Director

Adriaan Louw

Adriaan Louw directs an absorbing 'day in the life' style film for Stefflon Don's Can't Let You Go.&nbsp;Across a series of aspirational vignettes, the British rapper pays homage to the Afrobeat genre, through slick visuals, choreography and art direction.&nbsp;Taking inspiration from Nollywood films and the artist's real life, the colourful promo is an ambitious trip through various personas and characters, connected through Stefflon Don's infectious energy and performance.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Toby Walsham

FAMILIA

Tom Kelly

Olan Collardy

Craig Davis

Jade Adeyemi

Toni Blaze

Tasa Ikie

Summer Hunjan

Laura Cairney-keize

Toby Tomkins

CHEAT

Rebecca Williams

54 London

Hip Hop

Afrobeat

Stefflon Don 'Can't Let You Go' by Adriaan Louw

Stefflon-Don-'Can't-Let-You-Go'-by-Adriaan-Louw

Opulence and grace flow through Chiswick House&nbsp;in&nbsp;Adriaan Louw's video for up and coming singer Awa's Like I Do.&nbsp;Showcasing&nbsp;subtle extravagance in the stunning setting, Louw constructs portraiture style set-ups in a number of magnificent rooms; each contrasting dramatically in colour and design, but all equally as regal in style.Exploring themes of sisterhood and femininity, Awa is joined by several other girls in most of the scenes, representing both a family and an inner circle who have each other's best interests at heart.&nbsp;Balancing cinematic composition with understated performances, DoP&nbsp;Olan Collardy keeps the camerawork slow and steady, building upon the laidback vibe of both the video and track and allowing the subtle movements and serious facial expressions to speak for themselves.&nbsp;

Sweden

Ryan Morgan

Tom Winbourne

Benji Kirkman

Jomar O'Meally

Esteban Gimpelewicz

Barbara Aoyzie

Justin Hamilton

Robyn Rowan

Samuel Marr

Jonny Tully

Big Buoy

Gary Kent

OB Management

Elena Argiros

Columbia

Beatrice Giustini

Awa 'Like I Do' by Adriaan Louw

Awa--'Like-I-Do'-by-Adriaan-Louw

He's in Lagos, and she's in London, but WizKid can still make the girl move, in Adriaan Louw's latest video for the Afrobeat star.The second videos for two new WizKid tracks - following <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/09/16/wizkid-ghetto-love-adriaan-louw/60805" target="_blank">Ghetto Love</a>, released in September - the concept of the video for Joro is based on the idea that WizKid uses his music to create a spiritual connection with people around the world. And in this case, he connects with a female protagonist in London, causing her to progressively unwind her performance in a series of beautifully captured dance moves.This concept is symbolic of the growth and power that West African music is currently having on a global scale, and at the same time also showcases its roots within London. The Joro video&nbsp;features London-based actress and dancer&nbsp;Georgia Curtis - herself of Nigerian and Spanish descent - who elegantly connects with WizKid's music, firstly on a deserted nighttime street, then in a beauty parlour, and finally in a more theatrical set-up.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Natalie Uglow

Thomas Hole

Stephanie Kevers

Barbara Ayozie

Paul Speirs

Simon Bourne

Framestore

Georgia Curtis

Allison Swank

Felix Seuffert

WizKid 'Joro' by Adriaan Louw

Adriaan Louw brings the WizKid backstory to life, pays&nbsp;tribute to the place that shaped him, and to the never-ending hard work&nbsp;that got him to where he is today in the video for Ghetto Life.Contrasting a series of high concept performance setups with the everyday hustle and bustle of Lagos, his hometown, we see Wizkid performing in a studio, radiating confidence as the camera circles around him.From sitting in a small boat, obsessed with listening to music on a cassette player, to where he is now, his pathway to success is inspirational, and Louw does a fine job of visually representing this journey.&nbsp;The set design in the main performance setup is a perfect backdrop for the story, allowing dozens of light beams to permeate the environment, silhouetting WizKid and a group of dancers as they celebrate life and success.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Nigeria

WizKid 'Ghetto Love' by Adriaan Louw

WizKid - Ghetto Love (Official Video)

