A new film series by music video producer Natalie Steiner about her colleagues in the music video production community as they navigate the current situation in lockdown is premiered on Promonews.

With the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown curtailing normal ways of working, the community of people who make music videos in London - directors, producers, camera crew, choreographers, stylists, hair and makeup artists, and more - have seen their working life suspended, or seriously altered by the unprecedented impact of the pandemic.

Like many other people, Natalie Steiner, normally a hardworking producer of music videos (her credits include videos for Dave, Stormzy, Stereophonics, Raye, Ray BLK, Emeli Sande and The Horrors) has had much more time on her hands than usual. So she decided to document this extraordinary moment, by interviewing her workmates, contemporaries and friends from the music video community in London - on Zoom, of course.

These interviews (by Steiner and Eleri Evans) have formed the basis of the four-part video series called Music Videos In Lockdown, with the first episode premiered on Promonews today.

I wanted to showcase the range of people within our industry, and the commonality and unity amongst us.

"The music video industry is a very busy one," she says. "We spend endless hours on set together pulling through early call times, bad weather, dodgy catering, and night shoots. As lockdown was enforced I was worried about a growing disconnect amongst people who were losing their ability to work and, even more, work together. 

"My hope was to pull together a film which showcases the full range of people within our industry, and shows commonality and unity amongst us. I wanted to learn something about the industry, the people in it, and what we can do it make it better. Hopefully this series does that and it makes you feel a little closer to normality."

In the first episode, Last Jobs, the interviewees discuss the work they were doing just before lockdown - and how work stopped. It features directors Will Hooper, Aidan Zamiri, Myles Whittingham and Oscar Hudson, choreographer Simon Donnellon, DoP Diana Olifirova, camera assistant Jomar O'Meally, commissioners Dan Curwin and James Hackett, makeup artist Jessica Summer, producers and EPs Kareem Adeshina, Morgan Clement, Imogen Harrison, Laura Northover and Luke Tierney.

Future episodes, to be released over the next two weeks, will discuss how life and work has changed during lockdown, and its impact on the industry - now, and potentially in the future - with contributions from the above and other interviewees, including Sam Davey, Rik Green, Terri Higgins, Tom O’Driscoll, Ore Okonedo, Taff Williamson, David Wright, and Zhang & Knight.

• Episode Two of Music Videos In Lockdown will be premiered on Promonews on Monday, May 11th.