A year ago Tom Ringsby and Rhory Danniells launched Intergalactic Studios. After a busy inaugural year, they tell us their music video highlights in 2021 - and we find out their plans for 2022.

Promonews spoke to Tom Ringsby and Rhory Danniells back in January last year, just as Intergalactic Studios was getting off the ground, and discovered that this new visual content studio was the fruition of the pair's long-established friendship and working relationship. They had met as students at Bournemouth Arts Uni, and "bonded over our matching Director’s Label boxsets and nocturnal habits." After moving to different parts of the world, they started working together when they both returned to London a few years ago.

Ringsby and Danniells had spent the previous months building Intergalactic's inaugural roster, and when we spoke to them last year, their first productions were about to be released. That was the start of a stream of distinctive music-related content during the course of the year.

So a year on, we have checked back in with them, to hear about some of Intergalactic's music video highlights in 2021. This includes work that the versatile pair have directed themselves, and also produced for other directors on the Intergalactic roster - including some of their imaginative forays into capturing live performance.  

And it looks like going to be even busier in 2022. As they reveal, Intergalactic is working on diversifying into other areas - and adding more directors.

"We’ve been getting busier in the branded content, fashion and narrative spaces - with exciting work by new signings NWSPK, Guille, Sofia Wilkinson-Steel and a couple others we’re yet to announce. Which is why we’ve expanded our in-house team and are moving to a bigger office and studio space," explains Ringsby.

"So we’re ready to meet even more great collaborators and take on more amazing projects," says Danniells. "2022 is already looking very exciting."

SHAME ‘Live In The Flesh'

Continuing their partnership with director Ja Humby and his Molten Jets live-performance series resulted in his strangest instalment yet, as SHAME frontman Charlie Steen got baby-oiled up on stage at a 'sold-out' gig.

NME described it best in their four-star review: "Shame - Live in the Flesh: tongue-in-cheek comedy and fierce punk fury.”

Rhory Danniells: "Ja Humby’s trademark is bizarre humour and he got free rein with this video. No wonder it led onto directing the Aldona video for Chabuddy G. Bigger and stranger things to come from Ja this year no doubt!”

Olivia Dean ‘Slowly’

Co-directors Rhory Danniells and Olivia Dean channelled the vulnerability of Slowly, with seamless lighting changes and a Rapunzel-inspired braid in this elegant one-shot video.

RD: "Our DOP, Kia Fern Little, did a fantastic job with the lighting. Starting with a simple overhead spotlight and ending on a fully-lit ice-blue set without distracting from Olivia’s wonderful performance was a real achievement."

Alewya ‘Jagna’

Tom Ringsby brought to life the animalistic energy of Jagna with break-out artist and co-director Alewya in a primal sprint across the desert.

Alewya proved to be a real action hero on this.

Tom Ringsby: "Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most powerful. Alewya proved to be a real action hero on this. Sprinting alongside our tracking vehicle in the dark rainy weather, spotlight on her face while performing for countless takes. DoP Karol Jurga kept spirits high by shouting ‘Energy!’ All day long.”

Joey Maxwell ‘Infrared’

amitybloc’s third collaboration with Joey Maxwell resulted in this trippy supermarket night-shift love story featuring a sax-solo by a jazz-broccoli.

TR: “This was one of many collaborations we did with amitybloc last year. They always bring the vibes on set, whether shouting across the aisle for Joey to ‘make it trippier!’, or testing out different goggly-eyes options on the crew. We’re always looking forward to the next amitybloc project.”

Sigrid ‘Home To You’

Rhory Danniells finished off the year with a live Christmas-performance by Sigrid featuring a string quartet in St. Pancras Station.

RD: "This was a project of firsts for me, as I had never done a live performance video in the wild before. Filming at a train station did come with its challenges, but Sigrid, the musicians and crew were amazing. A special shout out to the sound team and their 20+ mics.”

• Discover more work at Intergalactic Studios here