Nathan Miller’s new music documentary about Jamaican Dancehall dropped towards the end of 2022 and immediately caused a stir – just as his docs about the London and Toronto scenes did a few years ago. We caught up with the Biscuit Filmworks director to find out more about God Bless You, My Son, and discover why he returned to the singular filmmaking style that made his name.Nathan Miller has gone back to his roots with his new film, in more ways than one.As a Londoner of Jamaican heritage, Miller has been familiar with Dancehall music for most of his life, and aware of how the dominant music genre in Jamaica has evolved over a generation. Last year he set out to document that evolution, by visiting the island, and meeting and filming some of the main players in both Dancehall and the emerging sub-genre of Trap Dancehall, exploring the relationship, and the tensions, between the two.The resulting film is the vibrant God Bless You, My Son, a fifteen minute doc that acts as a fascinating primer on a form of music that has arguably been under-represented on film, certainly in terms of documentary. Miller’s filmmaking method, predominantly using audio-only voice-overs of the films's protagonists, while visually documenting general life in Jamaica, provides a layered portrait - both a broad-brush wide-angle view on the music, the people, culture, and the place itself, garnished with intriguing specific details.It also marks a return to a style of filmmaking for which Miller originally became renowned a few years ago, when he made the documentaries LDN and North – films that explored local music scenes in London and Toronto respectively – in which he connected with a group of young musicians in both cities, and then filmed them mostly himself, lo-fi and guerrilla fashion.Back then in the mid-10s, Miller was just setting out, a self-taught filmmaker who was aiming to convert his job as a doorman at the fashionable Ace Hotel in Shoreditch into becoming a full-time director. LDN was his way to put him on the map and then get employed by the hotel’s owners in a new role – making films at their other hotels around the world. And he succeeded.“A lot of artists were on the cusp of breaking through,” says Miller, of the London music scene at the time. “Grime was so hot – Skepta was having a real moment – but I wanted to look at other artists who were really about to kill the game - artists like JHus and Fredo.” But he was not anticipating the reaction that the film received.“The night before the film was released, I thought: 'If this film gets 20,000 views in its first month, I'll be happy.’ Then when it came out, on the first day it got 30,000 views. By day three, it was on 100,000, and by the end of the week, it was on 200,000. Then every publication under the sun that deals with music wrote about it.”It led to him making North, where he focussed upon up-and-coming artists in the exciting hip-hop scene in Toronto, with similar success. That really did put him on the map, and since signing to Biscuit Filmworks in London in 2021, Miller has been developing both scripted and unscripted film projects through the production company. Last year he also made his debut music video, shooting the promo for jazz outfit Ezra Collective’s Life Goes On in London and Zambian capital Lusaka.I feel at home working with musicians and entertainers.Promonews spoke to Miller just before Christmas last year, and discovered that God Bless You, My Son was very much a personal project. It was labour of love that allowed him to get back to the familiar territory of self-shooting, while taking on a typically ambitious subject in a world where he feels comfortable.PROMONEWS: How does this relate to previous documentaries that you have made, such as LDN and North?NATHAN MILLER: It relates to the previous work by just following the tried and tested method that got me into this space and I guess broke me out as a director. That method is: Just me, minimal resources, going with a camera and just putting your faith in a bunch of strangers to help you tell a story that you think might be great for the world to see. And try not to mess it up.I also feel at home working with musicians and entertainers. But in terms of it being more like a series, the only thing that really brings them together, is the execution of it and the curiosity to just go and go off and make them.Once again there is a juxtaposition there in that you are one guy, but the story that you want to tell is a big one. Why take on such an ambitious project.When I first got started, I used to want to pitch these ideas to companies. Whenever I tell people the ambitions of the film, usually they become too sensible. They think I’ll need a lot of money and resources. Or it just doesn't make sense to them.But when I wasn't getting the right reception, it just kind of fell back on me to make it myself. I wasn't going to be deterred. And that's why I tend to work alone.So how did this project, God Bless You My Son, come about?There were a bunch of factors that helped inspire the making of this film and made me just want to go off to Jamaica and make it. I was a little frustrated with having a number of projects in production at all different stages. As you know, the