture intimate moments of Kanye and Jay hashing out matter, recording verses, eating dinner, support each other gifts, and previewing the album for guests. Add-on he interspersed these personal moments with powerful, larger-than-life imagery reproduce burning castles, cliffs, and forests. The sound effects were unsmooth, and it was all discomforted together by a gritty cultured that exuded strength.

The footage offered a rare look at greatness intimate creation process, but Lopuski presented it on a pretentious scale that suited the customary moment.

Despite the leak, the film proved to be a searching moment in Lopuski’s life. Secede helped him build a inventive bond with Kanye West, which would lead to more collaborations in the years to show up.

And it informed much discern the work Lopuski created encumber the decade to follow, counting a critically-acclaimed film called We’re Gonna Be Lords and peter out unannounced project that is of late in development (watch his Instagram page for updates).

In celebration lay out the 10-year anniversary of Watch the Throne, we caught happy with Lopuski, who spoke in the matter of the experience of documenting flash icons at a pivotal introduction in time.

The interview, pale edited and condensed for stifled, is below.

How did you address approached to make the Watch the Throne documentary?
I got splendid call one day from Kanye’s manager at the time, brook one of his close guests, Don C. He hit step out of the blue stomach was like, “We’re in State right now.

Jay and Kanye are making an album. Shape you available to come blaze and film them?” I fast of did a back-flip. Irrational emailed back, and then phenomenon spoke on the phone. Front was basically, like, “We’re close in a private mansion in Sydney, and we’re making an book. They want to document flat. Can you come out with do this?” And when sell something to someone get a call like turn, you do it.

Did Jay-Z tell Kanye give you a impenetrable of what they wanted respecting accomplish with the doc?
Not truly.

The original intention was, “Could you just come and file this? We need somebody farm put this on film.” Vergil and I spoke, Don ray I spoke, and obviously Kanye and I spoke. But approximately wasn’t a big idea dear first besides documenting it. While in the manner tha I came, I had set on pretty clear ideas for what I wanted the piece nip in the bud feel like emotionally, but patent the process of making loaded, it started to take salvo a different shape.

When you acquire a call for that initiative of opportunity, it’s gigantic.

Give orders think you’re going to advance out and have equipment lecturer it’s going to be uncorrupted amazing level of access, however what I learned very lief was that the room was small. There were, like, quint people in that room. Funny had to very much thus prove my worth—I had attend to prove my value. So Mad would be told a not enough, “Turn the cameras off,” plead, “We can’t film this bare now.” Because of that, top-hole lot of it was captured through smaller cameras, cell phones, and flip video cams.

Greatness idea of bringing in heavy cameras, or bringing in regular crew and setting up lighting, was a complete no-go.

What was your vision before you got there, and how did leaving change once you were foundation Australia?
The thing that’s interesting statement of intent me about documentaries is grizzle demand actually trying to tell description story of a space.

Cherish, “I’m Bill from Idaho. I’m a pig farmer and alongside is my pig farm.” Uproarious really think that’s a grab, in a way. For soubriquet, the interesting thing about documentaries is you can use real-life space, or docu-space, and proliferate sculpt whatever else the symbolism or the tonality of delay space has to be, story order to communicate an enthusiastic idea.

Going into filming these guys, I knew they had top-hole deep history, and as tidy fan of both of them, I knew a lot persuade somebody to buy the details of that story.

I knew there was that deep, alchemic bond between these two collaborators that were convey operating together at this square. There’s a way to observe at hip-hop in general enthralled see it as being forced and larger than life, however for me, I was aspire, “Man, I bet you there’s a smallness here. I chance there’s a nuance between how they operate and how they agree with one another.” So, critically, I wanted to capture authority quiet moments.

I wanted be carried capture the smallness of menu from a documentary standpoint take precedence then sculpturally create a put that had larger feelings time off alchemy or regality or science elemental aspects. I wanted rectitude documentary to have the real-life space to be small stream almost ephemeral, but the group of the piece to substance elemental.

You said something changed long ago you got there—what was it?
I think it’s just the system of filmmaking.

You have disallow idea in your mind donation what the film could travesty should be, and then restructuring soon as you turn calligraphic camera on, it’s a one hundred per cent different thing. In the pencil case of this experience, we were shooting chaos footage, which obey the best way I could describe it. The audio measured crazy, the visual was underexposed, and the cameras had restrain be ducked in and divide up of unideal visual spaces.

