Production Company

Blinkink

Having been associated with a number of famous Christmas&nbsp;ad campaigns down the years, it's the turn of Jack Brown to continue the tradition at Blinkink, with his music video for Jorja Smith's cover of East 17's iconic Yuletide&nbsp;hit, Stay Another Day - an exclusive seasonal release by Amazon Music.Employing 2D animation within 3D-rendered environments, Brown creates a beautiful and emotive film that follows Jorja and a white fox through a snowbound&nbsp;cityscape.&nbsp;Of course the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wNhdjoF-6M" target="_blank">first video for Stay Another Day </a>is as iconic as the song, and Brown nods to the original&nbsp;with the character design of Jorja - wearing a white fur-lined coat, just like the E17 boys in the video.&nbsp;It also shares the downbeat&nbsp;tone of the song as the Jorja character cuts an isolated&nbsp;figure, while the city rises up around the wandering fox - until they join forces at the end.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Jack Brown

Mish Mayer

Thomas Hannan

Amazon Music UK

Gareth Owen

Josef Byrne

Alex Halley

Charlotte Herbert

Weiden Wong

Tjimen Snelderwaard

Andrew Khosravani

Harriet Hobday

Soul

Jorja Smith 'Stay Another Day' by Jack Brown

Jorja Smith - 'Stay Another Day' (Official Video)

<h3>We chat with the director who signed to Blinkink this year following the huge success of his student film&nbsp;Heart Failure, won Best Director at BFI Future Film Festival&nbsp;and made his first foray into commercials with two memorable music-based ads&nbsp;- and discover he's now ready to&nbsp;take the plunge into making music videos.</h3>Will Wightman has been busy bringing music and film together, in surprising and exciting ways. In fact, he has yet to make a music video. But on the other hand, he has been well occupied in his mission to singlehandedly rejuvenate and re-energise another genre:&nbsp;the film musical. As a result he has been getting some serious attention - and prizes.In the past year, Wightman has won Best Director at the BFI Future Film Festival and picked up a Cannes Lion. And in April he officially joined the director's roster at London animation studio Blinkink, leading to his introduction to directing his first couple of commercials.&nbsp;&nbsp;Both ads have seen him use the&nbsp;musical form in original ways, combining the features of the genre&nbsp;with the craft in puppetry and different styles animation for which&nbsp;Blinkink is renowned. He had done so in entertaining ads for very different ends: firstly, a PSA for animal rights charity PETA UK to highlight the cruelty of the production of wool and leather; and then a spot for US frozen food brand Ore-Ida that acclaims&nbsp;the reliable greatness of their&nbsp;french fries.But it's his breakthrough short film which really exhibits Wightman's reinvention of an old film genre for a new audience. Heart Failure is a comedy about relationships, breakups, heartbreak and recovery, all from a Gen Z perspective. And it has another special power that no other short film can claim: it's a musical. An 'EDM&nbsp;musical', to be exact,&nbsp;with a 21 year old lead character called Frank who can only honestly explain his situation and predicatment to the audience&nbsp;through song.If this sounds corny&nbsp;- and everyone hates musicals, right? - it certainly is not. In fact, it's super-cool. Superbly constructed, fast-paced, genuinely funny, with terrific performances from the actors playing the three protagonists, Heart Failure uses its structure to make all kinds of astute observations about the complications of modern living for early twentysomethings - most of which is centred around their phones, of course.And on top of all that, this is a student film. Wightman wrote the film and the soundtrack - produced by Will Marchant who also DoPed the film - as his graduation film from Falmouth School of Art&nbsp;in 2021. It has gone on to appear in numerous festivals, win various awards - and appeared at the most recent shows of BUG at the BFI.So we got in touch with Will to congratulate him on his success so far and ask him a few questions...&nbsp;[vidtoken data:0]<blockquote>I’ve always felt that the musical was a relatively unexplored space.</blockquote>Promonews: Heart Failure is remarkably accomplished for a student filmmaker. How did you get to that point? What had you made before that?Will Wightman: Honestly, I've just been making films for as long as I can remember. I was very much that kid at school. I had a laptop to help with my&nbsp;dyslexia at secondary and I used&nbsp;to carry it around the streets and parks near my house to film&nbsp;stuff with the webcam. I used to force my poor mates to act and hold lights, then I got to college and met lots of people who loved it&nbsp;the way I did.I studied TV production at uni and worked as a freelance editor too. So yeah, I've pretty much always had a film project on the go. Before Heart Failure, I'd probably made 40 films or something. Not that any of them are even slightly worth watching.&nbsp;[I bet some of them are - ed]&nbsp;Why did you decide to make Heart Failure into a musical?That really was the first piece of the puzzle actually! I'd been mulling this idea for a modern musical for a while.&nbsp;As a lifelong musician, I’ve always felt that the musical genre was a relatively unexplored space. I just think there’s huge potential for stories told through music&nbsp;but so often the whole genre is shrugged off as cheesy and outdated. Injecting a musical with electronic dance music and super contemporary filmmaking was a really exciting combination to me.&nbsp;I&nbsp;spent a long time thinking about what would be the best story to tell with that style of storytelling. When I got my heart horrifically broken in my final year of uni, it just sort of came to me... weird.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>When I got my heart horrifically broken in my final year of uni, it just sort of came to me...</blockquote>This was a graduation piece I believe, so what help did you have from the college in making it?I had a couple of great mentors in my third year and the uni had a lot of kit that we had access to for free. We shot the film during Covid though, so to be honest beyond that we were pretty on our own with it. I actually didn't hand it in as part of my coursework in the end because it wasn't finished. We ended up doing all the post after we'd graduated!&nbsp;You fit the age range for the characters and subject matter so… was it inspired by true events?Oh&nbsp;big time.&nbsp;I get really frustrated with how so much of the world talks about young people, and the nature of the film industry is such that basically no high-end content is ever written or directed by anyone under the age of 25 or even thirty.&nbsp;This film for me&nbsp;was really just about trying to distil down my own experience of being 21 into something that captured that as authentically as possible. Don't tell my ex though.[imgtoken data:2]<blockquote>It was about trying to distil down my own experience of being 21... as authentically as possible.</blockquote>How did you find your excellent cast? When and where did you shoot it? When was it completed?Finding people who could sing and act the way I wanted&nbsp;was a real&nbsp;challenge. We put a few casting calls out and put all of our tiny budget into paying proper rates for good actors. I'm so glad we did it that&nbsp;way because&nbsp;our cast really smashed it.&nbsp;When it came to filming the thing. We shot in my actual student house, as the third and final lockdown lifted. There were six of us on set at a time and honestly, it was the toughest shoot I've&nbsp;ever been a part of.I'm so thankful to everyone who helped me bring this film to life and I'd especially like to shout out to my very patient housemate who let us turn his house into a film set/bomb site.What happened next? Presumably, it’s been screened at various festivals and won prizes, which must be exciting. What were the big highlights?The film has taken me further than I ever could have dreamed of to be honest. We were at BIFA, Cannes Lions, the young director awards, BFI Future Film, the Webbys and a bunch more. It's been a dream come true.The biggest thing for me though is the people I've met through the film's journey. I met&nbsp;Blinkink&nbsp;who have been just so nurturing&nbsp;and supportive of me. I also signed with my film and TV agent of the back of the film, and he's helped me secure some really exciting deals that hopefully I'll be able to tell you about soon.[imgtoken data:3]&nbsp;<blockquote>We shot in my actual student house, as the third and final lockdown lifted.</blockquote>What was the key factor on you signing to Blinkink?I love everyone at Blinkink. We have really similar values about the kind of stuff we want to make and it's just a great&nbsp;creative community&nbsp;to be a&nbsp;part of.As one of their only fully live-action directors, I was really excited by the chance to be somewhere I could&nbsp;bring something properly different to the roster, and also be repped by a company that could offer me something properly unique in return. I can't wait to see what we do together in the next few years!You’ve now made the ads for Peta&nbsp;and Ore-Ida. There are similarities between them stylistically - and they’re also both musical too, of course. Any input in the creation of the songs from yourself?I wrote the music for both of them actually! Writing music has always been a big part of my process.&nbsp;I usually&nbsp;write the script and music at the same time. It really helps me to visualise the tone and pace of a scene, then when the film is cut together, I reproduce the track from the ground up with a much more capable music producer than me.[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>Jessie Cave did an amazing job walking that line between humour and heartbreak [in Shop To Save Lives].</blockquote>On the PETA film you tread a fine line between sweetness and horror. What was the key in making it work?In many ways, <a href="http://blinkink.co.uk/projects/shop-to-save-lives" target="_blank">PETA's Shop To Save Lives</a>&nbsp;is a much simpler project than Heart Failure or Ore-Ida, but it's definitely the biggest tonal challenge I've come up against.&nbsp;PETA traditionally&nbsp;look for that shock factor with their marketing, but they wanted us to make something more palatable this time, while still delivering their message effectively.&nbsp;A lot of it was about letting the audience's imagination to do the heavy lifting; having the animals sing about these horrific injuries, blissfully unaware, felt more powerful than actually showing them. It was the same with the wounds, rather than using hyper-realistic latex injury detail, we used fabrics, paint and coloured&nbsp;beads&nbsp;to create our 'gore'. I wanted it to be horrific, but I felt softening the edges of it ever so slightly made it fit into our kids TV world better and so somehow felt more eery.&nbsp;Ultimately though, the key for me was having Jessie Cave at the centre of it. She's really part of the audience in many ways, and her emotional journey through the film really signposted how each scene needed to make the audience feel too. Jessie did an amazing job walking that line between humour and heartbreak, she was a pleasure&nbsp;to work with.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:5]<blockquote>Writing music has always been a big part of my process.</blockquote>What was the best takeaways from making a) PETA's Shop To Save Lives, and b) Ore-Ida's Deliciously Predictable?For me, Shop To Save Lives was an incredible opportunity to learn the advertising ropes and work with a far bigger team than I'd ever been involved with. I'd never shot with sets or puppets, so I really had to learn on the job.Meanwhile, <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/projects/deliciously-predictable" target="_blank">Deliciously Predictable</a> was about taking everything I learnt from PETA and doing it 10 times bigger. I feel really lucky to have been a part of such cool projects this early in my career. Fingers crossed there will be more soon!What’s next on the agenda? What are you working on at the moment?I've got a few feature film&nbsp;projects in development. Then at the same time,&nbsp;I have my eye on some music videos.&nbsp; I'm really keen to collaborate with musicians&nbsp;and let someone else take the musical reins for a change. I think working with a small budget again will also be a great chance to see how my creative muscles have grown. Nothing produces good work like limitations.&nbsp;I&nbsp;think&nbsp;at this stage of my career, I just want to surprise people with what I do and not be driven by money or big names.&nbsp;My main hope is that when people watch the next thing I make, they’ll think something along the lines of ‘holy shit! I wasn’t expecting that!’Do you have a favourite artist (or artists) who you think would be ideal for a Will Wightman music video?Where do&nbsp;I start? There's loads up-and-coming DJs that I love. Sammy Virji or TwoShell, for example,&nbsp;have such a palpable energy&nbsp;in their tracks, and I'd love to make something that feels properly kinetic like that.I love the visceral intensity&nbsp;of rock bands like Idles or&nbsp;Squid. I also love the cinematic quality of Black Country New Road,&nbsp;their tracks have real heart.&nbsp; If I'm dreaming big, I'd love to do a video for Disclosure or Apex Twins, and A$AP Rocky has made some amazing videos over the years. I could go on!&nbsp;To be honest though, I think the perfect artist for me is really someone who's up for collaborating; someone who's happy to put ego aside and just make something properly creative. At this stage in my career, I'm open minded!• Will Wightman is represented for music videos and commercials by Blinkink, watch his reel <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/will-wightman" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;