bigger the project or the more people involved with it, the harder it becomes to progress, or manoeuvre. When you're a one man band, it's like rowing a rowboat, so it's easy to turn it around.The second factor was just being a fan of the music. Coming from a Jamaican family, and being up to date with what's going on in Jamaica, I knew there was stuff coming out of Jamaica from a whole group of really exciting musicians. Surprisingly, a lot of their stories haven't been told before at all.It was my first time in Jamaica as an adult, exploring and experiencing the island.And I guess the third thing that made me want to go off and do it was for one of my uncles, Gaston Miller, who unfortunately passed away in 2021. I think the last conversation we had was at a family barbecue, and he asked me how the filmmaking was going. He said that I should make sure to keep on doing them, to do my own thing. Shortly after that, he became ill and unfortunately passed away. So this was a way to remember him.It let me do something that I haven't done in a long time - because the last time I did something like this was in 2017. But that's what really got me on my way to go and make it.Do you know Jamaica well? What did you know that you wanted to do before you left/arrived?I had only been there once before – to attend a funeral when I was 17. So this was actually the first time in Jamaica as an adult – I’m 28 now – and very much my first time exploring and experiencing the island.When I have an idea that I think is good, I usually obsess about it and then I break it down. Who do I need to put into this film to make the film that I want to tell? The funny thing is, because I'm not pitching to anyone. I don't need to make a treatment. So the first step is just sending the first initial emails to people who are wanting to be in it.If nobody responded, if nobody got back to me, the idea might have just died there and then. But I sent out a couple of emails on one evening in 2021, went to sleep, and I woke up to three emails of three musicians who I really wanted to be in the film: a guy named Governor, an artist named Squash, and another artist called Jashie.Ultimately, only one of them ended up being in the film. But sometimes that doesn't matter, because once you get those initial confirmations, you can then leverage those confirmations in your follow up emails to other people. Beyond that, this film came together through just knowing people. I know that person. Then that person connecting me with that other person, and so on. Most of the conversations I had on email were usually followed by them sending through their number and saying: call me. That really helped.I had to scale it back... but it acts as a great introduction to the current scene in Jamaica. How much of a plan - and a script - did you have before you started?I knew how I wanted the film to play out in entirety, from start to finish. But I don't tell people, just in case that it doesn't happen!I knew exactly what song I wanted to start with. I knew what songs I wanted to have in the middle. I knew what stories I wanted to get. And funnily enough, this film couldn't be further from what I wanted. In many ways, this film is like 30% of what it should have been. But that's because subjects I wanted couldn't make it - there were a couple of no-shows. It was really meant to be a 45 to 60 minutes doc, but I had to scale it back and make the best of what I had.Having said that, I think it acts as a great introduction to the current scene in Jamaica. And I think there's so much room and scope to do something bigger. And it's been getting a great reception too.Your visual canvas appears to be the whole of Jamaica, with its incredible beauty and character… I was out there with my friend Anthony Williams, who also helped me shoot the LDN documentary, and who I gave a co-directing credit on this. Anthony was on B camera, and we had two friends from Jamaica working on this: Carl, who subsequently became the driver, and Sator, who's a photographer.When there wasn’t anything in the calendar we would be capturing the B-roll, sticking the camera on a tripod and capturing shots of the island. Because once you leave, you can't come back and get it. So we’d do an hour and a half of filming, just capturing loads of details within the place, trying all the shots that you need to get. And yeah, in Jamaica, there’s just so much great stuff to shoot: the hills, the countryside, the beaches, and the city life.Having people in the shots wasn’t a problem. I would just be filming on the street, and usually not making a particular person the subject. But if they were the subject, I'd let them know and they'd be like, ‘yeah, that's fine.’What camera did you shoot the film on?I was shooting on a Canon C70 – a great camera. It's very compact, great for documentaries. And I think when you're doing the one man band thing, you don't want to have a big camera. You don't want to be too distracted from the moments. You kind of want to be in the zone, but not take away from what's actually happening, and not be the distraction. You just want to capture things.With a bigger budget, you can get drone stuff, Steadicam stuff. But the bare minimum I'd need to tell a story