Director

Abbie Stephens

Abbie Stephens sends up the process of making a music video, in her charming video for Katy J Pearson.On one level, Katy is making a Lumiere-inspired music video for Talk Over Town, performing in a number of imaginative studio set-ups, complete with wacky styling and colourful art direction. But then we also see behind the curtain of the making of this&nbsp;film,&nbsp;as she good-naturedly deals with the crew and the demands of the director - played by&nbsp;Charlie Hansen.[imgtoken data:1]Unlike Katy and her fictional director, the collaboration with Abbie Stephens has been rather more successful. Stephens has created&nbsp;a visual feast - somewhat playful and tongue-in-cheek - and blended that with&nbsp;whimsical humour. And then it&nbsp;develops further with a twist of pure surrealism.Having flourished in the commercial world in recent years, its a very welcome return to music videos for Abbie Stephens, and she has presented out a new aspect&nbsp;to Pearson's on-screen personality that will appeal to her devoted legion of fans.

United Kingdom

Gabby Sellen

Kirsty Oldfield

Charlie Morris

Christina Campagna

Rosie Brear

Blink

Harry Buck

Beatriz Sastre

Laura Northover

Harry Hardwick

Sunjna Mullick

Robert Stanton

Ross Dixon

Nohelia Reyes

Flaura Atkinson

Homespun

Alex Gregory

No.8

Charlie Hansen

Heavenly Recordings

Katy J Pearson 'Talk Over Town' by Abbie Stephens

Katy J Pearson - Talk Over Town (Official Video)

Abbie Stephens turns up the temperature on Off Bloom with this steamy, richly colourful video for Lover Like Me.&nbsp;Raw sexuality radiates from singer Mette, her presence intensified through her mirror image, and dancers who are obscured by walls of glass, or pushing through fabric into the path of the band.

Kate Brady

Colonel Blimp

Richard Grewe

Kerry Green

Ben Wearing

Amir Aal

James Woodbridge

Ryan Monteith

Zoe Klinck

Hannah Hopkins

Band Stylist: Hannah Hopkins, Band Assistant Stylist: Astrid Dalton, Wardrobe Stylist: Naomi Hodgkin