Will Wightman

Will Wightman: "At this stage, I just want to surprise people."

Heart Failure | The EDM Musical | 2022

London production studio Blinkink has signed two North American directors, as part of its expanding&nbsp;mixed-media roster: Canadian Cole Kush (above, left) and NYC native Zach Tavel (right).<a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/cole-kush?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">Cole Kush</a> is an 3D animator extraordinaire, renowned for creating unsettlingly realistic depictions of uncanny, bizarre characters and scenarios, in videos for Mac DeMarco (below), A$AP Rocky and others, and for clients including Nike, Adult Swim, HBO, SNL and Vice. He is also one half of the creative studio Grin Machine, with Dan Streit.[imgtoken data:1]With a background in&nbsp;clinical biology that has contributed to the distinctive flavour of his work, Kush is also working on projects in development with Blink Games and Blink Industries, Blinkink's longform division."Cole's been a collaborator with us for years," explains Josef Byrne,&nbsp;executive producer at Blinkink. "He's worked with our long-form division, the Don't Hug Me I'm Scared crew, and is developing a game with our new Blink Games team. It's only natural that we get him even more intertwined with us."His music videos are some of the most bizarre things we've seen, and he brings that tone seamlessly into his commercial work, Nike Jordan being a great example. Very excited to push&nbsp;Cole's work even further and into new worlds and techniques."<a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/zach-tavel?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">Zach Tavel</a> is also adept at creating imaginatively bizarre comedy in his work for the likes of Band of Horses (below), Lone Star beer and Ranch Rider seltzer. He draws influence from the&nbsp;bizarre fringes of life and the accidental surrealism of B-movies and old regional TV commercials.[imgtoken data:2] Tavel is a live action director who often works with practical effects, handmade sets and non-traditional casting methods in order to experiment with visual style. Humour is at the core of everything he makes, with a particularly demonstrable talent for performance-based comedy.&nbsp;Blinkink EP Josef Byrne adds: "What Zach has created off his own back is incredible - most of the projects on his reel he's written and directed himself. His performance comedy is some of the finest we've seen. His visual style and ability to make weird stuff is exactly what we love in live-action. We can't wait to bring some Blinkink to his work."• Watch Cole Kush's&nbsp;reel at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/cole-kush?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">here</a> • Watch Zach Tavel's reel at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/zach-tavel?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">here</a>

Cole Kush

Cole Kush and Zach Tavel join Blinkink

Jack Brown directs a psychedelic, dreamy visual for regular collaborators&nbsp;Yussef Dayes and&nbsp;Tom Misch.The animated video for Rust is a spacey journey through hypnotic dreamscapes and performance vibes, with an inspired blend of 3D background and hand-drawn, 2D characters.&nbsp;This is Jack’s third collaboration with Yussef Dayes and Tom Misch following&nbsp;Nightrider&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/09/09/tom-misch-yussef-dayes-tidal-wave-jack-brown/66466">Tidal Wave</a>&nbsp;(taken&nbsp;from the duo’s 2020 album&nbsp;What Kinda Music), this time for Dayes' first solo album.[imgtoken data:1]“It felt really special to work with Yussef and Tom again, to&nbsp;make the third instalment of our animation saga and extra special to do it for&nbsp;Yussef’s incredible debut album," Brown says. "I wanted to expand the world of Nightrider and Tidal Wave by bringing it into&nbsp;a 3D space while maintaining the classic 2D feel."This was made possible by&nbsp;the big brain, super-talented Richard Noble who built these landscapes from&nbsp;my silly sketches.&nbsp;Big love to the small crew of dedicated and talented people&nbsp;who worked on this and to Yussef and Tom for consistently making the best&nbsp;sounding music out there."

Richard Noble

Jazz

Yussef Dayes ft Tom Misch 'Rust' by Jack Brown 

Yussef Dayes feat. Tom Misch - Rust  [Official Video]