like this is a tripod, a camera and a mic – that’s it. We actually brought a light too, to light the interviews that we didn’t end up using on screen. So it was a bloody waste of time lugging that thing around!What about the night footage – no additional lights for that?No. The thing about documentaries is that they are quite forgiving if you want to bump up the ISO and it gets a bit grainy or anything.Often you don't know what you're walking into, you don't know where you're going. So it really becomes an important decision, about whether or not you want to carry around this heavy light? But for both comfort and safety, on those run-and-gun projects, I just think the best thing is just to keep it as small as you can.Much of the story about the music is delivered via voice-over. How did you go for that approach?That was a compromise. The initial plan of the film was to dive into some individual stories within the music world. And there were people in the film who had individual stories, but I just needed more time with them. But to do a well-rounded portrait, it would probably need going back to do more than one interview, to have enough B-roll of them in their own environment, have footage of them performing on stage.Rather than focus on that and it become something that you might notice, I just thought to blank it all with just the story of what you're seeing, and just let the voices be quite anonymous, just talking about the scene collectively rather than individuals telling their story. You do have some people who shed a bit of light onto who they are. But really, it's about the scene as a whole and their experiences of growing up in Jamaica.Did you arrive at that decision during the editing stage?Yes. There was a 35 minute edit of the film. That took me a while to do, and then I took a break from it. I think when you're constantly editing something, you can tell yourself it's good. The best thing to do is just walk away, leave it for a week, go do something else. That’s what I did.When I came back to it, I had a different view of it. It was okay, but it didn't have the fingerprint that I like to have on my films. So at that point I decided to scale it back. Just use the very best bits that captured a credit story out of that. It wasn't a U turn, but we definitely had to make a detour in how this story is told.Having released God Bless You, My Son, what’s the plan for the coming year?Firstly, it’s just to refine my storytelling skills. With storytelling and documentaries, I'd like to say that I'm here – but with storytelling and scripted, I'm not here yet. It’s a matter of bringing this up, because ultimately what I want to do is make films.We'll also see what happens with this Jamaica film. It’s had a lot of attention. Comment section is full of people saying ‘part two, part two, part two’. But I would really love to tell the story that I initially planned, and I think that could potentially be a project of 2023.And I'd love to do a commercial. We came very close to a few last year. Didn't land them, but I'm very optimistic. It's all about timing.• Nathan Miller is represented by Biscuit Filmworks. Watch more of his work here.

How did Shan Phearon make the remarkable CGI-fired ode to auto-destruction that is his second video for controversial alt-pop artist Jazmin Bean? David Knight quizzed the Greatcoat Films director to find out. In making his music videos, Shan Phearon has become renowned for his drive for perfection for his music artists. It has resulted in a series of beautifully-crafted music videos for the likes of Potter Payper, Nines, Rimzee, Tiggs Da Author and Jvck James. Often the videos of Phearon's featured on Promonews have been the Director's Cut - another function of his perfection. But late last year, his latest video arrived which showed Phearon reaching a new level of achievement, and also his vision fully aligned with that of the artist.Phearon's video for Jazmin Bean's Carnage is a brilliantly conceived evocation of the dark fairytale world of Jazmin Bean, via Phearon's encyclopedic knowledge of music culture, and movies from blockbuster to arthouse, over the past 30 years. Crucially, the director has set the bar high - to somehow match the sensibility of one of those era-defining sci-fi fantasy blockbusters in a British music video. And he has triumphantly achieved his objective.From Jaz and companion Lucy Loone speeding down a city freeway, to flying through the night, post collision, to arriving on a floating rock in space, Phearon places Bean's nihilistic rebellious tendencies in spectacular fantasy setting. It looks like a big, expensive production, as might be made by a top American star. And Bean is not quite that. So how did they do it?The director and his team managed to achieve this by other means, including his vision, incredible dedication, and another valubable commodity - time. Carnage was the result of Phearon being on the Jazmin Bean project for a year. It was by no means all plain sailing, but as he points out, it may offer pointers in how British music videos can kickstart the creative juices in the important year ahead. Above: Shan Phearon (right) with Jazmin Bean on the set of Carnage.We need to work better - and this is down