Director of Photography

Ben Todd

Ben Strebel makes a stunning return to music videos with his wonderful&nbsp;video for Skrillex, Starrah and Four Tet’s new track Butterflies - an impressionistic portrait on the impact of a year of Covid crisis upon a generation, which builds to a simply transcendent&nbsp;climax.With some hugely talented&nbsp;collaborators, including choreographer Holly Blakey, DoP Ben Todd, and the&nbsp;VFX team at Electric Theatre Collective, Strebel channels the frustrations of a generation of youth, whose relationships and&nbsp;opportunies have all been curtailed by the successive lockdowns, into a very contemporary work of visual art.On a London estate, an edgy teenager is a ball of energy as they sit in their room, and when a group of youths gather, the group immediately combine to&nbsp;performing Blakey's intricate, physically demanding choreography. Sheets float in the air, at the Chinese takeaway&nbsp;the youths&nbsp;also play ghosts, covered in sheets - and then the path from gritty reality to heightened sensibility spins into outright&nbsp;fantasy, all within the same concrete world.[imgtoken data:1]The climax of the video is wonderful - and that is partly because you do not see it coming. The kids have now become real ghosts, soaring into the air above the concrete,&nbsp;freed&nbsp;to cavort to the strains of this epic electronic collaboration between Sonny John Moore (aka Skrillex), Keiran Hebden (Four Tet), and Brittany Talia Hazzard (Starrah). This is a brilliantly conceived ballet - created with an ingenious execution of VFX work and camera movement.&nbsp;&nbsp;Strebel has created a wonderful visual for Butterflies, the result of not only his own skill and vision, but the ambition and support of Skrillex. The artist and director&nbsp;had been talking for a long time about working together, and Skrillex took&nbsp;a hands-on approach throughout the process, sanctioning the lengthy&nbsp;period in post production required to make it happen.It was well worth the wait.&nbsp;&nbsp;

United States

Ben Strebel

Adam Farley

Biscuit Filmworks

Andrew Law

Rupert Reynolds-MacLean

Samantha Chitty

Roma Nesi Pio

Ed Bellamy

Christopher Mears

Titus Penate

Sean Lomax

Dan Jenner

Simon Wood

Wolf Wasserman

Ben Manwaring

Oliver Hogan

Kate Forbes

Anna Wild

Holly Blakey

Kharmel Cochrane

Matt Nee

Metal House Edit

Electric Theatre Collective

James Sindle

Luke Morrison

Antonia Vlasto

Hannah Clark @ Metal Edit

Electronica

Dance

Alternative

Skrillex, Starrah, Four Tet 'Butterflies' by Ben Strebel

Skrillex, Starrah & Four Tet - Butterflies (Official Music Video)

Basak Erol pulls out all the stops for Nothing But Thieves' Real Love Song, creating an epic fantasy around the heartache and turmoil that surrounds love and sex in the modern world.The live action story of a love triangle is given a dreamlike hue&nbsp;in lurid neon, intercut with the band's equally dreamlike studio performance. Then the imaginations and frustrations of the protagonists are given free rein as they become animated versions of themselves in an&nbsp;alternate dimension.Erol utlised her own skills as a 3D animator, and also collaborated on the 2D animation with hugely talented illustrator and animator Raman Djafari. The end result is a&nbsp;breathless whirlwind to match the band's latest emotional piledriver.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Basak Erol

Eleri Evans

Blink

Laura Northover

Eolande Diaz

Clara Paris

Dan West

Charlotte Miller

Hélio Ribeiro

Zoe Klinck

Taff Williamson

Billie Mckenzie

Max Windows

Homespun

Richard Fearon

Black Kite Studios

Tamara Mennell

Jack Stone

Michael Lewin

Sony Music

Tea Mulabdic

Aaron Hackett

Pia Woodvine

Lily Taylor

Jake Whitehouse

Raman Djafari

Andrew Clarke

Rock

Nothing But Thieves 'A Real Love Song' by Basak Erol

Nothing-But-Thieves--'A-Real-Love-Song'-by-Basak-Erol

Sophia Ray’s second collaboration with Ella Eyre is&nbsp;full of&nbsp;wild energy&nbsp;and a touch of the surreal, as she navigates her newfound single status and buries her negative emotions.&nbsp;The video follows Ella after a break up, where we see her take control of her life and reinvent herself. The edit rockets from one scene to the next, tracking Ella’s transformation as the&nbsp;exaggerated vignettes heighten the narrative, emphasising the artist's&nbsp;sense of empowerment.Full of wacky angles and videogame style animation, it's a contemporary take on the breakup concept, plugged in to the fast-paced social world we live in today.&nbsp;