<h3>There really could only be one outcome when Raman Djafari got together with Ashton Nicole Casey - aka Ashnikko. Sheer creative mayhem.</h3>He is the director of very cool and weird animated videos. And she is the artist behind some very cool and weird videos - mainly non-animated -&nbsp;who is about to release her long-awaited debut album WEEDKILLER.&nbsp;And so it came to pass:&nbsp;the explosion of visual imagination&nbsp;that is the music video for Worms. In the clip, Ashnikko is the pilot of a futuristic monster truck, hurtling&nbsp;Mad Max-style through a post-Apocalyptic&nbsp; world accompanied by a posse of fantastical creatures drawn from ancient legends, to eventually do battle with a rival truck-beast - known as a&nbsp;Weedkiller.This visually intense scenario also integrates the real life Ashnikko into a richly complex fully animated environment, in a bold development of the textural and tactile form of CGI - which resembles stop motion animation -&nbsp;for which German director Djafari has become known as a result of&nbsp;his work with <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/05/21/squid-pamphlets-raman-djafari/71003" target="_blank">Squid</a>, <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/08/20/elton-john-dua-lipa-cold-heart-pnau-remix-raman-djafari/72463" target="_blank">Elton John &amp; Dua Lipa</a> and others.[vidtoken data:0]The video is also a crucial element in&nbsp;delivering the conceptual themes of the album, where the American artist's concerns&nbsp;about environmental destruction are expressed through the idiom of the fantasy literature she loves. As she has explained:“This fae is grappling with the tragedy of their world being destroyed by weedkillers. They’re kind of roaming this desert with a giant weapon on the back of their tank-like monster truck, and fighting off these weedkillers in this great battle. "They’re trying to convince themselves that everything is OK, and that this heartbreak is something they can deal with, but it’s definitely something they’re destroyed by. It sets up the story really nicely for the other songs that I have that are deeper in the concept.”So we spoke to Raman Djafari to find out about the making&nbsp;of the video from his perspective - from building on the world that Ashnikko has created for the album, to the challenges of adding live action directing to his skillset.[imgtoken data:1]Above: Raman Djafari (right) watching Ashnikko perform on set of the Worms video.&nbsp;<blockquote>Worms is a banger... it also brings such powerful imagery and metaphors to the audience's imagination.</blockquote>How did the project start for you? Was Ashnikko familiar with (and a fan of) your previous work? RD: One of the great things about working with BlinkInk is that I get the opportunity to pitch on really amazing projects. This was one of them. Ashnikko and their creative director Vasso [Vu] really liked my treatment. They told me they had already been following my work for a while and were super happy to work with me. This made me blush and then almost faint, I played it cool though and pretended I ate a spicy pepper.What did you find most inspiring about Ashnikko, and the track Worms? I feel like Ashnikko is an amazing worldbuilder, and captures our generation's feelings and thoughts so well. They’re a queer icon that represents many people's experiences and brings voice to those in a magical way. I love the blend of rap, hyper-pop and electronic music and how fucking hard their music videos always go.Worms is a banger - I think that’s obvious. But it also brings such powerful imagery and metaphors to the audience's imagination. It sets the tone for both darkness as well as joy. I love how Ash manages to weave contemporary themes into large concepts - like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weedkiller_(album)#:~:text=The%20concept%20behind%20the%20album,seeks%20revenge%20by%20becoming%20part" target="_blank">the lore they wrote about the Weedkillers</a>.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]Above: the fantasy art-influenced main artwork of Ashnikko's debut album WEEDKILLERYou’ve said that it was a creative collaboration with Ashnikko and Vasso, her creative director. What was the starting point of that collaboration?&nbsp;In the beginning both of them just told me about this world they developed for the album. They explained the juxtaposition between the Weedkillers and the organic life, the origins of the state this world is in. We sent each other references and explored different directions to pursue with this video. Throughout there was a feeling of curiosity and mutual trust.What ideas did they have (in the written brief, or from conversations) that helped you with your treatment?&nbsp;There were some reference images that came with the first brief. A medieval etching of a lion type creature (or maybe it was a Venetian lion, I'm not sure anymore), a hellmouth painting, an Alexander McQueen piece, a hyper-femme magical anime girl... all of these combined really already painted a picture in my head.The&nbsp;first synopsis I read about&nbsp;WEEDKILLER&nbsp;really enriched this mood with context. The allegory to the current climate crisis that this story portrays, felt urgent and real yet imaginative and fun to engage with.[imgtoken data:3]&nbsp;[imgtoken data:4][imgtoken data:5]Above: Stages in creative development from inspiration (Breugel's&nbsp;Fall of The Rebel Angels) to early drawings and full creation of Ashnikko's monster truck.&nbsp;<blockquote>I suggested intertwining&nbsp;references to medieval art and Baroque paintings with sci-fi visuals and dystopian narratives.</blockquote>What really appealed to them about your ideas for the video?I think what made them connect to my take on this video was how I suggested to intertwine references to medieval art and Baroque paintings with sci-fi visuals and dystopian narratives. I felt there was the opportunity to bring a different angle to these topics and visuals we are exposed to on a frequent basis.What were the biggest influences and inspiration on the production design and character design? First and foremost, the painting&nbsp;The Fall of The Rebel Angels [by Pieter Breugel], which really was the starting point and a continuous reference point throughout the production. A lot of medieval depictions of beasts and demons, next to 90s mecha anime like&nbsp;Neon Genesis Evangelion, 80s Kaiju movies and&nbsp;Jim Henson puppets. But also sculptures by Marguerite Humeau and my always-beloved Hieronymus Bosch.So much for character design. Our cockpit was very inspired by&nbsp;Mad Max&nbsp;(obviously) but also&nbsp;Star Wars&nbsp;and the Army Of Me&nbsp;music video by Björk.[imgtoken data:6][imgtoken data:7][imgtoken data:8]Above: On set of the Worms video shoot: Ashnikko in her monster truck cabinHow much time did you have to create all of the many weird and wonderful creatures in the video? And how long did you have to complete the animation?I probably spent two months&nbsp;on and off working on the character designs. I even finished the last ones when we already started the animation production. Design is such an iterative and playful process for me that I like to explore as many options as possible before settling. Mostly I really need a while to find the language for a project. The animation production took about two and half&nbsp;months.You have combined animation with live action - is that the first time you’ve done that? How did that affect the way you made the video? Was it less storyboarded than a fully animated video?Yes, this was my first time. Super exciting! I was a bit scared to be honest. I really wasn’t sure if it would work.The video was fully storyboarded, just like a regular animated music video. But I knew we would get a lot of exciting material on set, so I didn’t try to be too specific about what I wanted from the live action bits. There were some crucial shots of course, but also still quite a bit of wiggle room to fit in whatever nice moments we would capture on the day of the shoot.[imgtoken data:9][imgtoken data:10]Above: Ashnikko with her creative director Vasso Vu, on set of the Worms videoYour background is in illustration, and 2D animation. So how did you develop your three dimensional animation technique? What’s your secret for making CGI look like stop motion animation? I was always curious about 3D but a bit scared of the software. At some point I just started experimenting and then integrating it into my music videos. Now I do both 2D and 3D as well as a mix between the two.To me working in 3D is actually really close to painting, which I did before I even started illustration. It’s so much about texture, light, colours, composition - and it is so flexible. You can always change and adapt a scene, like in painting.I always felt a bit distant from most 3D animation I would encounter because it felt a bit cold and overly perfect. I wanted something that felt warmer. What I like about stop motion is that everything looks so tangible, so imperfect and vulnerable. It is so much easier to connect to a stop-mo puppet than with a highly perfected 3D character, at least for me. That's why I am trying to emulate aspects of that look.<blockquote>I always direct my animators to try to keep a certain amount of roughness or jankiness.</blockquote>The way I achieve it has different aspects. For one I pay a lot of attention to textures and materials, trying to give everything a decisively heavy textural feel. Then it is a lot about shape design and detail distribution, being very conscious about how I place details in the composition of a design and how small I am allowed to get.And then obviously the animation itself. I always direct my animators to try to keep a certain amount of roughness or jankiness, so the animation curves don’t make everything look too smooth. Moreover we animate on 2s, meaning 12fps, compared to 24 or 30fps, which is way more common in 3D.Light also plays a big role. I put a lot of work into lighting my scenes in a very painterly way, accentuating specific shapes very consciously and emphasizing the materiality of the characters and sets. It is an interplay of all these aspects and probably some more. I made a tutorial about this once, I think it should be online somewhere.• Raman Djafari is represented for music videos and commercials at <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/raman-djafari" target="_blank">Blinkink</a>. Watch The Making Of Worms <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/projects/the-making-of-worms" target="_blank">here</a>.

Raman Djafari

Raman Djafari on making Ashnikko's Worms: “I really wasn’t sure if it would work.”

Ashnikko - Worms

This PSA for PETA, the charity for the prevention of cruelty to animals, skirts a very fine line between comedy and horror and does so brilliantly. Will WIghtman's film takes the satirical form of an educational TV show for young children. The giddily happy young female presenter - played by Jessie Cave - has her world turned upside down by the farm animals she meets in the studio.&nbsp;It's Wightman's commercial debut since his award winning university short Heart Failure&nbsp;(which he wrote, directed and composed) blew up last year. Similarly, the 23 year old directed, co-wrote and composed this film for PETA, with additional composition from String &amp; Tins.This powerful and memorable video is part of PETA’s ongoing work to re-educate the public about using animal products in fashion. It offers an unflinching explanation of how clothes are really made and the consequences for the animals involved. However, the campaign ends with a message of hope, asking the audience to: “Shop like their lives depend on it”.“This project was all about tone for me; combining a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour with these intense emotional beats felt like an amazing way to talk about this subject in a new and impactful way," says Wightman. "I feel insanely lucky to have worked on such an important project and to do so alongside such an outstanding group of creative and technical minds. No one does it like BlinkInk.”

