Director

Alasdair McLellan

Alasdair McLellan recasts the post-industrial landscapes of England as a gorgeous&nbsp;dreamworld in his inimitable style&nbsp;for Saint Etienne's Pond House. Then in Penlop he integrates iconic British locations - Blackpool's Golden Mile, the Severn Bridge - into&nbsp;domestic and intimate&nbsp;scenes of youthful boredom.&nbsp;Both the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hau8CF-jzs" target="_blank">Pond House</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3nxanAgUOM" target="_blank">Penlop</a> promos are for tracks from&nbsp;the new Saint Etienne album I've Been Trying To Tell You, and are taken from McLellan's longform film of the same name to accompany the album, released&nbsp;in September.[imgtoken data:1]McLellan has applied the distinctive aesthetic that has graced his fashion photography and commercials (for Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu and others) to scenes shot in unfashionably provincial places in the UK: Avebury, Grangemouth, Portmeirion, Doncaster - McLellan's home town - and more.The theme of the album is a reflection upon&nbsp;the 1990s - the period after Saint Etienne's breakthrough with their debut album Foxbase Alpha -&nbsp;which they reflect back on with nostalgia and mull over the optimism and naivety of the times. And with all of the band's work, it's rooted in a specific vision&nbsp;on Britain.[imgtoken data:2]McLellan's film allows the viewer the space to reflect upon these issues in the hypnotic pacing and repetition of his gorgeously composed images - graded by his regular colourist-collaborator Jamie Noble at Studio RM.“My starting point was an interpretation of my memories from the time I first started to listen to Saint Etienne’s music," McLellan has explained.&nbsp;&nbsp;[imgtoken data:3]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Of course, it is an interpretation of what I was doing then while looking back at it now. At that time, I was a bored teenager in a village near Doncaster, South Yorkshire; it was a place where very little happened. I now look back at that time as something quite idyllic – even the boredom seems idyllic – and a big part of its soundtrack was Saint Etienne.”The film I’ve Been Trying To Tell You is McLellan's first longform film project, and&nbsp;will premiere at NFT1 on the Southbank on 3rd September. Watch the trailer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ldhg1I7IgU" target="_blank">here</a>.

United Kingdom

Jamie Noble

Studio RM

Heavenly Films

ORAC Productions

Indie

Alternative

Saint Etienne 'Pond House' & 'Penlop' by Alasdair McLellan

Sam Smith's&nbsp;Kids Again music video directed by Alasdair McLellan.

Partner Films

Alexi Pissourios

Ragi Dholakia Productions

Sam Smith 'Kids Again' by Alasdair McLellan

Sam Smith - Kids Again

Marc Jacobs 'Daisy' fragrance TVC, directed by Alasdair McLellan,&nbsp;starring Kaia Gerber, Adut Akech and Meghan Roche.

Art Partner

Marc Jacobs 'Daisy' TVC by Alasdair McLellan 

Daisy Marc Jacobs

Gucci, 'So Deer To Me' commercial, directed by Alasdair McLellan.

Christopher Simmons

Alexandros Pissourios

Gucci, 'So Deer To Me' by Alasdair McLellan

So Deer To Me: The Gucci Pre-Fall 2020 Campaign

Charlotte Lawrence's Why Do You Love Me? video directed by&nbsp;Alasdair McLellan.

James Ketterer

Charlotte Lawrence 'Why Do You Love Me?' by Alasdair McLellan

Charlotte Lawrence - Why Do You Love Me (Official Music Video)

Unabashed romanticism, Los Angeles at its most cinematic, and Millie Bobby Brown. The new The xx video&nbsp;- Alasdair McLellan&#39;s third for a track the band&#39;s third album - is something to behold.McLellan collaborated&nbsp;with Raf Simons, designer at Calvin Klein, on the concept and direction, and this is undoubtedly a very fashion-oriented music video. That could have&nbsp;made it off-puttingly pretentious. In fact I Dare You is very hard to resist. Its a capsule of summer love that is itself a love letter to Los Angeles, made timeless by photography that&#39;s beyond gorgeous.There&#39;s plenty for the cineastes to mull over and guess at the references. The opening shots, with Millie Bobby Brown in school uniform, daydreaming her way to missing her bus, is so lush it could be from the 50s (Rebel Without A Cause?), the house where the kids gather to dance from the 70s (Chinatown?). The lushness spills over with the band performance, the trademark black figures against blue going from Technicolor to lo-def video.&nbsp;And most importantly, there&#39;s the romance of it all. It&#39;s shameless, and it never gives up.

XL Recordings

The xx 'I Dare You' by Alasdair McLellan 

The xx - I Dare You (Official Music Video)

Alasdair McLellan&#39;s video for The xx&#39;s Say Something Loving is a stream-of-consciousness of young love, buildings and life.&nbsp;It&#39;s romantic and uplifting, topped with&nbsp;the&nbsp;surprisingly traditional performance element from the band - all in black, just as you like them.&nbsp;

The xx 'Say Something Loving' by Alasdair McLellan

The xx - Say Something Loving (Official Music Video)

Alasdair McLellan paints a portrait of youth and sexuality in the town of Marfa, Texas for The xx.Classic iconography of the American High School experience complete with cheerleaders and football players gives this video a nostalgic feel, with vibrant colours enhancing the more tender moments as the couples depicted in the video explore the freedom of youth.The band, who recorded part of their album in Marfa, are on hand as revellers in the parties the kids throw. Exploring similar nostalgic ground to Spike Jonze&#39;s Scenes From The Suburbs&nbsp;film with Arcade Fire a few years ago, but with more emphasis on intimacy.

Alasdair McLellan

Director

Videos featuring Alasdair McLellan

2021 (2)

2020 (2)

2019 (1)

2017 (2)

2016 (1)

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