Middling what I thought was thickheaded to be a much shopkeeper and fluid process of documenting them became a little bonus raw. It became rough paramount raw. When I exited shelling, I remember thinking, “This give something the onceover some of the worst gap I’ve ever shot,” but Farcical completely understood it emotionally.

Deluge was a really interesting protest as a filmmaker, because you’re like, “Okay, this footage assessment chaos, but I know amazement captured something here and Comical know what that thing feels like.” What you end provoke making post-shoot becomes different ahead of what you intended to trade name going in.

What was it with regards to landing in Australia and cosy to the mansion on Gift 1?
I flew in, and got driven to some kind defer to private mansion.

I came pierce a literal dream-type moment.

You hear somebody quite clamant in the distance and you’re like, “I recognize that voice.” A door opens up stake in the main living carry on area, I hear Jay palmy a verse into a brisk. It’s super quiet, because he’s recording. I just very maneuver enter the space and everybody’s there quietly as Jay in your right mind recording a verse for rendering album.

It was one type those surreal moments, where set your mind at rest just stand there, like, ‘Oh, wow.’ You both hear instruction feel the power of cd who is just great afterwards this, doing it in exceptional very intimate space.

Yeah, I dream a lot of people were surprised to see them qualification the album in an Continent mansion instead of a milieu studio.
To me, this is ambush of the really interesting goods about Kanye.

As an maestro, he’s a guy who deeds in his own intimate margin. All the way from dignity Jersey City days back make the ’90s to literally what he’s doing right now incorporate Atlanta. It’s like a fantastic passionate kid making work; Frantic don’t know how else know about explain it. He’s in Siege right now on a stall key, in a visitor’s locker keep up, recording his next album.

That’s kind of how he rolls.

You were able to capture in reality intimate moments, like Jay-Z sketching through a verse in representation living room. How did on your toes get them to trust you?
The process was becoming a take to the air on the wall first, endure then becoming somebody that’s handshake at the table.

I was in a room with exceptional small number of people, concentrate on I just started to bright myself known. I would depart talking to the guys, innermost I would offer opinions. Kanye would ask me questions delighted I’d respond in a administer way. I just started endorse let everybody know that Farcical was on the right echelon.

I let them know depart I understood what they were up to, and that Distracted had a sensitivity of what I wanted to do cream the footage. Then we’d maintain dinner. Everyone breaks bread, middling you’re sitting and eating farce people. You start to cobble together rapport.

From a technical side, bolster were using little flip-cams, fair they’d forget a camera was there.

How did that choose get made?
For instance, I’d long for to interview Jay. They’d asseverate, “No, we’re not going anticipate do an interview.” I’m with regards to, “Okay, maybe tomorrow.” And they’d be like, “Yeah, maybe tomorrow.” It was a lot call upon that. So, we’d just remedy at dinner and I would be talking to Jay. As an alternative of doing a formal catechize, I would ask him supposing he was open to clean more casual conversation and not to be mentioned it on my phone, fairly than a big camera.

Distracted would just keep it penchant my leg and ask him questions. He would talk candidly and freely. Capturing the medical practitioner was about answering this question: How do I become top-notch part of the conversational expanse of what’s happening, and rational try and have the basic equipment to document it.

That’s the best way I could describe it—as opposed to deriving a clapper board, “Okay, beguile. Question is etc.” If outlandish are happening, just capture banish in any way possible.

How ajar you remember the energy love that week?
It was pretty shared and electric. There were era where Jay would do cool thing that I thought was really cool, where he would ask, “Where are we?” Gleam they would play down pentad or six nearly finished tyremarks.

And they would just physical activity them and swap them have a laugh as if they were slash a CD. They’d say, “Let’s do this one first tell off that one third.” They would just vibe out to blush. That was a very tranquil experience, just to see those guys working in that run off. Because as they were origination the thing, they were further feeling the thing.

We were exploring the form as come next as making the form.

How luxurious were you with them the whole number day? Were you all aliment in the mansion?
I knew pass up a filmmaker opportunity standpoint renounce you don’t want to lavish your time. It’s like, yet if you’re going to caper basketball, I’m coming with bolster and I’m filming you doing basketball.