Commercial Break: PETA 'Shop To Save Lives' by Will Wightman

Raman Djafari combines live action and animation to brilliant effect in the extraordinary new video for the brilliant Ashnikko - creating&nbsp;a Mad Max-esque dystopian landscape to transform the pop star into a monster truck-wielding hero, fighting off robot overlords as she navigates a strange new world.In an intense bombardment of visual imagination, Djafari fuses his signature aesthetic of texturally rich CGI with the unhinged, transgressive ambitions of Ashnikko, to create a wonderful, weird, high-octane action movie.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]The influences on the video range from painters Bruegel and&nbsp;Carravagio, to Bjork, to&nbsp;90s animes like Neon Genesis Evangelion - but you really have to watch on repeat to catch everything that is going on.Djafari worked closely with Ashnikko and her creative director Vassu Vu in conceptualising the video for Worms - which takes the distinctive style of his&nbsp;previous work -&nbsp;such as his massively successful video for Elton John and Dua Lipa's Cold Heart - into a whole new dimension.[imgtoken data:2]"I wanted to create a vast world that stretches way beyond the bounds of this one music video, like there's an abundance of stories waiting to be told," says Djafari.&nbsp;"I indulged my love for creature design and developed dozens of individual characters, monsters, robots and a huge monster truck. It was important to me to bring the world around this album to life, with a richness that reflects the depth of the music and lyrics.[imgtoken data:3]"Working with Ash and Vasso was a truly precious collaboration between artists - they supported and trusted my personal interpretation of the universe they created together. Looking back, I wish I could have spent more time in this world. I feel like this video barely scratches the surface of what I would love to create together with Ashnikko."Fingers crossed we'll get another chance to collaborate in the future.” &nbsp;

Jake River Parker

Molly Turner

Rowan Mackintosh King

Sam Seager

Vasso Vu

Julia Pavliuk

Hunter Daly

Rupert Hornstein

Nicola Braid

Tanmoye Khan

Laurent Arnaud

John Malcolm Moore

Laura Little

Holly Wood

Claire Moore

Mee Kyung Kim Porter

Georgia Olive

Rich Woolway

George Neave

Coffee & TV

Rich Martin

Will Hooper

Ashnikko 'Worms' by Raman Djafari

Ashnikko_Worms_credits

Blinkink has announced the signing of two new&nbsp;talents to their roster of directors - Samuel Mason and Isabel Garrett.Garrett,&nbsp;who is joining Blinkink for global representation,&nbsp;is known for handcrafting&nbsp;tactile stop motion pieces that straddle the line between surreal and subversive.&nbsp;Graduating from the prestigious National Film and Television School in London, she is formerly a resident artist at Alexander McQueen’s Sarabande Foundation, her films combine stunning animation craft with her dark sense of humour.Commissioned by Sarabande, her upcoming short film&nbsp;Bod&nbsp;is a delicate yet avant-garde film that captures the tactile, vulnerable beauty of the characters designed by sculptor and performance artist Daisy Collingridge. The film is set for online release January 19th with an event celebrating the launch at Sarabande Studios in London. Watch the trailer&nbsp;<a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/projects/bod?token=xZQT9PEEzAlztn19VCg3wGi3jt1SKADY" target="_blank">here</a>.Meanwhile,&nbsp;Mason is a director and visual artist whose work sits within the realms of hyperrealism, weaving narratives through tangible dreamworlds. His films are extravagant and highly concepted with detailed storytelling that take viewers on journeys that transcend this world. They have innate photo-realistic qualities yet maintain an artful, painterly feel that blends the surreal with the cinematic.Mason's video for Mac Miller's Colors and Shapes, taken from the late artist’s mixtape&nbsp;Faces,&nbsp;struck gold at the Clios, picked up a Graphite Pencil at D&amp;AD, was nominated at this year's UKMVAs,&nbsp;and was awarded ‘Music Video of the Year’ by Shots last year. As well as music videos, he has also traversed the world of commercials with films for Honda, Spotify, Facebook and New York Times. He joins Blinkink for representation in the UK and Amsterdam.• Watch Samuel Mason's work at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/samuel-mason">here</a>• Watch Isabel Garrett's work at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/isabel-garrett" target="_blank">here</a>

Isabel Garrett

Isabel Garrett and Samuel Mason join Blinkink

Following his previous work for BRONSON, Bastille and the BBC's coverage of last year's Winter Olympics, Balázs Simon now pushes the boundaries in animation further with his remarkable work&nbsp;for US electronica duo Odesza.The video for Light Of Day - a track with plaintive vocals by&nbsp;Ólafur Arnalds - introduces us to a hunched figure, emerging from a cave: he is a very old man, robed in furs, who surveys&nbsp;the remote, hostile, freezing mountainous world around him.&nbsp;On a distant peak a golden light is visible. And the old man begins to set off, on the impossible&nbsp;journey to reach that&nbsp;light. - an unfeasible task, due to the hostility of the terrain.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]This magical tale, a life-affirming parable of the benefit of fortitude and on the cyclical nature of Life itself, is given great depth by its hugely impressive and innovative execution. It takes the form of an animated painting, where the 2D nature of the image is continually developing, and the old man's progress is expressed through the application of painterly digital brushstrokes. This is an aesthetic style that really works as the underlying movement of the figure is essentially realistic.<blockquote>I wanted to harness the immersive qualities of 3D animation, but also make it more painterly.</blockquote>Simon achieved this very distinctive and poignant visual piece through a combination of&nbsp;live action, motion capture, 2D and 3D animation.&nbsp;To create an immersive world, the environments were crafted in 3D with painterly 2D brushstrokes applied. The character’s movement was recorded via motion capture and real life elements were shot to complement the 3D environment, heightening the sense of realism.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]"I was fascinated by the idea of this very old character who gets rejuvenated in a sense during his struggle to experience something magical," says&nbsp;Balazs Simon. &nbsp;"This film is about focussing on the values of life, and not giving in to the pressures we face each day. I wanted to harness the immersive qualities of 3D animation, but also make it more painterly than usual. The result is a mixture of hand-painted backgrounds, in-camera effects, motion capture - and tens of thousands of algorithmic brush strokes in each frame!"&nbsp;Like the old man's journey to the top of the mountain, it is a brilliant achievement - and rather magical too.

United States

Beattie Hartley

Bea Egyed

György Fábos

Barcsay Marcell

Dániel Szabó

Balázs Simon

Sunnyside Animation

Máté Barbalics

Max Halstead

Brin Frost

Szilard Totszegi

Róbert Erdélyi

Gyar

András Piroska

Electronica

Odesza ft Ólafur Arnalds 'Light Of Day' by Balázs Simon

Odesza-'Light-Of-Day'-by-Balazs-Simon

Blinkink’s Stevie Gee and&nbsp;Essy May direct a dreamlike promo&nbsp;for The Range, AKA James Hinton.&nbsp;The music video for Urethane - from Mercury, Hinton's first album in six years - follows&nbsp;a set of twins on their journey to seek mercury on another planet; the most sought after commodity in this beautifully animated world. Ruled by the mercury man, the characters eventually&nbsp;morph into him after being consumed by all of his power.[imgtoken data:1]The video explores themes of decay, growth and rebirth, visualised in iridescent textures and soft pastel colour palettes, which simultaneously feel both nostalgic yet contemporary.The director duo's distinctive style shines magically throughout the concept, creating a world that feels familiar yet otherworldly, and provides an unexpected visual treatment for the track.&nbsp;

Ed Roberts

Andrew Clarke

Stevie Gee

Essy May

Eve Somerville

Will Barnett

Domino Records

The Range 'Urethane' by Stevie Gee, Essy May

The Range - Urethane (Official Video)

Is there life on Mars? There certainly seems to be so in Jac Clinch's absorbing promo for Police Dog Hogan, but not in the way you might expect...&nbsp;The animated video for Here Comes Crow explores a strange and wonderful narrative about an ancient civilisation&nbsp;of crows indigenous to Mars.&nbsp;We follow the story of an astronaut who is tormented and ultimately sent mad by a mysterious crow.&nbsp;Clinch was forbidden&nbsp;in the brief from showing the astronauts faces, and as a result had to bring a great deal of detail and emotion through the character's body language to&nbsp;articulately tell the story.Beautifully rendered in 2D, the video has a charming, ethereal style that is playful yet haunting, and the enigmatic climax will leave viewers mesmerised.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;