to the conditions given to work in - if we want world class respect.PROMONEWS: So Carnage was your 11th music video piece in 3 years and part of a year-long project?SHAN PHEARON: It grew to become a double-bill video campaign: first Puppy Pound, which led later to Carnage. A year invested, from 2021, concluded 2022. Ever seen ‘Heart of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse’? I’m joking. But it’s the end of one era, start of another.What did you have to work with when you got the brief for Carnage?SP: Jaz wanted to drive. They needed a car crash. And a flowery field at some point. Just top-line to decipher. By then, I’d spent months studying the artist and cult fanbase for Puppy Pound. Immersed like ‘method’ Christian Bale in the Jaz metaverse, I had enough to work with.The label had set us up with healthy time to nurture artist-to-director creative rapport, where I could coach artist development, as well as develop the videos. Getting results, the very supportive Island label team (Holly Williams, Emily Jefferies, Max Creswell and co) and artist manager Donny Tourette, whom I worked closely with, trusted the process.Now I had to bespoke tailor the next chapter in the artist’s arc and I could identify what was going on in their mind with all my insights as: an emotional joy-ride.What was the key aspect in your treatment that Jazmin and the label loved? I think they were surprised at how I’d become an extension of the artist’s psyche, maybe. I always try to respond to the interior of an artist. I want to understand them as human beings as well as a cultural avatar, so I show that.The subtext and journey of this video... has been a redemption arc.I’d written in solutions too for endless creative spec obstacles: car crashes (how the f*** we doing that?), flowery fields (unavailable in winter), lambs (unavailable in winter), out of this world fantasy road trip routes (ffs).We’d used Puppy Pound to warm up and test CGI expansion of Jaz’s distinct world-build, but now we were really going to architect a whole metaverse beyond with Carnage.What were the main references across the project?A vast library. Like sampling culture almost, I view it like my fave music producers (i.e. Dilla, Madlib, Burial, Fly-Lo, Premiere, Timbaland, Metro Boomin etc.), that approach. Many cultural fusions.It’s like crate-digging: David LaChapelle, Vivienne Westwood, TLC, Soundgarden, Slipknot, Nirvana, Busta, Portishead, Stefani, Gaga, Britney, Lil’ Kim, Devon Aoki in Fast & Furious 2, the Disney+ Channel, 1994’s Natural Born Killers, 1995’s Ghost In The Shell, 1996’s Twister, 2000’s era Zack Snyder, Frances Lawrence’s 2006 Constantine, Wachowski Sisters’ 2008 Speed Racer, Lars Von Trier’s 2011 Melancholia, Malibu Barbie, rap mixtape culture GOAT iconography, essays on BPD, bi-polarity, autistic savants, depression, suicide, nihilism, doomers, and so on.Everything shares a dot-connection, even if unrealized before through other’s lenses. You layer the samples, sometimes in a single composition. Visual musicianship, visual symphonies.No idea’s original. Originality is only a sum of its un-original parts. I think we’re all just striving to unearth something novel in that.What attracted you to the song, and to Jazmin as an artist?I actually DM’ed Jaz in Autumn 2019 after seeing their wtf video for ‘Saccharine’. Nothing, air. Understandable. Two years later a brief from an instinctive commissioner lands in my inbox… cosmic.I admire what Jaz symbolizes, their composite influences, the freedom of expression. I’m magnetized to artists whose output and framework for seeing things is outside of the norm - outsiders, misfits, outcasts, outliers – new age thinkers offering to shift paradigms. Felt I was living my Bjork, Manson, Arca, Kate Bush, The Cure, Linkin Park fantasies.True story… Jaz’s mum Angie, as a drummer, of Filipino heritage, was in a ‘90s all-girl UK Metal band called Fluffy – whose ’97 single ‘Black Eye’ is directed by Floria Sigismondi. Bloodline’s mad.I’ve also done a few music video pieces that interplay with takes on psychological health, or mortality. Repeat motifs. I like exploring powerful ideas with my artists in unexpected ways.Above: The Shan Phearon workstation, and creative inspiration.Is it true you went into self-imposed exile for the Carnage post-production phase?Sort of. I was locked away in a studio for a while, with limited outside contact, except my lead VFX Artist Gino Fernandez 24/7, and the artist/label remote.To hibernate and meditate with the material, shaping step-by-step. Flow-state. Musicians do it whilst recording albums. Directors are kinfolk. Label, artist and management wanted to empower us, to trial more progressive processes. Everyone appreciated commitment.Is it fair to say this is a departure for your work in music videos - both musically and in the style of the video? Maybe. It makes its statement. But it’s probably also a spiritual successor.I’m very proud of my roots, and my video foundations, in Alt Rap, R&B, Soul etc. I carried one ethos at the start of my MV journey – to help elevate the cultures I was codified by in youth. That’ll continue. It’s a Hip Hop-centred attitude and we carry some of that energy.I did over a year of CGI VFX filmmaking