In this directors cut of new video for Black Coffee ft. Msaki, Adriaan Louw tells a story about a young man who leaves his countryside home to pursue big city dreams. But memories of his past, the bonds of&nbsp;family and community and the girl he left behind never cease to haunt him.Louw has created a very evocative piece that draws you into the world of the young man - impressively played by Hungani Ndlovu - for Wish You Were Here. It was&nbsp;shot&nbsp;in and around Johannesburg on 16mm film.&nbsp;&nbsp;

South Africa

The Swank Group

Marlaine Tosoni

Xhosa

Deon Van Zyl

Ray Geldenhuys

Tobie Swanepoel

Peter Modise

Unathi Mkonto

Ntombomzi Lekgoro

Orli Meriri

Kyle Stroebel

Eddie Francis

Hungani Ndlovu

Alt Pop

Jazz

Black Coffee ft. Msaki 'Wish You Were Here' by Adriaan Louw

Black-Coffee-Ft.-Msaki-'Wish-You-Were-Here'-by-Adriaan-Louw

Adriaan Louw, nominated for Best New Director at last week's UK Music Video Awards 2018, spent a month this summer on a whirlwind tour of Africa, shooting four videos for Major Lazer's new Afrobeats LP.We talked to Adriaan about the experience of going hard and fast across Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and South Africa - his own home country – to create this vibrant, culturally significant body of work.[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>We wanted to capture each city in its most real, raw and beautiful form (Adriaan Louw)</blockquote> Promonews: What is the background to the project? How did it come about?Adriaan Louw: When I was living in South Africa last year, Major Lazer approached me to direct a music video for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtEHrcA8dKc" target="_blank">Particula</a>. That film, much to my gratitude, was really well received and following their collaboration with some awesome African artists this year, they asked me to shoot all four music videos for the EP.Was the idea of shooting in four different countries part of the brief, or did you come up with that idea?Major Lazer placed a lot of trust in us. I actually picked the countries, but I made sure that they were relevant to each artist’s origin, which also happened to be places that I’m fascinated by from a youth culture perspective. Their brief was to showcase the unique dance culture in each country.Working with Major Lazer, we both have a mutual understanding and desire to capture each city in its most real, raw and beautiful form. Perhaps having grown up amongst these incredible landscapes and cultures in South Africa contributes to that. It was important to both of us that we made sure we collaborated with dancers, stylists, artists in each city to make sure that each film was as authentic as possible. We wanted to make films that people from South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana could be proud of and that they truly felt represented them.[imgtoken data:2]Four different videos in four different African countries sounds like a massive logistical challenge. How long did you have to make the four videos? Did you work on them one at a time, or were you essentially working on them all simultaneously?We had a really small team to make sure that we were in a flexible position to tackle any hurdles that presented themselves along the way. We definitely took more of a documentary approach with small camera setups: mirrorless DSLR and a Bolex 16mm camera.<blockquote>Each city has its own set of rules and pace that it operates at. It was important to bear this in mind (Adrian Louw, above)</blockquote>We planned all of the films simultaneously. The awesome producer, that is Allison Swank, and I have been working together, travelling throughout Africa for a few years now. Each city has its own set of rules and pace that it operates at. It was important to bear this in mind and be accommodating of it, otherwise you just end up losing time and not planning for the how long it takes to make things happen. Allison was amazing when producing these videos and the filming of each ran just as smoothly as we could have hoped for. Our process was to keep shooting each film one after the other and send footage to the editor as we went along, so yes, they were all worked on simultaneously.What order did you shoot them in? And how long did you have to shoot each one?We first shot in Durban. Then Lagos, followed by Accra and then finally Senegal. We only had three days in each city so it was pretty full on. We would land in one city and immediately jump into the shoot. It was actually an awesome way to work, I really enjoyed it.When you’re shooting different formats, and accumulating so much footage, as you’ve presumably done with the Major Lazer videos, do you do all the shooting yourself?I worked with a friend and amazing up-and-coming DP called Thomas Revington. He’s super flexible when shooting under these conditions and we came up with a lot of setups on the go, which included one where we strapped him down to a quad bike that raced after guys on motorbikes.We shot some 16mm footage too. I shot a lot of the 16mm, Thomas shot some of it too. It was a great camera B option and added an extra layer to each city which I really love.[imgtoken data:3]<blockquote>Trying to film in interesting places whilst being respectful towards the locals of that area was important to us. I think this is always important when shooting in a country or city that is not yours.