Jac Clinch

Adam Clarke

Country

Police Dog Hogan 'Here Comes Crow' by Jac Clinch 

Police Dog Hogan - Here Comes Crow

Gustaf Holtenäs directs a mesmerizing and bizarre epic for rock legends&nbsp;Iron Maiden for Stratego, from their acclaimed new album.&nbsp;The film takes place in a Japanese-inspired landscape, with two rival armies heading to battle in an action-filled match of the ancient Japanese strategy game&nbsp;Shiogi. As with his recent video for Black Midi, Holtenäs combines 2D and 3D elements to create a mind-boggling visual to match the monumental tone of the song.[imgtoken data:1]This is the second&nbsp;collaboration&nbsp;between Blinkink and Iron Maiden, following&nbsp;<a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/07/19/iron-maiden-writing-wall-nicos-livesey/71952">The Writing on the Wall</a>, directed by Nicos Livesey, released last month.Stunningly executed, the rich textures, vibrant colours and seamless animation form a dreamy, transcendent aesthetic, contrasted by the riotous, high energy pacing and bloody narrative. Truly epic in scale and well worth a watch.[imgtoken data:2][imgtoken data:3]&nbsp;

Gustaf Holtenäs

Sami Goddard

Minna Floss

Caroline Morin

Wash

Danielle Barnes

Heavy Metal

Rock

Iron Maiden 'Stratego' by Gustaf Holtenäs 

Gustaf Holtenäs - Iron Maiden "Stratego"

Balázs Simon&nbsp;directs a sprawling 3D animated digital landscape for Bastille’s music video for their new single Thelma &amp; Louise&nbsp;from their upcoming fourth studio album. The video serves as the&nbsp;sequel to the video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/06/29/bastille-distorted-light-beam-jak-payne/71653" target="_blank">Distorted Light Beam</a>, building on the world established by Jak Payne - who joined this project as creative director.In this high concept work, we join frontman Dan&nbsp;exactly where we left him in the previous video:&nbsp;having entered the Futurescape with The Engineer, played by Remmie Milner.As the world continues to crumble outside, we see our heroes floating in a virtual fantasyland made entirely of pixel-like cubes. In the digital space, their avatars have moments of intimacy and play which intercut with their live-action counterparts.[imgtoken data:1]To build this 3D universe, Balázs and his team had to develop custom code, animating up to 90 million individual elements, each with its own defined mass and physics. The scale of this project meant that optimisation and rendering on the fly were integral. This process ensured there was enough computer memory and processing power for the video to be completed. Balázs later discovered that Pixar had to overcome similar hurdles in making the film&nbsp;Soul.The finished product is an immersive and impactful world that elevates Bastille’s new music into an audiovisual experience and impressive addition to Balázs Simon’s growing portfolio.[imgtoken data:2]

Jak Payne

Rosie Brear

Laura Northover

Remmie Milner

Tuna + Icon

Feature Films For Families

Umbrella Budapest

Anna Smoronova

Blink

Bastille 'Thelma & Louise' by Balázs Simon

Balázs Simon - Bastille 'Thelma and Louise

Raman Djafari brings his signature 3D stop-motion like 3D animation style into the big time world of pop for the remix of Elton John's Cold Heart by PNAU, featuring Dua Lipa.In this case, Djari also adds anime-influenced 2D elements to create a world full of celebration, dance and joy - including&nbsp;Studio-Ghibli-inspired renditions of Elton and Dua.[imgtoken data:1]We follow the journey of four disco-dancing friends - reflecting the era that Elton enjoyed first time around, and Dua references in her hit album Future Nostalgia - of identical portly stature, as they move through galaxies that are increasingly dense with colour and nature.[imgtoken data:2]Along the way, they make friends with all the spectacular life they find; spreading joy as they go.&nbsp;They end their journey dancing with Elton and Dua&nbsp;at the best garden party this side of the Milky Way.[imgtoken data:3]Created in the isolation of the pandemic and inspired by the collaboration of two British icons, legendary and new, this video encapsulates a post-lockdown feeling to get back to a place where we can once again enjoy and feel music together, 2021-style.[imgtoken data:4]

Rosa Siabi

Seo young

Jack Stone

George Brunt

Katie Dolan

Disco

Remix

Elton John & Dua Lipa 'Cold Heart' (PNAU remix) by Raman Djafari 

Dua Lipa & Elton John - Cold Heart

Blinkink director, metalhead and&nbsp;massive Iron Maiden fan Nicos Livesey fulfills a personal dream by directing&nbsp;the video for the legendary heavy metal band's new single. The result is a blockbusting&nbsp;epic six-minute 2D and 3D&nbsp;animated video that imagines Belshazzar's Feast... aka The End of the World.From the moment a mysterious&nbsp;gowned Samaritan tends to the last moments of a dying man in a parched desert, we are unmistakeably placed in a dystopian world ravaged by pollution and drought. Then the elite class begin to arrive for their exclusive party in the desert - including a fat, bloated US President and a bunch of faceless, bowler-hatted British civil servants...[imgtoken data:1]But their dastardly rule of the Earth is about to come to an end. The gowned figure is none other than legendary Maiden mascot Eddie, who summons the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse to destroy the vampire who is feeding off the souls of the young, perpetuating the rule of the elite...Derived from an original storyline from Maiden frontman&nbsp;Bruce Dickinson, and storyboards by veteran Pixar artist Mark Andrews, Livesey&nbsp;and&nbsp;Blinkink&nbsp;then pulled out all the stops to bring the production to life - and this was eight months in the making.The combination of 2D and 3D animation involved&nbsp;around sixty crew members, working across the globe in the UK, France, Spain, Norway, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Greece, USA, and Canada.It's an epic take on Armageddon - which becomes the basis of a new beginning...[imgtoken data:2]

Nicos Livesey

Bart Yates

Elliot Dear

Rosanna Morley

Sam Sneade

Mark Andrews

Iron Maiden 'The Writing On The Wall' by Nicos Livesey

Iron Maiden – The Writing On The Wall (Official Video)

London-based animation production company Blinkink have announced the arrival of four new&nbsp;directors to its roster -&nbsp;Jack Brown, Danaé Gosset, Louis Clichy and Balázs Simon.&nbsp;Three of the four directors - Brown, Gosset and Simon -&nbsp;have joined Blinkink having created noteworthy work in music videos, while Clichy comes from a background in animated features.&nbsp; &nbsp;Jack Brown has officially signed to Blinkink just weeks after he collaborated with the&nbsp;production company on the video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/04/27/weeknd-ft-ariana-grande-save-your-tears-remix-jack-brown/70609" target="_blank">The Weeknd featuring Ariana Grande's&nbsp;Save Your Tears</a> (above, top left), which has garnered over 65 million views in less than a month&nbsp;since release.This followed his work on the videos last year for&nbsp;Tom Misch &amp; Yussuf Dayes' Nightrider and Tidal Wave and Tiggs Da Author &amp; Nines' Fly 'Em High. Check out his work on the Blinkink website <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/jack-brown?utm_source=Blink+Mega+List&amp;utm_campaign=eb649325ef-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_05_21_04_21_COPY_02&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_bd0fbdc30c-eb649325ef-80324377&amp;mc_cid=eb649325ef&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">here</a>.Danaé Gosset is a multifaceted Parisian animation director specialising in the craft of&nbsp;mixed media moving images. Originally plying her trade as an art director and designer in New York, she has built a distinctive&nbsp;visual language that has garnered attention from the likes of D&amp;AD, SXSW, Adobe and Nike.She has also directed acclaimed videos for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/02/06/mitski-pearl-saad-moosajee/57166" target="_blank">Mitski's A Pearl</a>, and Boys Noize &amp; Kelsey Lu's Ride Or Die (above, top right), together with NYC-based Art Camp,&nbsp;and Low Island's Don't Let The Light In, employing a painterly style and variety of techniques&nbsp;to tell surreal stories. Watch her showreel on the Blinkink website <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/dana%C3%A9-gosset" target="_blank">here</a>. Hungarian animation director&nbsp;Balázs Simon&nbsp;has received recognition for several music videos over the past few years, ranging from nominations at SXSW and the UKMVAs for his music videos for Nils Frahms' Re and Leifur James's Wurlitzer,&nbsp;to recently winning at the 1.4 Awards for the&nbsp;Blinkink-produced <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/06/01/bronson-ft-laura-heart-attack-bal%C3%A1zs-simon/65072" target="_blank">Heart Attack&nbsp;for electronic powerhouse, Bronson</a> (above, lower right).&nbsp;He has also recently dipped his toes into the live action world having directed David Guetta’s music video, Save My Life. Check out Balázs Simon on the Blinkink website <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/balazs-simon" target="_blank">here</a>.Award-winning director Louis Clichy honed his craft as an animator on feature films Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up while working at Pixar, before going on to direct&nbsp;Asterix: The Land of the Gods&nbsp;and&nbsp;Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion&nbsp;for which he was nominated for a César Award for&nbsp;Best Animated Film in 2019. Louis Clichy's showreel on the Blinkink website is <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/louis-clichy" target="_blank">here</a>.• More at the <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/our-work/" target="_blank">Blinkink website</a>