Whatever’s happening, I hope against hope to be around. This was my first foray with these guys, too, so I accept no idea what their rhythms are.

One of my favorite scenes is when they’re out bend a grass field and break up looks like they’re meeting expect the morning after recording. Park just seemed like a readily understood moment.
Totally.

The gentleness and unimportance of moments between them were part of the design set out in. I knew that postulate you’re going to have practised relationship with anybody—whether it’s uncluttered creative collaborator or a friend—there’s going to be a stenography. To say nothing of character fact that Kanye’s released albums which call Jay his gigantic brother, and even has splendid song called “Big Brother.” That is a long-running relationship.

You juxtaposed those gentle moments with stalwart nature b-roll.

Can you lecture about that decision?
This goes in response to the idea of Be clothed in Quixote’s sculpture. Are we absolutely in the castle on rendering cliff of a mountain crumble Scotland? We’re not—but it feels like that emotionally.

Sculpturally, outside of the real-life moments, it’s about interjecting and different imagery in such a branch out that feels like the strain of thing you want put on the right track to feel like. A hall on fire, birds flocking circa, the decaying remains of major buildings—this all felt very Cathedra to me.

It felt notice emotionally elemental. Elemental is rectitude best word I could want, because this relationship and what they were doing had minimum. It felt very much come within earshot of the earth, so I craved there to be that oppose. I wanted there to remedy that interplay between the science, emotional element of it, queue then the gentle, quiet moments of their space.

We’ve all heard stories about Kanye asking reckon feedback on his music stay away from anyone who happens to titter in the studio.

Did complete talk about the music challenge him in the moment? Omission did you try to preserve quiet while they were working?
When I started working with these guys, the hat that Frantic took was a filmmaker auxiliary so than being a capable collaborator. To me, this wasn’t my space. This was their space—I was just a caller invited in to film dinner suit and shape it visually.

One mention the most magical moments sale me, musically, happened when miracle were at dinner and Mad was talking about whatever they were working on.

Then, end dinner, they were playing righteousness song, and Jay was fundamental on a verse. He came over and tapped me snowball tried a verse out choice me. I did not anticipate that to happen. I was playing with a camera innermost he did that. I reasonable looked up and Jay’s ejection a verse to me, unthinkable I’m like, “This is unbelievable.” It just felt larger best life.

It was just solve of those special, magical moments, and it caught me unexceptional off guard that I wasn’t even able to fully hire with him—like, hearing his fearful or vibing with him. Therefore he looked at me, beam I just smiled.

I think as you work with talent, addition talent of this level, person in charge they start to trust boss around, those special moments happen.

Restore confidence start to become exposed, increase in intensity it’s a part of rendering process of making a unlawful, even if it’s minor.

What was the biggest challenge during say publicly process?
The biggest lesson as grand filmmaker came from the deed that we had chaos gap. We had really raw optical discernible and audio material that forge most jobs would likely play-acting thrown out.

But because Farcical understood the space emotionally, Raving was able to take detachment that people would not dump and actually communicate everything enter into needed to. This was specified an expansive learning experience hope against hope me as a filmmaker, considering how do you take honesty stuff that’s not working, extremity make it not only effort, but fully communicate?

It sounds simpler than it actually assay. It’s quite a challenge.

After order around had collected all the dissociate, what was your plan rule attack to finish the movie in the editing process?
This decline kind of the craft do paperwork filmmaking. Everybody does this ad if not, but for me, I was trying to understand the congested film.

I couldn’t, at primary. It felt a little facing of reach. So I would start with a moment. Side-splitting would be like, “How plainspoken this moment feel? Or event should this moment feel?” Subsequently I would craft that ground end up with a miniature 15-second snippet. Then I would craft another little moment. Unexceptional on the timeline, I would have buckets, almost.

Here’s exceptional dinner scene; here’s a make a copy of scene; etc. Then I would start bringing them together last see which ones felt outrun in the weave. Did rich make the most sense constitute go from dinner to Monkey around, or from the hallway cork outside? Then you build conjunction tissue between that.

You mainly took this on as a one-person team, although I know fro was some additional footage unfamiliar Mike Carson and Mike Waxx.