historical research - the ‘90s, the ‘00s and in the ‘10s.But I’m an eclectic head too. Always loved Electronic, Alternative, Experimental Pop, etc. Same with visual languages. Many others like me, yet they’ve become caught in the conditions of the current British commissioning glass ceiling, or stifled by their digital environments and own audiences.So this video asserts for directors of similar heritage that they deserve a shot at other music genres too. Can cross-pollinate worlds. Bring alternate perspective.There’s a controversial debate raging in our circles that the UK music video scene has been flat-lining in the last period. If stagnation and a self-regurgitative tribal visual culture, here’s at least one recipe to discovering innovative angles eventually. Eschew pigeonholes. Open minds.There are some beautifully conceived and executed sequences in the final video. Can you explain how you prepared and then achieved the main set pieces in the video?• The artists in the speeding car on the highway: Ghost In The Shell/Manga inspo. I devised a giant green-screened rotating turntable to put the physical car on. I did over a year of CGI VFX filmmaking historical research, the ‘90s, the ‘00s and in the ‘10s, three key eras of advancements, so I could better direct workflow. Think I picked this one idea up after watching some BTS for The Fifth Element (1997). It’s all exploration of artifice.I’d been thinking about how people at times say some CGI “looks dated”. But I feel like, if the CGI in a 1999 film looks like 1999, that’s unavoidable for those people in 1999 – so really it’s part of the charm. Their CGI artistry is an endearing sign of those times.This led me to thinking more about the idea of retro CGI nostalgia. To purposely have one or two elements feel almost like retro 2000s CGI VFX, because the 2000s decade was the first real era of CGI overload creeping into cinematic culture. Hypothesis test.I got my team to build a big green screen trampoline and paired that with Phantom cameras.• Jazmin and Lucy Loone floating, post-car crash: Melancholia/Watchmen/Donnie Darko/Portishead kinda inspo. I got my team to build a big green screen trampoline and paired that with Phantom cameras.What’s mad is that I wrote this idea as a scene in an unrealized Pa Salieu/slowthai treatment a long time ago. Jaz’s chorus just hit me emotionally and all I could visualize is what you’re seeing. Lucid dreams recycled from the vault.• The main tornado sequence with the falling car and the flying goat: Twister inspo. The most complex VFX and a few experimental touches. To me it’s the absolute power of CGI as an artform, one often maligned, disrespected as ‘low culture’, misunderstood. Some cineaste are caught in the ‘practical VFX’ myth - too many Chris Nolan YouTube fan essays.When was the last time we saw a big natural disaster tornado going wild in a UK music vid?Both practical or CGI can be respectable solo, or often ultra-powerful when combined. So that’s the moment I’m proudest of. Gino (proud of him too) worked on that for weeks, whilst literally on a Covid deathbed, as a bunch of other things were falling apart around us both in our lives.I remember its earliest draft landing in my WhatsApp whilst I was flat-out on the floor and I realized we’d just reached transcendence. Eureka. Like, when was the last time we saw a big natural disaster tornado going wild in a UK music vid? Did they manage that in the UK MV scene during ‘90s / 00’s golden age? And we’re doing it now in these austere times?!I hoped it would be symbolic, defiant and bombastic, lol.Also, the flying goat easter egg is inspired by the iconic flying cow in Twister. No animals harmed.The piece has a unique aesthetic. What’s the 35mm and digital image fusion idea?I’d discovered over time that the theme of artifice – maybe response to the virtual simulation-style hyperreality of internet culture - is a big one in Jaz’s metaverse.So I designed a ‘synthetic-analogue’ appearance. We formulated a special and more complex than usual process so the CGI became 35mm.Modern CGI-driven videos are nearly always too polished. And most 16mm / 35mm-driven videos are aping a nostalgic / timeless simulacrum idea.I wanted us to bridge two seemingly opposing schools of thought. Hyper-digital and analogue marriage.Above: Shan Phearon (foreground, back to camera) supervises the positioning of Jazmin's crashed car, on set of the Carnage shoot.What were the biggest challenges in making this?Any project can have these if going in with ‘elite mindset’. We do our best to educate those around, to uplift them. We don’t try to encourage mediocrity. New worldviews, are the biggest challenge.Some feel in our UK music video scene culture, it’s a more and more for less and less era. But if tight budget, offer time. If tight time, offer budget. Here Film Creatives are often denied both tools. Which is why many UK directors, EPs and commissioners are suffering, as is the art.But label, artist and management equipped us more time to craft on Carnage, they believed in optimal. That super-powered us, over a common industry challenge.Maybe there’s a 15 year old fan somewhere and we saved their life last night. That’s our hope.We’re in a phase where even at