Danae Gosset

Blinkink add four directors: Jack Brown, Danaé Gosset, Louis Clichy and Balázs Simon 

Raman Djafari creates a masterpiece of slow-burning tension and wonder, featuring a hero for the age, for the much-lauded Brighton alt-rock outfit Squid's eight minute epic Pamphlets.The animator, who works in both 2D and 3D, now applies his distinctive graphic style to build the three-dimensional world of a devilish-looking fellow. He is blue-suited, blue-lipped and nailed - and with mini-horns - but appearances turn out to be deceptive. He is trapped within his domestic space, looking out into a crowded world, unable to join in.[imgtoken data:1]Due to the wonderful attention to detail in the animation that suggests stop-motion even as it must be made digitally, Djafari (aided by character animation and rigging by Barney Abrahams) orchestrates his progress through his isolation to transformation, with occasional nuggets of cartoon magic, and finally to a transcendent metamorphosis.&nbsp;In the gradual pacing and the focus on the character of this existential&nbsp;hero, Djafari allows the complex art-rock sound of Squid to fill the gaps in providing the drama. And it all comes together in a brilliant climax. The blue devil changes physically -&nbsp;but its also clear that this is the emergence of a new state of self-empowerment.[imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

Barney Abrahams

Warp Records

Alternative

Squid 'Pamphlets' by Raman Djafari

Raman Djafari - Squid "Pamphlets"

Director Jack Brown has teamed up with Blinkink to create an animated music video for the remixed version of The Weeknd's Save You Tears’ remix, featuring Ariane Grande - a journey through the manufacturing line of The Weeknd’s own underground lair as he creates his perfect companion. Which is Ariana, of course.The video marks a big step forward for Brown, who only kicked off his music video career last year with work for Poppy Ajudha and the delightful video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/09/09/tom-misch-yussef-dayes-tidal-wave-jack-brown/66466" target="_blank">Tom Misch &amp; Yussef Dayes' Tidal Wave</a>. That was a boy-meets-girl story in an exotic location - and in its way, so is this one.It begins in a sparse desert landscape before venturing deep underground to Weeknd's world cave-like factory - part-NASA, part-Willy Wonka. A head separately from a body - a running motif through the videos created for The Weeknd's hit album After Hours&nbsp;- appears on the conveyor of a production line. And so begins the start of the creation of the doll version of Ariana...With&nbsp;The Weeknd - in his trademark scarlet lounge&nbsp;jacket, naturally - as the overseer&nbsp;to the creation,&nbsp;the doll becomes more and more developed. Arms, legs and a body come together, for the big reveal.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2][imgtoken data:3]

Matt Marsh

Dom Thompson-Talbot

Sav Akyüz

Pete Sharp

Dexter Maurer

James Neilson

Anita Gill

Ed Smith

Katherine Spangenberg

Gaurav Wakankar

Maki Yoshikura

Michael Towers

Nikunj Patel

Thomas Knowler

Jonathan Gallagher

Paul Cheshire

Adriano Vessichelli

David Toba

The Weeknd ft Ariana Grande 'Save Your Tears (remix)' by Jack Brown

Jack Brown - The Weeknd "Save Your Tears Remix ft. Ariana Grande"

Butt Studio - aka Harry Butt - pushes the boundaries&nbsp;of 3D with this visually extraordinary&nbsp;masterclass for Tame Impala's Breathe Deeper.Dripping with hallucinogenic textures and distorted environments, the breathtaking animated promo is packed to the brim with&nbsp;anthropomorphic creatures, who traverse these fantasy worlds with an electric energy.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]Utilising his experimental approach to animation, Butt&nbsp;dreamed up a trippy dragonfly epic, creating the dragonflies and building the world in 3D. He then craftily&nbsp;comped 2D faces on them, bringing additional tones and textures to the overall piece.Incorporating a vast amount of animation techniques, the video&nbsp;is&nbsp;anachronistic in its presentation, balancing nostalgia and futurism with the uncanny aesthetic and charming style. Each frame is jaw-droppingly beautiful, and Butt has managed to create what many others could only wish to do - a video that has never been seen before.[imgtoken data:2]It's a truly unique film and as it's his first narrative piece, a perfect way to start a new phase of creativity for Butt Studio.&nbsp;HARRY BUTT (BUTT STUDIO):<blockquote>Both 3D and 2D animation have their limitations... so we began to put the two worlds together.</blockquote>"It was important for me to find a story that was an unexpected solution to creating a video for this track. I was aware that I was very much in the shadow of who I was pitching against - and creating a Tame Impala music video is really one of those once in a lifetime things - so I had to move way beyond what I would usually think of as a safe choice."The initial brief was about a drug experience, and so the natural environment and storyline between non-human characters provided this alternative way to visualise the experience whilst still staying close to the emotion and feeling in the track. We've all seen drug experiences in film and animation before - so I smashed together unexpected settings for a story with my own personal experiences to try and create a unique approach.[imgtoken data:3]"Both 3D and 2D animation have their limitations - so in an attempt to try and pick and choose each techniques best bits we began to put the two worlds together. There's still so much more that could have been done to integrate the two but it was important to begin to bridge that gap in this film. &nbsp; "The film for me was a huge learning curve and a real playground. I'm very grateful for all the support from the crew who patiently built our world and story into this final product we can all be super proud of."

Australia

Butt Studio

Black Kite Studios

Indie

Tame Impala 'Breathe Deeper' by Butt Studio

Tame Impala - Breathe Deeper (Official Video)