</blockquote>What about the casting - who are the dance groups that are featured in each video?We worked with choreographers and dance groups from each city, having already initiated discussions with them surrounding the project beforehand. They sent us videos over Whatsapp and we could review their progress before we arrived to shoot, but for the most part we let them do their thing. They included trending dances that were unique to each country.You can see a short docu by Roberto Colombo about each country on the Major Lazer YouTube that goes with each video. There the dancers and choreographers tell us about the inspiration behind each dance.Why did you shoot your South African video, for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2018/10/22/major-lazer-ft-babes-wodumo-taranchyla-orkantbalance-pon-it-adriaan-louw/55642" target="_blank">Balance Pon it</a>, in Durban rather than Jo’burg?In South Africa there is a big movement in dance music and the biggest one right now is the genre ‘Gqom’. Gqom comes from Kwaito music. South Africa is a prime example of how a genre of dance music can move a whole country. It’s incredible.The song, “Balance Pon It”, is inspired by Gqom and also features the queen of Gqom music Babes Wodumo. Durban is the birthplace of Gqom music. It’s also a part of South Africa that is super rich in culture but internationally does not get the screen time that Johannesburg or Cape Town gets. I really love that city and it only felt right to shoot the video in a place which birthed a genre that completely inspired the track. What were your favourite moments while making the videos? And what are your favourite moments in the videos?A few moments spring to mind immediately. In Dakar we took a boat out into the ocean before sunrise and jumped into the ocean with a surfer to shoot some of the sunrise shots. Swimming and directing at the same time was a pretty cool experience. Paddling out into the waves to shoot the surfers surfing at sunset was also an amazing experience to have in a place like Dakar.[imgtoken data:4]We went to some local hangouts in Durban where we were in the midst of some really interesting parties and met some awesome people. Some nights we would go out and just take the camera with us with no plan. That was the benefit of shooting on a small mirrorless SLR, we could always have the camera on us and document any moments that spontaneously presented themselves. E.g. the night scenes featuring the dancers in the Lagos film.I loved shooting the bikers in Accra in the parking lot at sunset and having big crowds gather around us, losing their minds - it was pretty special. We rocked up there and they just went nuts. We couldn’t even direct the bikers, it was so loud. We just documented it all.Out of the four, do you have a favourite?There are elements in every video that I absolutely love. But overall, I would say I enjoyed the energy from the video in Accra, “Tied Up” ft. Raye &amp; Mr Eazi most.What were the biggest challenges?In Lagos we got locked up in a building, we were demanded extra money by the security of the building we shot Burna Boy on the rooftop of [on the shoot for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2018/10/19/major-lazer-ft-burna-boy-all-my-life-adriaan-louw/55601" target="_blank">All My Life</a>]. We ended up getting out and running with all our gear. Jumped in a van and rushed out of there.The heat factor also gets you when you’re out in the sun all day. And getting permission to shoot in certain areas can be really hard. Trying to film in interesting places whilst being respectful towards the locals of that area was important to us. I think this is always important when shooting in a country or city that is not yours.[imgtoken data:5]Finally, congratulations on being nominated for Best New Director at the UK Music Video Awards this year!Thank you - and to my <a href="https://www.wearefamilia.com/" target="_blank">FAMILIA</a> family who submitted my entry for the award. I signed with them at the beginning of the year and am looking forward to making more magic with them in the future.THE VIDEOS:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4KbVdISps" target="_blank">All My Life (feat. Burna Boy)</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB-veX3sZ2w" target="_blank">Orkant/Balance Pon It (feat. Babes Wodumo &amp; Taranchyla)</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf5zduoBTk4" target="_blank">Tied Up (feat. Mr. Eazi, Raye &amp; Jake Gosling)</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKNZqTNjYpE" target="_blank">Loyal (feat. Kizz Daniel &amp; Kranium)</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Adriaan Louw on making 4 videos for Major Lazer's African project

The second of four films directed by Adriaan Louw for Major Lazer&#39;s latest EP - each film filmed in a different African country, with the contributions of local artists and dancers - is for Orkant/Balance Pon It, and shot in Durban, South Africa.As with the rest of the project, its a combination of structured scenes and pure documentary. And it&nbsp;was shot in Durban, far less visible to the outside world than Johannesburg or Cape Town, due to its importance in the origins of&nbsp;Gqom &ndash; the biggest dance music craze in South Africa at the moment &ndash; which inspired the song Balance Pon It. And the video features Babes Wodumo, considered the Queen of Gqom.