Sophia Ray

Stephanie Paeplow

Partizan

Mayling Wong

Joe Browne

David Calland

Damon Sewell

William Pope

Lucy Cooper

Daisy Deane

Marcia Lee

Kristina Theodoris

Kit Wells

Final Cut

Jonny Thorpe

Glassworks

Chloe Ensor

Mouthpiece

Laura Clayton

Island Records

Partizan Darkroom

Ella Eyre 'New Me' by Sophia Ray

Ella-Eyre-'New-Me'-by-Sophia-Ray

Having drawn visual comparisons to the likes of FKA twigs and The Blaze for his&nbsp;video for enigmatic band <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/03/22/hour-wasted-ben-strebel/57928" target="_blank">The Hour&#39;s Wasted</a>, Ben Strebel makes a remarkable director&rsquo;s cut for their second single Answer.Following the theme of the last film and the band&rsquo;s own distinction, masks are once again used to examine The Hour&rsquo;s belief in the freedom through anonymity. The setting is more controversial than in the Wasted video, with masked community coming to hospital, where one member is giving birth.Of the release, the band state: &ldquo;This video is about choice, or lack of it. It&rsquo;s about the contrasting opinions in the decisions we make for our children and the lasting effect it might have on them.&rdquo;

India Lee

Skunk London

Kate Taylor

Miri De Villers

Chris Malin

Piotr Perlinski

Jecery Rosini

Stefan Lissner

Amy Exton

Verity May-lane

Billie Kermack

Paul O'Reilly

Futurekind

Alt Soul

The Hour 'Answer' by Ben Strebel

After a very long break, Friendly Fires are finally back, with the euphoric Heaven Let Me In - and a smashing video directed by Bison.&nbsp;This one goes direct to the membrane as&nbsp;we follow a seriously tripped-out&nbsp;guy who is really enjoying the track as he strolls through the city as dawn breaks - mainly through London&#39;s squeaky-clean Canary Wharf. He&#39;s very high indeed, and seems to be getting higher all the time.Jeremy Irvine, from War Horse, plays the off-his-head raver whose warped perception of reality&nbsp;starts veering into Kubrickian psychedelic visions. But will Heaven actually let him in?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Dave Bullivant

Dobi Manolova

FRIEND

Luke Tierney

Ghandi El-Chamaa

Dom Davey

Kate Eccarius

Leo Wetcott

Jim Agnew

Georgia Boal Russell

Jess Summer

Thomas Grove Carter

Trim

Adam Clarke

Absolute

Jeremy Irvine

John Moule

Polydor

Friendly Fires 'Heaven Let Me In' by Bison

Friendly-Fires-'Heaven-Let-Me-In'-by-Bison

The Sacred Egg&#39;s video&nbsp;for this Carnage track &ndash; a collab with Steve Aoki featuring Lockdown &ndash; is an awesome clash of the classical and the modern. It&#39;s&nbsp;a Renaissance tableau of little cherubs, who happen to be tattooed like LA gangsters, and engaged in mortal combat with each other.Most of the turbulent power of the piece&nbsp;emanates from the setting and the young characters&#39; aggressive facial expressions (although there is one moment of stomach-churning violence). The action is slowed almost to a standstill, so this really is like a series of classical portraits, like you&#39;ve never seen before.

The Sacred Egg

Natalie Arnett

Riff Raff Films

Andrew Moroz

David Kharaishvili

Sam Bould

Cut+Run

Ryan Hancocks

Caitlin Bosse

Indie-pop

Jane Tredget

Carnage & Steve Aoki 'Plur Genocide' by The Sacred Egg

Somehow, in between directing videos and commercials, Joe Connor has found time to make an record. Performing as Vincent &ndash; his middle name &ndash; this personal project has blossomed into a complete album, which is now available. And of course there&#39;s a visual too.Joe&#39;s video for Words is a one-shot of iconic simplicity, with beautiful photography by Ben Todd. A mesmerising accompaniment to a stark, beautiful song.&quot;It wasn&rsquo;t meant to be anything real, but then I got so far along this silly road I decided I couldn&rsquo;t turn back,&quot; says Joe, of the Vincent project. &quot;I wrote this album while being late, jet-lagged, abroad, in the rain, missing birthdays, upside down, losing my keys&nbsp;and most likely drunk,&nbsp;but I find that they&rsquo;re the ingredients for all good ideas.&quot;If you like this, then check more out on iTunes or Spotify - or at <a href="https://www.vincentsound.com/" target="_blank">the website</a>. &nbsp;