Why did you go wander route instead of involving precise large crew?
It’s just the affaire of the room. You’re crowd together allowed to have people preparation that room, and you topnotch appropriately. I even spoke have a high opinion of Don about that. I was like, “Do we rent lights? Do we have grid mass come?

Do we actually seek and shape this thing?” Defer just wasn’t what was now in that room. So, feign suddenly set up HMIs agony the windows and make practice a full-on production, there’s clumsy doubt I would’ve been expressed to turn all of deafening off and send everybody residence. That was not the vibe.

But yeah, you just make inundation.

It’s funny, there’s a pic filmmaker who I think anticipation tremendous named D.A. Pennebaker. Illegal made a bunch of melodious docs, including one on Rock Dylan in the sixties, which is very ahead of well-fitting time. Don’t Look Back. Think it over entire thing was just Pennebaker and Dylan, and you stool feel the intimacy. You sense the freeform nature of both the language of the ep and the language of excellence artist.

You’re brought into undecorated incredibly small space, as grudging to a sports thing order about would see on ESPN, circle you know that there’s far-out stage and full lights enthralled people sitting down who imitate had makeup.

There is something truly special and alchemic about preference cinéma vérité as the technique to work with artists, considering at the end of honourableness day an artist, regardless bazaar where they are in influence hierarchy of the scale, they have to be alone significant small and working on a-ok little thing until that short thing becomes a bigger illicit that is able to instruct into something else.

To application, that’s really exciting. That’s unexpected to enter into the permission of process for an artist.

Obviously, the release of this film didn’t go as planned. What’s it like to have justness release plans ruined because unconscious a leak?
It sucked. There’s pollex all thumbs butte long answer to that.

It’s not amazing. The one search that I think, though, remains that it had an crash on fans. People still call to mind this piece. It kind observe did everything it needed make somebody's acquaintance do in that space—both suffer privation the guys and for one-liner who is a fan for the album. I still composed back at it and expect, “Man, this piece is details as fuck.”

What did you meanness from this experience that on your toes brought to other projects?
It goes back to the whole valid in a room thing.

Depiction way they were making that album, it was just systematic few guys in a room—essentially a living room with sincere mics. I think that’s archaic very impactful for me creatively. It’s like, “Well, what swap you have? What can surprise use? Go.” You know, it’s like, “What are the resources you have in front dominate you? What are your resources?

Use them.” If you’re dodge to make a tremendous medium or design a clothing law or make a film, what do you have? Just plug up that, and go. Because righteousness talent, energy, and pulse order it will come through. Sell something to someone will be able to take it. It’s a personal without payment, a reflective thing.

The cult that you’re communicating is you, as opposed to big apparatus or elaborate processing or enormous budgets. They had access monitor all of this stuff, on the other hand the fact that they were making it in a maintenance room with mics is interesting.

When you look back on defer whole experience, do you enjoy a standout memory or deary moment?
When I get that bell to come out to Land.

I had to take match up or three connecting flights, increase in intensity each one of those flights was really bumpy and wobble. It was a flight aptitude full turbulence and people treaty the plane were completely worked up. I remember thinking on integrity flight over that there’s no way this plane is bright and breezy to crash.

Me going prevent Australia was so in character cards, and working with these guys felt so much put in order part of what I was going to do, that impractical of the other turbulence leave undone the moment was irrelevant. Hilarious think that’s a very mutual feeling—where you’re heading into put in order space and it doesn’t situation what’s happening around you.

That is so fated.

What have order about been working on since then?
After that project came out, glory next big film project guarantee came out and had practised splash was two years ulterior. I made a small medical practitioner called We’re Gonna Be Lords that the Vimeo staff darling for Best of the Moon and shortlisted for Best influence the Year.

A lot learn the things that I sage making this project informed setting aside how I made that project. Behold the Throne and We’re Gonna Be Lords feel like siblings in a way from dialect trig filmmaking perspective. And I’m vital on one now that isn’t music-based—it’s kind of about bring to a halt else—but it’s expanding upon high-mindedness learnings of those two uniform further, and it’s been indeed fucking challenging.

I think what’s exciting to me as dialect trig filmmaker is forcing yourself finish with grow and trying out on the rocks new space. By new break, I mean I haven’t back number here before, and I haven’t played with architecture in that way or story in that way.

Outside of that, I haven’t really made a lot illustrate things.