In this extraordinary year, could this be the biggest&nbsp;music-visual lockdown project of all? Back in the late spring, just as lockdown was easing, directors James Papper and Will Hooper were awarded&nbsp;responsibility&nbsp;for a very&nbsp;ambitious project: to create a visual&nbsp; accompaniment to&nbsp;the whole 50 minutes-plus length of an album of remixes&nbsp;of Dua Lipa's hit album Future Nostalgia.Collaborating with numerous visual creatives, who all&nbsp;worked under lockdown conditions from their home cities - including the likes of Berlin studio Sucuk &amp; Bratwurst, Ignasi Monreal from Madrid, LA-based collective Actual Objects, Seo Young Kwon in Seoul, Brooklyn-based Miza Roux, Mason London in London, and more -&nbsp;the plan was to mirror the structure of the mixtape, where Dua Lipa and DJ/producer The Blessed Madonna have a gathered an array of artist-collaborators,&nbsp;from Mark Ronson, Madonna and Missy Elliot to Joe Goddard, Moodyman and Jayda G.[vidtoken data:0]Will Hooper, the <a href="https://blinkprods.com/talent/will-hooper/" target="_blank">Blink-based director </a>of music videos in the past couple of years for the likes of Declan McKenna, Bree Runway and Slaves - and nominated for Best New Director at this year's UKMVAs - was responsible for the live action side of the project:&nbsp;the video for the Blessed Madonna remix of&nbsp;Levitating,&nbsp;also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3tCHMagPOY" target="_blank">released separately</a>,&nbsp;and transitions between all the videos on the visual album.&nbsp;Meanwhile, James Papper led on all things animation - which involved him working with&nbsp;different design/animation creatives from all over the world, and supervising&nbsp;the making of fourteen individual&nbsp;films for the album featuring a wide range of animation styles, from fully-realised 3D worlds to 2D animation to illustration-led visualisers.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]Based at&nbsp;<a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/james-papper" target="_blank">Blinkink&nbsp;in London</a>, Papper usually directs&nbsp;commercials - his work includes ads for&nbsp;Camden Town Brewery and Voxi. It was a step out of his comfort zone, but it was a challenge he relished, as it gave him the&nbsp;opportunity to work with people - other illustrators, designers and animators, that he has long admired. And as a result, with the&nbsp;addition of Hooper's VFX-fired live action video for Levitating - featuring Missy Elliot as well as Dua Lipa - the&nbsp;Club Future Nostalgia&nbsp;'visual album' is&nbsp;a true mixed-media extravaganza.&nbsp;&nbsp;<blockquote>I have lists of people I want to work with&nbsp;[so] this project was a dream.&nbsp;</blockquote>"Following the work of artists is what I do with my own time," Papper tells us. "I have big lists of people I want to work with that I hold on to, [so] this project was a dream. Budget and Dua’s name allowed me to go to the top of that list." Firstly, he showed a selection of his favourite creatives and examples of their work to Dua Lipa, to see what would work for her. "I got to know what she liked visually, and was able to choose the best artists to fit her and her music," he says.[imgtoken data:2]Furthermore,&nbsp;the period of lockdown was also a real influence upon the whole project and how it was briefed out to the creatives, and Papper reveals that this was the core of his proposal when pitching to direct the whole project."At the beginning I was inspired by my own, and everyone else’s solitude during lockdown," he explains. "I wanted to explore our own daydreams whilst being locked inside, and that’s the idea for the video - escapism.&nbsp;With Dua in her room listening to records and being transported to a meditative, repetitive dreamworld."&nbsp;That idea then informed his briefs to the artists that he commissioned - and crucially, he asked the artists to use their own experience during lockdown as a jumping-off point for their imagination.[imgtoken data:3]"I wanted them to take me to their dreamworld," says Papper. "It’s not just about Dua’s experiences of solitude, but all of ours. Collectively, as a species, we were pretty much all experiencing similar levels of solitude, and something that shook up society and&nbsp;civilization as we knew it. In that sense, although we were in solitude, we were also connected.<blockquote>It felt like we were allowed to do whatever we wanted as long as we stayed true to our vision.</blockquote>"Those were the themes I wanted to explore: connectivity, dreams, escapism. And that was what I spoke with every artist about. Their interpretation of this is what made this project interesting. Loads of amazing creative minds coming together under one roof." [imgtoken data:4]Each artist had the same simple one-line brief:&nbsp;Dua in her bedroom daydreaming. After that, Papper says "we built ideas together", but his the elvel of communication and day to day involvement in their work varied greatly. "Everyone was different, and it was an organic," he says process. "With some, contact was minimal; with others we spoke pretty much every day. It was cool."But the fact that there were creatives all over the world working on the project meant that it felt like a relentlessly non-stop process.&nbsp;"Because everyone was in a different timezone it meant that it was always being worked on," he says. "Like 24 hours a day someone, somewhere was working on it. Which was kinda&nbsp;mental,&nbsp;but also made for great productivity as it spread it out nicely."[imgtoken data:5]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It clearly required a can-do attitude, and a calm head to marshall this project, and Papper admits that "the sheer magnitude of it" was the most intense and challenging aspect. His team at Blinkink - particularly Gareth Owen, who produced each film, and EP Josef Byrne - were there to help with the strain. But also, Papper says that, crucially, the artist and her team were hugely supportive throughout the process.[imgtoken data:6]"Dua and her team were very cool about feedback, and super-trusting," he says.&nbsp;"It felt like we were allowed to do whatever we wanted as long as we stayed true to our vision. Being a commercial director I’m not used to that level of freedom. So it was nice knowing we had the means to make whatever we wanted, that loads of people were definitely going to see it, and that we’d be supported in our decisions."<blockquote>I wanted to explore our daydreams whilst being locked inside - it's about&nbsp;escapism.</blockquote>While this activity happening all over the world, Will Hooper was in London creating a live action video for Levitating, at the moment that shoots were starting again under the strictest conditions due to the pandemic crisis. This involved shooting only couples who had spent lockdown together - including Dua and her boyfriend&nbsp;Anwar Hadid - in a world where young lovers harness the power of a cosmic event. Then Missy Elliot was filmed in the&nbsp;US, directed by Hooper remotely from London.[imgtoken data:7]"I was brought onto the project a short while after James and Dua’s team had started laying the groundwork for the album film," says Hooper. "James and I were initially gravitated towards the collaborative nature of what Dua had achieved with bringing all these artists from across the world together and we wanted to lean into that with the visual."Working with James was mega. He’s a very creatively smart person and the first couple of weeks we spent smacking our heads together trying to work this thing out are sorely missed. We spent a lot of time on Zoom, James likes to look out of his window while he’s articulating his ideas and it’s very cute."We asked Papper&nbsp;to give us his take on each of the fourteen films he directed on the project.JAMES PAPPER ON EACH COLLABORATION FOR THE CLUB FUTURE NOSTALGIA VISUALISERFuture Nostalgia Director: James Papper Design &amp; Illustration: <a href="https://robinvelghe.com/" target="_blank">Rhymezlikedimez</a> (Ghent) JP: "Robin [Velghe, aka Rhymezlikedimez] is cool and just top of the game at what he does. It was nice working closely with him to make something that just looked very good."[vidtoken data:1]Cool Director: James Papper Design &amp; Animation:&nbsp;<a href="http://sucukundbratwurst.de/" target="_blank">Sucuk &amp; Bratwurst</a> (Berlin) "For the most part I let these guys do their thing. I’ve been a big fan of their work for a long time and I didn’t want to constrict their way of thinking. The interesting part of this job for me was adapting to every artists different workflow and nuanced ways in which they like to be directed."[vidtoken data:2]Good In Bed Director: James Papper Design &amp; Animation: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/zawhatthe/?hl=en" target="_blank">Jonathan Zawada</a> (Sydney) "Jonathan is not only a mega-talented cool guy but also just very lovely, and I enjoyed really nice phone calls with him where he would be very positive and excited about all potential ideas. His enthusiasm is contagious."&nbsp;[vidtoken data:3]Pretty Please Director: James Papper Creative Direction: <a href="https://actualobjects.org/" target="_blank">Actual Objects</a>; directors: Claire Cochran, Rick Farin&nbsp;(Los Angeles) "Actual Objects were amazing to work with. Their stuff is so sick and nostalgic to me, it reminds me of the movies that would play out in between levels you played on Playstation. Like when you completed Tekken and would get a character movie or something."Our process was chilled we just spoke a few times about ideas, then I wrote up a brief, put it in a deck and they just blasted it out. I love it, it’s one of my faves for sure."[vidtoken data:4]Boys Will Be Boys Director: James Papper Artwork &amp; Design: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/robertbeattyart/?hl=en">Robert Beatty</a> (Lexington, KY)&nbsp; "Robert’s stuff is sick. As soon as I knew he was involved I just thought about an alien club in space. I miss going out, dancing, etc. I just wanted to see an extreme version of what I wanted in life."[vidtoken data:5]Love Again Director: James Papper Design &amp; Animation: <a href="https://www.joeprytherch.com/" target="_blank">Mason London</a> (London) "Mason [aka Joe Prytherch] absolutely killed it and was a pleasure to work with. I tried to let him do his thing for the most part, because he is so good and so experienced already. He’s also a very nice guy."[vidtoken data:6]Break My Heart Director: James Papper Designer: <a href="http://www.mizaroux.com/now" target="_blank">Miza Roux</a>&nbsp;(Brookyn, NY); Animator: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/casparwain/" target="_blank">Caspar Wain</a> "Miza and I made friends throughout the project which was nice, as I had not much time outside of it to socialise. We just wanted to take what she had already been doing (cool/surreal bedroom scenes) and animate them."Her style is very sick and I’ve loved her work for a long time. Luckily I also had Caspar Wain to help with extra design and animation and he went above and beyond."[vidtoken data:7]Hollaback Director: James Papper Artwork:&nbsp;<a href="https://ignasimonreal.com/" target="_blank">Ignasi Monreal</a> (Madrid); Design &amp; Animation: <a href="http://connorcampbell.studio/" target="_blank">Connor Campbell</a>[vidtoken data:8]<blockquote>"Ignasi and Connor were a dream team..."</blockquote>Love Is Religion Director: James Papper 3D Design &amp; Animation:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/saidamagic/?hl=en" target="_blank">Saida Saetgar</a>&nbsp;(Vancouver) "Saida was very nice and took direction well. We went through a load of different ideas, thinking about themes of love, religion, etc, and came to something very cool. Saida is not only great at brainstorming but good at coming up with beautiful visuals which are very satisfying to watch."[vidtoken data:9]Don’t Start Now Director: James Papper Design &amp; Animation: <a href="https://studiodosage.com/" target="_blank">Studio Dosage</a>&nbsp;(Bristol) "Ben Dosage was amazing to work with on this. Ben and I have known each other for a while so it was good to work with a mate."Ben and I discussed ideas a lot and worked closely, but for the most part Ben did his thing and it was really cool to see. His visuals were amazing and I love the story he told."[vidtoken data:10]Physical Director: James Papper Co-Director: <a href="https://ignasimonreal.com/" target="_blank">Ignasi Monreal</a>&nbsp;(Madrid);&nbsp;Design &amp; Animation:&nbsp;<a href="http://connorcampbell.studio/projects" target="_blank">Connor Campbell</a> "Ignasi and Connor were a dream team. I first got Ignasi involved and we spoke about ideas. Ignasi was pulling up a lot of anime references and we were trying to figure out who would be good to pull his work together."That’s when we found Connor, who was amazing. The pair worked so well together and came out with an amazing product at the end."[vidtoken data:11]Kiss &amp; Make Up Director: James Papper Design &amp; Animation:&nbsp;<a href="http://glander.co/" target="_blank">Julian Glander</a> (Brooklyn, NY) "Julian is cool and funny and I just wanted him to do his thing. I love reading the chat down the side of his visualiser, it’s such a funny addition. That’s kinda what I mean about being allowed to do what we want. We just chucked that in there and Dua loved it."&nbsp;[vidtoken data:12]<blockquote>I love reading the chat down the side of Julian's visualiser, it’s such a funny addition.</blockquote>That Kind Of Woman Director: James Papper Design &amp; Animation:&nbsp;<a href="http://vewn.us/" target="_blank">Victoria Vincent aka 'Vewn'</a>&nbsp;(Los Angeles, CA) "I've been a fan of Vewn’s for a while. Her films are super funny and she’s a great storyteller. She was a pleasure to work with and I couldn’t have asked for someone better to go on this track!"[vidtoken data:13]Break My Heart (Moodymann remix) Director: James Papper Design:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/tototatatu/" target="_blank">Seoyoung Kwon</a>&nbsp;(Seoul) "Seo’s artwork is amazing, I love what she does. She is also incredibly easy to work with. I had been watching a lot of 80s anime around the time I found her,&nbsp;and I just wanted to make something very satisfying and glowy. Luckily she was keen to work with me and so we made this together.[vidtoken data:14]"I mentioned '80s anime to our compositor Richard Perrigo and he got super excited by that and was able to push things in compositing stages to achieve this effect. I really wanna work with Seo and Rich again to do this more. If you are a famous popstar and you’re reading this, hmu so I can work with these two again pls xxx."Future Nostalgia Remix Album&nbsp;- Production CreditsProduction Company: &nbsp;Blinkink&nbsp; Production Company:&nbsp;&nbsp;Blink&nbsp; Director: &nbsp;James Papper&nbsp; Director:&nbsp; Will Hooper&nbsp; Producer: Gareth Owen&nbsp; Producer: Corin Taylor&nbsp; BlinkInk Executive Producer: Josef Byrne&nbsp; Blink Executive Producer: Laura Northover&nbsp; Production Manager: Rosanna Morley Production Manager: Seb Jowers&nbsp; Editor: Jamie Harris&nbsp; Commissioner: Katie Dolan• James Papper is represented by <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/our-work/" target="_blank">Blinkink</a> for commercial and music projects; Will Hooper is represented by <a href="https://blinkprods.com/" target="_blank">Blink</a> for music videos and commercials &nbsp;