Polly Mossman

Charlie Reddie

Lewis Crossfield

Electric Theatre Collective

Ardith Birchall

Nathan Tettey

Polydor

Dance

Off Bloom 'Lover Like Me' by Abbie Stephens

Abbie Stephens is an innovative music video director from&nbsp;Kent&nbsp;that has recently&nbsp;been making&nbsp;some delightfully imaginative promos&nbsp;such as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2014/10/16/george-poet-1-2-1-2-abbie-stephens" target="_blank">George the Poet &#39;12, 1,2&#39;</a> and <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2014/12/09/all-we-are-keep-me-alive-abbie-stephens" target="_blank">All We Are &#39;Keep Me Alive&#39;</a>. Based in Clapton and freshly signed to Colonel Blimp, her career has really started to take&nbsp;off. We recently caught up with Stephens&nbsp;to ask her some questions...Education:&nbsp;Central St. Martins&nbsp;Graphic Design and specialised in moving&nbsp;image.Previous occupations: Pot washer, leaflet packer in a box factory, waitress,&nbsp;barmaid.Favourite music video of the past 12 months?&nbsp;Joywave, &#39;Somebody New,&#39;&nbsp;anything by Keith Schofield is&nbsp;gold.&nbsp;Skrillex, &#39;Doompy-Poomp,&#39;&nbsp;brilliant casting.&nbsp;Hozier, &#39;Take Me To&nbsp;Church,&#39;&nbsp;the David La Chapelle one.&nbsp;I&rsquo;m a&nbsp;sucker for amazing dance. The toe drags are&nbsp;insane.&nbsp;<blockquote>Favourite video of all time?&nbsp;The Avalanches &#39;Frontier Psychiatrist,&#39;&nbsp;so simple and great!&nbsp;Chemical Brothers&nbsp;&#39;Let Forever Be&#39;.&nbsp;</blockquote>Favourite publications/websites:&nbsp;It&rsquo;s nice that, Boooooom, 1.4, Promonews, This is Colossal, Nowness, HuH.Favourite food/restaurant:&nbsp;The Hunter. S,&nbsp;the beef wellington is amazing,&nbsp;TripKitchen,&nbsp;the duck leg.&nbsp;Bistrotheque, for a really special occasion.Favourite drink/drug:&nbsp;Prosecco. Also I have a very unhealthy addiction to swing dancing. I went to one lesson in the summer of 2013 and got&nbsp;the bug. For the most part of 2014 I was dancing 5-6&nbsp;evenings a week and competed in the London Swing Festival.&nbsp;This year I joined a swing dance performance troupe. It&rsquo;s&nbsp;such an amazing energy full of such inspiring people.&nbsp;Dancing is the ultimate drug. I love the idea that when I&rsquo;m&nbsp;70+ i&rsquo;ll still be swinging away. Happiness is the key to&nbsp;creativity.Last movie you saw (and was it any good)?&nbsp;Fargo,&nbsp;I just watched it or like the 10th time. I love that movie so much! The characters and storyline are exquisite.&nbsp;The scene at the end in the car with with Marge Gunderson and Gaear&nbsp;Grimsrud is movie magic. Frances McDormand,&nbsp;what a hero!<blockquote>Favourite directors:&nbsp;Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson,&nbsp;Gondry, Lynch, Robert Bresson, Keith Schofield, The Daniels, Dougal&nbsp;Wilson, Ninian Doff,&nbsp;so many more...</blockquote>Last gig you went to (and was it any good)?&nbsp;Warpaint at the Hammersmith Apollo. They were amazing! I saw&nbsp;them live for the 1st time in Primavera 2011, brought back a&nbsp;lot of great memories.Favourite bands/artists:&nbsp;James Blake, Temples, Panda Bear, The War On Drugs, Tuneyards, Trentemøller, Youth Lagoon.Currently reading/favourite book:&nbsp;I have to admit I am terrible at dedicating time to reading. I spend&nbsp;more time daydreaming than most other things. This needs to&nbsp;change, however I do use Ken Robinson&rsquo;s book The Element as a&nbsp;bible.What was the first music video you worked on - and what&nbsp;were you doing on that job?&nbsp;I was assisting oneinthree when I was at uni. I worked on&nbsp;their video for Wild Beasts &#39;Brave Bulging Buoyant&nbsp;Clairvoyants&#39;. It was an amazing experience as I&nbsp;was involved at&nbsp;every step of the way. I was researching for them and finding reference images when the were pitching. I was a runner and playback op on&nbsp;the shoot. And then I was helping them out with the post and&nbsp;number crunching on the render farm. It was a fun video to be&nbsp;involved in and was a really great introduction into the world of&nbsp;music video.Favourite job of the past 12 months:&nbsp;I can&rsquo;t decide between George the Poet and All We Are. The&nbsp;energy the extras brought to set on George the Poet was&nbsp;amazing. They all bonded and had a lot of fun. That was&nbsp;great to see and be a part of. The All We Are job shoot day&nbsp;itself was actually pretty tough, with the bad weather and&nbsp;trying to get so much out of the great location and racing&nbsp;against the daylight hours. I think it&rsquo;s a testament to such a&nbsp;wonderful crew that I still think very fondly of this shoot. We&nbsp;had such a hard working team, it was a joy to work with&nbsp;them.<blockquote>What&rsquo;s the next Big Thing you&rsquo;re working on?&nbsp;Since signing to Colonel Blimp we have been pitching on some exciting&nbsp;music video scripts, and developing a few ideas I&nbsp;have had for more&nbsp;commercial jobs.&nbsp;</blockquote>What would most improve your life?&nbsp;Some sun.Best moment, or fondest memory, of your career thus far?&nbsp;I was overwhelmed with the success of my first ever music&nbsp;video. I had hidden myself away for 3 months working all&nbsp;weekends and evenings whilst holding down a full time job at Vice. It was the 1st thing I had uploaded on my&nbsp;Vimeo Channel after I had graduated. And it was an instant&nbsp;success. I remember refreshing the views and being so&nbsp;excited that 200 people had viewed it. I started getting a&nbsp;barrage of comments on it and before i knew I had 20,000&nbsp;views in the 1st day. I had no idea it would have such a&nbsp;fantastic response. I thought I was onto something good,&nbsp;but&nbsp;this moment really confirmed that I could succeed as a&nbsp;director and I wanted to put more of my visions out into the&nbsp;world.&nbsp;Worst moment?&nbsp;I have a few but one has to be also on the same project. I&nbsp;hadn&rsquo;t seen any friends in over 2 months, Apart from&nbsp;colleagues at work. I was woking late one weekend&nbsp;manually cutting out a figure on 2160 frames of paper. I was&nbsp;sleep deprived and wasn&rsquo;t really eating very well or looking&nbsp;after myself. I was so involved in the project I lost sight of&nbsp;everything else. I had just changed the blade on the scalpel&nbsp;( I still don&rsquo;t know if this was a good or a bad thing) but as i&nbsp;put the blade down on the side it rolled off of the pile of&nbsp;paper and in slow motion I&nbsp;watched&nbsp;- unable to move -&nbsp;as the&nbsp;scalpel dropped from the table, blade first right into my foot.&nbsp;I was so focused on the job that I&nbsp;just carried on working for&nbsp;the next 24 hours with my foot taped up and elevated,&nbsp;until a&nbsp;friend came and marched me to A&amp;E. I had fractionally&nbsp;missed severing my tendon. Lesson learned:&nbsp;wear shoes&nbsp;when working with scalpels and your health is more&nbsp;important than any job.<blockquote>Biggest frustration?&nbsp;Just not hearing back on a job that you really believed in and&nbsp;spent a lot of time thinking about and writing up. Sometimes&nbsp;it feels like the ideas are just sent out into the abyss.&nbsp;More&nbsp;communication would save a lot of time.&nbsp;</blockquote>What&rsquo;s the big issue or issues facing music video makers&nbsp;right now?&nbsp;Lack of money and time and not hearing back after pitching.Person you most admire?&nbsp;The crazy talent that I have the honor of being next to on the&nbsp;roster at Colonel Blimp. http://www.colonelblimp.com/directorsWhat advice would you give to someone starting out in&nbsp;music video production?&nbsp;Start now. Don&rsquo;t wait for someone to give you a budget in&nbsp;order to make your ideas. Some of the best projects I&rsquo;ve done&nbsp;I&rsquo;ve made happen on no money. And they have become the&nbsp;starting blocks for the next idea. Keep making and keep&nbsp;growing. Don&rsquo;t be scared to fail &ldquo;If you&#39;re not prepared to be&nbsp;wrong, you&#39;ll never come up with anything original,&rdquo; said Ken Robinson.&nbsp;Only make work for bands you love, however big or small&nbsp;they may be.&nbsp;Send your work to people you respect and get honest opinions. Sharing your work and getting feedback, even if&nbsp;you don&rsquo;t agree with the advice, helps cement your own&nbsp;feelings and beliefs about your work and helps you find your&nbsp;creative voice.Any hot tips on who will be the future stars in music video in&nbsp;the next couple of years &ndash; directors or otherwise?&nbsp;The guys I graduated with are doing some great things.&nbsp;Chris Lee and Paul Storrie just released their film &#39;The&nbsp;Hedgehog,&#39; find it and watch it, it&rsquo;s great. Also Tim Keeling is&nbsp;winning awards with his 1st short Yoke Farm. These guys&nbsp;are set for big things. I&rsquo;m still so inspired by my university&nbsp;peers.

