Louie Lee-Horton’s journey into filmmaking wasn’t exactly planned. In fact, he nearly avoided it altogether. “Way back in the day, I’m talking 10 years ago at college, I took a course called Interactive Media,” he recalls. “Film was never on my radar—I actually think I applied for graphic design.” But a film project during his studies changed everything. Armed with a torch and a camera in an empty Victorian house, he shot a horror trailer. “I terrified myself to death, but I loved it. Looking back, it’s probably not as cool as I thought, but at the time, it felt amazing.” That was the moment film became his sole focus.
Fast forward to today, Louie runs LLH Films, a self-shooting DP operation that has evolved into a team when needed. “I never wanted to be boxed into just shooting or just editing,” he says. “I love doing both.” His career has been shaped by an independent spirit, a drive for creative control, and a refusal to follow trends just for the sake of it.
Staying Unique in the Industry
With an oversaturated creative market, standing out can be a challenge. For Louie, the key is staying true to his instincts. “I shoot how I want to shoot. Too many people say, ‘I’m doing this because someone else is doing it.’ I get it, but I’d rather shoot what I enjoy.”
Louie on set of the Wake Me Up music video
His approach extends to gear choice as well. While Sony cameras dominate the industry, Louie prefers his RED cameras. “People tell me, ‘You don’t even have autofocus,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ve never had it, so I don’t know what I’m missing.’” He emphasizes the importance of artistic choice over convenience. “If you want to shoot on anamorphic lenses, do it because you love the look—not because it’s easy.”
The “Wake Me Up” Music Video for Alex Spencer
One of Louie’s recent projects was the Wake Me Up music video for Manchester artist Alex Spencer. “I’ve worked with him since he was 14. Now he’s 18, and his music was just featured in the latest FIFA game. He’s not even ‘upcoming’ anymore—he’s making it.”
Overhead shot from the completed video
The shoot came together fast. “Alex called me three weeks before release like, ‘Lou, I’ve got a song coming out—throw some ideas at me.’” With a minimal budget and no time for elaborate setups, Louie took inspiration from an old mattress commercial he had shot. “I wanted to shoot the whole thing top-down. Hair falls in this really cool way when you look up at it.”
The night before the shoot, the original venue canceled. “Happy days,” Louie laughs. “We found another blackout studio and rigged the camera overhead.” The result? A visually compelling video that exceeded expectations. “For how little we spent, I think it turned out amazing.”
For the shoot Louie used the RED Komodo, paired with lenses like the Laowa 9mm and a Sigma 35mm. The editing was done in Da Vinci Resolve, where Louie also took care of the color grading. As for the aspect ratio, he experimented with a square crop, which Alex loved.
Louie’s RED Komodo in the overhead rig
“I watched a film recently that had a square aspect ratio, and I thought, ‘I need to try this.’ When I delivered the video, Alex was blown away,” Louie shares.
A High-Intensity Shoot for Archie
Louie also recently shot a commercial for Archie’s Atomic, a fast-paced event that required relentless shooting. “Shoots like this are fun but ridiculously stressful. It’s like the equivalent of shooting a festival because even though you’ve got an end time, a schedule of what’s going on, you can’t force anything, you’re looking for reactions, you’re looking for this and that, it’s not like a set shoot.”
Shot from the grand opening of Archie’s Atomic
During the run and gun style shoot it was non-stop action, with VIPs everywhere including Manchester rappers Aitch and Central Cee. “I had my Komodo X on a gimbal and the V-Raptor handheld. There was no time to switch setups. If I had to change a battery, I risked missing a moment.”
Louie’s V-Raptor
The shoot ran from 3 PM to 1 AM, capturing food, roller skaters, celebrity appearances, and more. “They needed a one-and-a-half-minute highlight reel plus segmented content for different categories—food, celebs, atmosphere. That’s pretty normal these days. Clients want to maximize content.”
Despite the chaos, the end result was something Louie was proud of. “It was intense, but the footage looked great. Archie loved it, and that’s what matters.”
The Workflow Behind the Scenes
Louie first discovered ShotPut Pro while working with a visual effects artist on a project for Manchester United, and it has since become indispensable to his workflow.
“I watched this guy upload his footage, and the software checked everything for him. It was incredible. I asked him what he was using, and he told me about ShopPut Pro. A year later, I bought it, and now I can’t imagine my workflow without it,” Louie explains.
For Louie, ShopPut Pro makes the tedious process of transferring and checking files effortless. Instead of manually inspecting folders, he simply drags and drops his footage, and ShopPut Pro does the rest, even providing a PDF to confirm everything is in order.
“It’s like an angel for data transfer,” Louie says. “It’s one of those tools I didn’t know I needed, but now I absolutely can’t work without it.”
Final Thoughts
Louie on scene at Archie’s Atomic
For Louie Lee-Horton, filmmaking is about passion and instinct. Whether it’s a last-minute music video or an all-night commercial shoot, his dedication to storytelling and hands-on approach keep his work dynamic and engaging. “At the end of the day, we’re artists. We should shoot because we love it, not just because it’s easy