James Papper

Behind The Video Album: James Papper & Will Hooper on Dua Lipa x The Blessed Madonna 'Club Future Nostalgia' 

Dua Lipa & The Blessed Madonna - Club Future Nostalgia (Official Visualiser)

01_FutureNostalgia.mp4

02_Cool.mp4

03_GoodInBed.mp4

04_PrettyPlease.mp4

05_BoysWillBeBoys.mp4

06_LoveAgain.mp4

07_BreakMyHeart.mp4

08_HollabackGirl.mp4

10_LoveIsReligion.mp4

11_DontStartNow.mp4

12_Physical.mp4

13_KissAndMakeUp.mp4

14_ThatKindOfWoman.mp4

15_Moodyman.mp4

Created during the depths of lockdown the theme of collaboration can be seen and heard; it’s the backbone of the 50 minute Future Nostalgia mixtape, featuring Dua’s collaborations with the likes of Mark Ronson, Madonna, Gwen Stefani and Stevie Nicks. &nbsp; BlinkInk’s James Papper directed thirteen different artists and animators from all around the world working on each bespoke visualiser.&nbsp; Each artist worked under lockdown conditions from their home cities: Madrid, Seoul, Sydney, Berlin, LA, Vancouver, New York, Kentucky, Gent and London to name a few. Having each track designed by a different artist, mirrored the structure of the mixtape itself; with each track being taken on by a different musician.Blink’s Will Hooper directed all of the live action elements, including the video for Levitating featuring Madonna &amp; Missy Elliot, remixed by The Blessed Madonna. The live action video features Dua Lipa with her boyfriend Anwar Hadid.Artists from around the world were brought together to give their own unique touch to Dua’s album. Such a wide array of musicians have been involved, from Mark Ronson and Missy Elliot to Moodyman and Jayda G, this mixtape has crossed the commercial line into the underground and back to Madonna!&nbsp;With this in mind, Blinkink and Blink joined forces to create a master plan for the remix of Future Nostalgia, with James Papper leading on animation and Will Hooper overseeing all things live action.&nbsp; From the beginning, their plan was to mirror the structure of the mixtape and have as many incredible artists as possible work on the visuals. The result is a mixed media masterclass of some of the finest animators, illustrators, artists and studios around the world coming together to create a wild 50 minutes of entertainment.The list of collaborators is impressive; HipHops’s favourite&nbsp;Rhymezlikedimez&nbsp;takes on the first track, Future Nostalgia featuring Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. From there we enter the world of Berlin Collective&nbsp;Sucuk &amp; Bratwurst, with the remix of Cool handled by Jayda G. Ausi based artist&nbsp;Jonathan Zawada, takes on the Zach Witness’s remix of Good in bed. LA’s&nbsp;Actual Objects&nbsp;created an incredible 3D world for London based producer Midland’s remix of Pretty Please. Design legend&nbsp;Robert Beatty, working out of Kentucky, flexes his surreal talents for another Zach Witness mix of Boys Will Be Boys.&nbsp; The following two tracks take us into the illustrated world of&nbsp;Mason London&nbsp;for Love Again and Idaho’s&nbsp;Miza Roux, in Break My Heart with Jamiroquai and HorseMeatDisco taking care of the sound.&nbsp;From here, we take a break out of animation and into the real world for the track ‘Levitating’ ft Missy Elliot, remixed by The Blessed Madonna. Directed by Blink’s Will Hooper, this brilliantly crafted live-action piece features Dua Lipa with other half Anwar Hadid, in a world where young lovers harness the power of a cosmic event.With that craziness over we transition back into animation with Vancouver based&nbsp;Saida Saetgar&nbsp;surreal trip into Love Is Religion and Bristol’s&nbsp;Studio Dosage&nbsp;offering up some 3D magic for Don’t Start Now. Mark Ronson’s remix of Physical featuring Gwen Stefani is brought to life with the exceptional artwork of&nbsp;Ignasi Monreal, who teamed up with the visualiser master&nbsp;Connor Campbell.&nbsp;Julian Glander, takes on the&nbsp; trumpeteering 1960s legend that is Herb Alpert in an amazing link up of the old and the new for Kiss and Make Up. From there, we go into the illustrative world of LA’s YouTube star&nbsp;Victoria Vincent, with the remix of That Kind Of Woman by none other than Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, in another cross generational team up! Finally, we finish up with Seoul illustrator,&nbsp;Seo Young Kwon&nbsp;teaming up with House legend Moodyman for his version of Break My Heart.

Corin Taylor

Seb Jowers

Jamie Harris

Dua Lipa & The Blessed Madonna 'Club Future Nostalgia (Official Visualiser)' by James Papper, Will Hooper, various

Blinkink

Production Company

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