our UKMVAs, parts of our scene get slept on. Output from international, outboxes ours. Briefs go to overseas directors and our UK pool of talent isn’t nurtured. We need to work better - and this is down to the conditions given to work in - if wanting world class respect. Reform and new frameworks are healthy convos for everybody’s benefit in ’23 on.I guess tricky junctures included first draft with pre-viz jpegs keyed into backgrounds and everyone looking at it like “wtf is this Blue Peter sh*t”? Haha. And then it’s Director’s job to encourage imagination, combat over-thinking in the abstract. Delicate psychological processes that I’ve learnt to handle.Also the artist wasn’t always in the best of health. With resources, we were punching above our weight. As well as over 100 shots of VFX to be crafted out and made fluid - an insane feat. But all of us together as a collective unit, we were on a mission for our artist’s next era.In the end, everyone was overwhelmed, as were those most important that we all really do this for: the music fans.And what was the most satisfying thing about making this?Well, this is public info, but the artist sadly had to spend the summer in rehab for addiction. They’re very open about these things, it’s part of their art. We all had to manage that, with strength, collectively.Addiction in a variety of forms is a deep-seated epidemic, especially amongst the creative community, exacerbated by this current socio-political and digital climate. Directors feel there’s a growing mental health crisis in the UK music video realm at the moment that’s going ignored and will reach a tipping point. Musicians I know are experiencing a similar epidemic in their scenes. Artists can understand each other.So I feel like the subtext, as well as the journey of this video to release, has been a redemption arc.We’re very proud of the artist, who is doing better. We’re proud of the video, because it’s healthy when this medium is an outlet for expressing the troubled weight of the creative psyche. Unbridled expression can save lives.Maybe there’s a 15 year old fan somewhere and we saved their life last night. That’s our hope.What were the key decisions that made the vision all come together as well as it does?Translating the artist, playing the orchestra, incepting vision, etc. It was a coach procedure.I give flowers to my holy trinity: DoP Nathalie Pitters approach with lighting, production designer Anthony Hensman’s practical art direction, and indispensably our ride-or-die Lead VFX Artist Gino Fernandez who saved my life. They lived on this whole other planet with me and Jaz.Plus the whole gang: super-producers Mel Massey, Talor Hanson, Maneet Sandhu, legendary EP Simon Oxley, 1st AD Paolo De Battista, Becky Seager on Wardrobe and Sofia Sjöö on MU.All were about craftsmanship and worked with heart, some for extensive periods. This lot were my heart.It starts with character first, an assembly of people with it. If the assembly ‘believes’, the mosaic of creativity will follow.What did you learn that you didn’t previously know, or your biggest take away, from making this video?I feel like we cracked another code and Walter White formula.Imagination… nothing is impossible now.I’m thankful for everyone that has shown us love and support for our effort in these current bleaker times for the UK music video scene right now. Hasn’t been easy for some of our peers. We’re just trying our best to keep this culture and our people energized. Journey continues.• Shan Phearon is based at Greatcoat Films. Watch more of his work here.

We complete our round-up of the best videos of the past year that we featured here, with our pick of the Rock and Alternative videos.Also check out our lists for the Best Pop and R&B videos, Best Dance and Electronic videos, and Best Hip Hop, Rap and Grime videos.These are lists created from looking back at the work we featured during the course of last year, but if you want to make further suggestions for our Best Music Videos of 2022 lists, email over your top 3 videos of the year to info@promonews.tv.

In our review over the past year, this is our pick of the best Hip Hop, Rap and Grime videos we featured here in 2022.Also check out our lists for the Best Pop and R&B videos, and Best Dance and Electronic videos. And we will soon be publishing our picks of the best of the year for Rock and Alternative.As stated, these are lists created from looking back at the work we featured during the course of last year. If you want to contribute, and make suggestions for our Best Music Videos of 2022 lists, email over your top 3 videos of the year to info@promonews.tv.

In our review over the past year, this is our pick of the best Dance and Electronic videos we featured here in 2022.Check out our list for the Best Pop and R&B videos here. And we will soon be publishing our picks of the best of the year for Hip Hop, Grime and Rap, and Rock and Alternative.These are lists created from looking back at the work we featured during the course of last year. And it is certainly possible we have missed out work that is worth including. So if you want to make suggestions for our Best Music Videos of 2022 lists, email over your top 3 videos of the year to info@promonews.tv.