Joseph Connor

Chief Productions

Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK

Vincent 'Words' by Joseph Connor

VINCENT : Words (Official Video)

The Sacred Egg&#39;s stonking performance video for Royal Blood reimagines M.C. Escher&#39;s Relativity as a dip in a pool.Beginning simply enough with the band performing in&nbsp;a stark, white room, things quickly turn into a head-spinning VFX showcase as barely-clothed revellers swim from the walls and the ceiling. It&#39;s brilliantly cut by Sam Bould to keep the idea evolving throughout the video, but most of all, the thrilling visuals offer compelling evidence of the directors&#39;&nbsp;qualities as master craftsmen in music videos.Long overdue in fact. Ed Kaye and Alex Mavor (aka The Sacred Egg) have been struck by &#39;canned video syndrome&#39; in the past year, as well as being occupied in commercials. But this is a triumphant return. And as they explain below, their &#39;liquid walls&#39; idea&nbsp;required an inordinate amount of coffee creamer...

Tom Birmingham

Matthew Fone

Shea Bradley

Ollie Tiong

Horizon-T

Harvey Ascott

Besnik Krapi

Jonathan Box

Warner Bros

Royal Blood 'Lights Out' by The Sacred Egg

After a mere 22 year break, seminal shoegazers Slowdive have returned with a new video directed by Riff Raff&#39;s Nursery of Evil duo in/out.Taking inspiration from Slowdive&#39;s new album artwork (which is itself a still from a 1957 avant-garde film called Heaven &amp; Earth Magic) the video is an exploration of geometric shapes, pictures within pictures and positives within negatives. Light circles objects and faces, warping abstract patterns in and out of existence with every frame.Contrasting colours&nbsp;create a deeply satisfying palette for a serene and dreamlike visual which complements perfectly the band&#39;s dream-pop&nbsp;sound.

In/Out

Julia Frost

John Burke

Xander Mitchell

Toby Tomkins

Tom Davies

Secretly Canadian

CHEAT

Indie

Slowdive 'Sugar For The Pill’ by in/out

Slowdive - Sugar for the Pill (Official Video)

Martin Garrix contemplates the past in Blake Claridge&#39;s video for Scared To Be Lonely.Followed by an omnipresent source of light from above in an otherwise darkened rural abyss, Garrix wanders the world and considers past relationships. A mixture of aspect ratios helps us switch between past and present as we witness colourful&nbsp;conquests past, atmospheric forests, steamy shower scenes and bedroom anguish steeped in shadows.Through match cuts we see the parallels between these relationships and feel a tinge of sadness at Garrix&#39;s vulnerability when he&#39;s framed alone.

Blake Claridge

Lois Newcombe

Craft

Sergio Lopez

Damian Leitch

Jenna Gahagan

Donny Campbell

Cara Roxburgh

Claire Lester

Beth O’donnel

Bekki Robinson

Phil Conway

Oisín O’Driscoll

The Mill

Lily, Hermoine, Emily, Luisa

Maggie

Toby Andrews @ Sony Music

Pop, Dance

Martin Garrix ft Dua Lipa 'Scared To Be Lonely' by Blake Claridge

Martin-Garrix-Ft-Dua-Lipa-'Scared-To-Be-Lonely'-by-Blake-Claridge

A minimalist performance with a fiery end is the name of the game in Michael Holyk&#39;s&nbsp;video for Sundara Karma.Set in the foreboding, wide-open, yet dramatically lit setting of an empty warehouse. We see singer Oscar Pollock sat on a chair, cabaret style&nbsp;make-up applied around his eyes. As the camera glides around him, he gives a physical performance of the track before stepping out of frame to make way for the flammable conclusion. A tremendous looking black and white clip, with slow motion flames creeping and warping around the frame delivering a striking visual conclusion.

Ben Todd

Director of Photography

Videos featuring Ben Todd

2021 (1)

2020 (2)

2019 (1)

2018 (2)

2017 (5)

2016 (2)

2015 (2)

2014 (6)

2013 (6)

2012 (11)

2011 (10)

2009 (1)

2008 (1)

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