United States

Thomas Revington

Undefined

Comfort & Fame

Comfort

StrangeLove

Urbanhouze

Dance

Major Lazer ft. Babes Wodumo & Taranchyla 'Orkant/Balance Pon It' by Adriaan Louw

Major-Lazer--'"orkant/balance-Pon-It"-Ft.-Babes-Wodumo-&-Taranchyla'-by-Adriaan-Louw

Having directed Particula in Johannesburg last year, Adriaan Louw has now collaborated with Major Lazer on no less than four new films for tracks that&nbsp;highlight talent throughout the African music scene.&nbsp;They were shot in four different cities across Africa &ndash; Accra, Durban, Lagos and Dakar &ndash; with Louw collaborating with local creatives to give each film a unique flavour.For All My Life, he took&nbsp;a small crew and featured artist Burna Boy to Nigerian capital Lagos to capture&nbsp;performance, dance and documentary&nbsp;in vibrant fashion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Daniel Obasi

Fame

Afro-Beat

Major Lazer ft. Burna Boy 'All My Life' by Adriaan Louw

Major-Lazer--'"all-My-Life"-Ft.-Burna-Boy'-by-Adriaan-Louw

Adriaan Louw channels the spirit and chaos&nbsp;of street protest with his gripping video for South African rapper Riky Rick&#39;s I Can&#39;t Believe It.In a wintry Johannesbourg, Louw creates an alluring world in which a group of charismatic young men carry out their plans to reclaim the streets. Shot on 16mm it has a visual style that slips between past and present, incorporating fashion from the eras of the Balck Panthers and the Mods. But the characterisation, and the&nbsp;action and energy&nbsp;of the rioting,&nbsp;captured by the director at the climax of the piece, packs a real&nbsp;punch.&nbsp;

Sazikazi Mbalekwa

Haydn Van Zyl

Fabian Vettiger

Jean Du Plessis

Marco Filby

Orli Meiri

Riky Rick 'I Can"t Believe It' by Adriaan Louw

Riky-Rick-'I-Can"t-Believe-It'-by-Adriaan-Louw

Jess Glynne&#39;s anthemic I&#39;ll Be There gets a big scenic treatment from Adriaan Louw.As Jess goes from driving past pink-coloured salt lakes of Los Coloradas, on Mexico&#39;s Los Yucatan peninsular, to horse riding with local women in Valladolid, and finally plunging undewater, it&#39;s a series of spectacular widescreen moments that reflect the emotion of the track.

Hannah Bilverstone

Evelin van Rei

Paul O'Reilly

Stitch

Richard Fearon

Dan Curwin

Atlantic

Jess Glynne 'I'll Be There' by Adriaan Louw

Jess-Glynne-'I'll-Be-There'-by-Adriaan-Louw

Adriaan Louw delivers a fastmoving, uplifting&nbsp;video for Mabel and Not3s, set in the rich youth culture of Johannesburg.Louw&#39;s camera never stops as&nbsp;Mabel is joined by Not3s to deliver vibrant performances with their fresh Jo&#39;burg crew. A&nbsp;good time is clearly being had by all.

Claibel De Jager

Juan De Jäger

Kelebogile Mokanyane

Maliyakhe 'cash' Radebe

Tamzyn Botha

Alex Sossah

Amanda Jah

Mimi Duma

Marisa Garner Associates

Lisa Foo

Polydor

Mabel, Not3s 'Fine Lines' by Adriaan Louw

Mabel,-Not3s-'Fine-Lines'-by-Adriaan-Louw

Cape Town-based director and photographer Adriaan Louw gives a distinctly African take to a downtown 70s vibe in&nbsp;his video for Major Lazer and DJ Maphorista.It&#39;s vibrant, feelgood, and beautifully photographed by DoP Thomas Revington as it&nbsp;features rollicking performances&nbsp;by the featured artists Nasty C, Ice Prince, Patoranking and Jidenna.

Adriaan Louw

Director

Interviews featuring Adriaan Louw

Videos featuring Adriaan Louw

2020 (1)

2019 (4)

2018 (5)

2017 (1)

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