The Questionnaire: Abbie Stephens

Following her impressive recent promos for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2014/10/16/george-poet-1-2-1-2-abbie-stephens" target="_blank">George The Poet</a> and <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2014/12/09/all-we-are-keep-me-alive-abbie-stephens" target="_blank">All We Are</a>, Abbie Stephens latest is this delightfully surreal ad-length teaser for the debut album by Stealing Sheep.&nbsp;

Saulo Jamariqueli

Ben Rogers

Sam Cross

Gramercy Park Studios

Stealing Sheep album teaser by Abbie Stephens

Abbie Stephens&#39; video for All We Are&#39;s Keep Me Alive adds that special element of music video magic to the band&#39;s country house performance, courtesy of picture frames, hula hoops and inner tubes and other surreal devices that give the impression that a parallel universe is encroaching into the regular world.&nbsp;

Paz Parasmand

Partizan

Claire Stubbs

Franklin Dow

Will Hadley

Raf Curtis

Antonia Lowe

Coline Bach

Elaine Lynskey

Nathan Perry-Greene

Cut+Run

Jamie O'Donnell

Houmam Abdallah

Jkstudios

Artist Fiona Coveney

James Kearsley

Natalia Maus

Domino

Indie

All We Are 'Keep Me Alive' by Abbie Stephens

All-We-Are-'Keep-Me-Alive'-by-Abbie-Stephens

Commissioned by Ailsa Robertson for Island Records, Abbie Stephens delivers her&nbsp;third promo for Creature Of London.Working on a tight schedule and a challenging budget, Abbie&#39;s video of&nbsp;contrast, unexpected choreography and intense colour, documents&nbsp;George The Poet&#39;s themes of empowerment and individuality in his track 1 2, 1 2.