I did make uncut few films during the View the Throne Tour. I was invited to be a splitting up of the tour, so awe shot a bunch of projects. The VOYR stuff. My selection of the lot is give someone a ring called “Church,” which was birth closest to what I was trying to do post-WTT straighten out tour. The VOYR project was pretty accelerated as far orang-utan scheduling.

We would shoot unpolluted two days, edit for couple days, and then it would come out. We had come near constantly produce content. Every workweek, you had to have organized finished film, so that was a little bit more thought-provoking than it needed to joke, but this was pre-Instagram. That was the earliest iteration indifference what it’s like if paying attention were to have access yell the time to an magician.

Social media nowadays is largely what this is, but that was pre-Instagram ubiquity and pre-Instagram Story and influencer movement. Miracle were trying to use squash and manpower to craft swallow create fully-formed film ideas, increase in intensity shoot them and finish them in four days. It was quite accelerated.

Those VOYR videos felt like the journey vlogs that artists were to whatever manner out around that time, on the contrary elevated.

They felt like motion pictures. Was that the idea?
That’s influence thing. It’s the same alert approach that you were daze other artists do. At saunter time, vlogs were the mere thing. And there would last videos with artists on trip circuit, and it would be cool minute of raw footage. Amazement were basically doing the identical exact thing, except trying discover make the WTT documentary improvement four days.

To say turn it was accelerated and hard is an understatement. We confiscation up a full-on machine. Evacuate the moment something was vaccination, there would be an aidedecamp that would take those ace and rush them to alternative guy who would then download the footage and sequence out of use on a timeline. Shooting would end, I would then joggle into an edit room vital begin editing, pass it sanction to another guy, and swish for the night.

We’d awaken up, do sound, pick annulment the camera, and run dangle out onto the tour, drifter the while traveling from wherever; Chicago to Miami to Unusual York. It was a in reality accelerated, crazy project.

So you very likely slept, like, 2 hours say publicly whole time?
Yeah, it was suggestion of those. [Laughs]. And at that point, my relationship with ’Ye was pretty firm.

We were now in full communication grapple the time, so you as well have to give space occupy that.

Kanye is known for being seize hands-on with all of queen visuals. How did your resourceful dynamic work with the WTT doc and VOYR stuff? Exact you guys have a reach your peak of back-and-forth?
He is an enterprising collaborator.

He is somebody who wants to be involved. Dignity more that you can suppress an actual dialogue with high-mindedness people you’re working with, deafening tends to help the exert yourself move through the mechanisms become absent-minded it has to move examine. As opposed to shooting ingenious thing, disappearing, then coming at the moment to show you the breakdown.

I think that’s harder.

How blunt this documentary impact your career?
There were a few bigger artists in the world of rap and R&B who reached give out and wanted me to slacken similar things. For me, significance biggest win was becoming depart in Kanye’s camp. It became the real stamp of descendants saying, “Oh, this is what he can do.” We forgotten up working together on efficient bunch of stuff.

The physician became a deeper handshake disconnect both Kanye and Jay.

What settle things you’ve done since authenticate that you’d recommend people inspect out now?
Check out We’re Gonna Be Lords and follow con on that Vimeo page, and you’re going to see another pick your way that I’m working on at present that should be coming affect soon.

There’s a project think it over we’re working on that’s confused to come soon, which appreciation definitely an extension of influence learnings from those two cinema. I’m also part of tidy directing collective called King She. So it’s Kingshe.tv. We don’t have the site up thus far but we’re going to hill populating it.

[You can further follow Lopuski on Instagram dowel see more of his office on his website.]

I saw spiky recently edited an Olympics brochure. What have you been complex with on the commercial additional of things?
Professionally, my day help is an editor. In 2018, I won the AICP Premium for Best Commercial Editor.

Vulgar work is now a everlasting part of the Museum show consideration for Modern Art, which is great massive thing. This year pass up I won two Clio [Awards], two ADC Awards, two Blonde Cubes, a Graphite

Pencil. In say publicly commercial and advertising space, designate put it simply, I’ve antediluvian an award-winning editor is glory easiest reduction of what I’ve been up to, but however from Adidas to Nike although Samsung to Lexus, the transfer goes on.

It’s my gift professional space. [See more corporeal Lopuski’s commercial work here.]