Our review of the past year starts in earnest with a selection of the best Pop and R&B videos we featured here in 2022.We will be following up with our picks of the best of the year for Dance and Electronic, Hip Hop, Grime and Rap, and Rock and Alternative. These are lists created from the work we featured last year. And if you want to make suggestions for our Best Music Videos of 2022 lists, email over your top 3 videos of the year to info@promonews.tv.

Perhaps not surprisingly the final month of the year saw things quieten down after the intense activity of the previous few months. But there were some notable additions to the output of music videos for this year, before the curtain came down on 2022.That included a deceased A$AP Rocky hilariously reanimated by Cole Kush and Dan Streit (aka Grin Machine); Kendrick Lamar meeting his psychiatrist, played by Helen Mirren; Hector Dockrill's poignant saga of motherhood for Lewis Capaldi; Little Simz epic visual for her new release by Gabriel Moses; Alex Southam having Robbie Williams interview himself; The 1975 growing old gracefully in their latest outing by Samuel Bradley.And much more besides...

As we near the end of a tumultuous year, we can look back on a number of videos that have addressed the social issues that affect modern society. But only a few have risen to the challenge of tackling the political turmoil that continues to engulf the UK. One that does so, with biting wit, is for London rapper Kam-Bu's acerbic critique on the ruling party of British politics: Eton Mess. In just two turbo-charged minutes, Jay Green's video dramatises the corruption of the British political class, personified by Richard Fibber, a Prime Minister who serves the interests of shady businessmen, but is challenged by angry everyman Kam-Bu and is undone by a fatal flaw - his nose, which has a Pinocchio-like tendency to grow when he tells a lie. Which is all the time. With a judicious use of VFX in addition to his dramatic setpieces, Jay Green has created a powerful modern political satire, with a hero we can all root for in Kam-Bu. So we spoke to Jay about how he managed this impressive feat, on a shoestring budget. How did the project start for you? Did the idea and the Fibber character come directly from the song, or were you influenced by the brief and/or a chat with Kam-Bu?JAY GREEN: Kam had DM’d me telling me his initial ideas of a visual depicting the failures of the Government. After a few phone calls and back and forth I came up with the idea of a Pinocchio story centred around a prime minister going up for re-election.You directed the impressive video for Kam-Bu’s Call Me Back before this, which addresses political issues in a different way. This is more comedic and satirical – but also post-heavy. How much did it feel like breaking new ground for you?Yes I agree, this was a lot more narrative-driven than some of my previous work, which is something I want to move into more now that I feel I have things to say.It was made when the country was (and still is) in political turmoil. So how many Prime Ministers did we get through while you were making the video?From Kam’s first message to me to delivering the final video we went through all three Prime Ministers. Ha!There's a responsibility to truly believe in the message you're sending.Presumably the song was written and recorded when Boris Johnson was PM. Richard Fibber is not particularly Boris-like in appearance at least. Was that deliberate?I felt it was important to make Richard a more universal character than have him attached to any one person. In order to convey the message that this is a more systematic issue than individual.What were the big challenges of the shoot? Did you get everything you wanted?Greenscreen shoots are always challenging as it requires an extra level of direction to ensure that all the cast know exactly where they are and what they are doing. However it did allow us to move a lot faster and get a variety of locations/shots we needed to sell this story.So let’s talk about The Nose! Is it a combination of in-camera practical effects, and post FX? If so, how much was practical and how much was post?The noses ended up being about 75% CGI. We did have prosthetics but I felt that to truly get across the message we need to exaggerate and animate the nose a lot more than just prosthetics alone.How much time did you have to do the VFX and post work? What were the main challenges there?Because we were on a shoestring budget, we didn’t even have money for an art director. So a lot of the production design, props, etc were added digitally which meant mountains of VFX work for me after. Fortunately Kam and his team gave me the time I needed to get everything right. I had about 2 weeks total to finalise the edit and VFX.How did it feel to make something that has a political edge, reflecting the state of the nation in these strange times? And what did you learn or take away from making the video?I think whenever you make something with a political edge there is a certain responsibility to truly believe in the message you are sending. It was great to work with an artist like Kam-bu who I share a lot of the same viewpoints and values with.So the whole process felt so much more organic rather than performative - which is always a danger when creating reactionary/political commentary while it is still ongoing. And I learnt a lot of how to shape a narrative while retaining my style and to not be afraid to challenge authority with my work.• Jay Green is represented by COMPULSORY. Check out more of his work here.