Creature of London

Rob Hughes

Harvey Ascott

Natalie Taylor

Dan Gibling

Jonathan Isles

Greg Butler

Jason Iqbal

Sarah Peczek

Miles Lacey, Charlotte Hill

Greg Whitbrook

Jojo Copeman

Maggie Frost

Natalie Willis

Anna Mould

George Mpanga, Penny Lisle, Joshua Smith, Meena Richards

Martina Richards, Will Lewis, John Kamau, Davide Lipari

Frieda Rommel, Amber Gayfer, Edward Hiscox

Island Records

Ailsa Robertson

Del Mak

Spoken Word

George The Poet '1 2, 1 2' by Abbie Stephens

George-The-Poet-'1-2,-1-2'-by-Abbie-Stephens

Ahead of a brace of festival appearances this summer, critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Hero Fisher teams up with Abbie Stephens for the promo to her single No Ceremony.Shot in a dusty, abandoned house, Abbie makes Del Mak&#39;s excellent choreography a key feature - employing six child dancers - intercutting with Hero Fisher&#39;s performance.&nbsp;

My Accomplice

Jamie Clark

George Nelson

Jonathan Iles

Andres Claridge

Charlie Whitewray

Natasha Lawes

Las Bandas Be Brave

Octavia Selena-Alexandru

Lauren Halil

Terrell Forde

Tabitha Catherine

Ossie Moore

Ashleigh Green

Family Editing

Singer-songwriter

Hero Fisher 'No Ceremony' by Abbie Stephens

Hero Fisher - No Ceremony (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

Director Abbie Stephens gives London 5-piece Eliza And The Bear&nbsp;a good soaking in her promo for their Brother&#39;s Boat single.Based around a band performance, the boys risk catching their death as they get drenched from above, from the side, from everywhere -&nbsp;just hope those amps weren&#39;t plugged in...

FRIEND

Nico Chavez

Sam Goldie

Afzal Robbani

James Godwin-Candlish

Ryan Parkins

Imogen Forbes

Dan Rees

Simon Chubbock

Dom Arrinon

Chloe Brady

Felix Brady

Veri Ferraz

Sophie Cox

Dave Warren

Nomad Editing Company

Kirsty McKenzie

Marty McMullan

Rushes

Eliza And The Bear 'Brother's Boat' by Abbie Stephens

Eliza and the Bear - Brother's Boat (Official Video)

One of the UK&#39;s &#39;most sought-after unsigned bands&#39; (NME) have inked a deal with Virgin Records and for their new single Stuck In My Teeth, teamed-up with Abbie Stephens for this simple and very effective one-shot&nbsp;promo.Abbie shoots the band performing in a vast, empty warehouse and are joined by art director&#39;s Felix Brady&#39;s time-themed&nbsp;props - an hour glass, sundial, clock and metronome -&nbsp;and some strange black-clad doppelgangers shadowing each band member&#39;s&nbsp;every move...

Affy Robbani

Claire Hopper

Joshua Callis-Smith

George Worley

David Warren

Henry Eastham

Virgin EMI

James Hackett

Quincy Quartey

Tre Gordon

Alexander Doddy

Stefan Healy

Circa Waves 'Stuck In My Teeth' by Abbie Stephens

Circa Waves - Stuck in My Teeth

Abbie Stephens&nbsp;follows up her video for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2013/04/15/jimpster-%E2%80%98rollergirl%E2%80%99-abbie-stephens" target="_blank">Jimpster</a> earlier this year with this retro-tastic video for Temples&#39; Keep In The Dark,&nbsp;which updates the iconography of the 1970s pop-scene with&nbsp;an entirely in-camera carnival of smoke, kaleidoscopes and infinity mirrors. Get it on...

Marcus Autelli

Marie White

The band

Danny Mitchell

Heavenly

Andrew Milner

Yan Murwaski

Francisco Forbes

Zoe Maxwell

Andy Stephens

Yuri Poots

Temples 'Keep In The Dark' by Abbie Stephens

In Abbie Stephens&rsquo; video for Jimpster&rsquo;s Rollergirl (taken from the deep house producer&rsquo;s forthcoming album Porchlight &amp; Rockingchairs) a woman works alone, after hours in her office, burdened with a huge work load, and becoming transfixed on repetitive menial tasks.
Obsessed by these distractions the woman becomes increasingly detached from reality. Her actions become distorted looped movements, until she becomes stuck as a looped animated character within the real world around her.

Abbie Stephens

Director

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