Production Company

Blinkink

Part&nbsp;of the 44 minute film to accompany the new Coldplay album Moon Music, the visual for the track ALIEN HITS/ALIEN RADIO is a glorious compendium of creativity in a variety of styles - mostly animation -&nbsp;by 28 creatives supervised by Blinkink director Isabel Garrett.The film combines live action, 2D animation, pencil drawn and hand&nbsp;painted animation, stop-motion, documentary and a variety of styles and techniques to tell an expansive but delicate story of togetherness, brought together in a mosaic-like structure. &nbsp;The animators and directors are&nbsp;Katy Wang,&nbsp;Mdhamiri á Nkemi,&nbsp;John Davies,&nbsp;Dead Tempo Visions,&nbsp;Alexander Handschuh,&nbsp;Jenny Lucia Mascia,&nbsp;Daniel Quirke,&nbsp;Lizzy Hobbs,&nbsp;Dong A,&nbsp;Zach Tavel,&nbsp;Mario Radev,&nbsp;Neil Bromhall,&nbsp;Ben Reed and Siôn Marshall-Waters,&nbsp;David McShane,&nbsp;Ainslie Henderson,&nbsp;Roberto Telles,&nbsp;Tearjerker,&nbsp;Sam Gainsborough,&nbsp;Edin Whitehead,&nbsp;Camila Guerreiro,&nbsp;Alice Saey,&nbsp;Hirotoshi Iwasaki,&nbsp;Will Wightman,&nbsp;Maissa Lihedheb,&nbsp;Maissa Lihedheb,&nbsp;Joe Clarke,&nbsp;Sif Lina Lambæk and&nbsp;Studio Gruff.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]Premiered earlier this month, the ALIEN HITS/ALIEN RADIO visual follows the patchwork-quilt style that characterises the visuals throughout the Moon Music film - and was first employed in the UKMVA-winning video for Coldplay's feelikeimfallinginlove, directed by Raman Djafari, featuring the work of numerous animators around the world, and also produced by Blinkink.&nbsp;Perhaps how this and the other new films differ from DJafari's is that although&nbsp;the individual parts are beautiful in themselves, but are not drawn together in a particularly seamless way - the differences and juxtapositions between them is part of the bigger message.&nbsp;The full Moon Music film is&nbsp;being screened in full in a 360 presentation at Lightroom in London and Manchester until 21st March - tickets on sale <a href="https://lightroom.uk/whats-on/coldplay-a-film-for-the-future/#book" target="_blank">here</a>.

Isabel Garrett

Josef Byrne

Alex Halley

Alexander Handschuh

Sam Seager

Coldplay 'ALIEN HITS/ALIEN RADIO' by Isabel Garrett

Coldplay - 🌈 (A Film For The Future)

<h3>The Blinkink director explains how his personal experience of OCD fuelled his outrageous Man vs Fly comic-horror.</h3>Willl Wightman's debut music video is something to behold - but probably not if you're of a sensitive disposition.&nbsp;The young director, who has already combined music and humour in his work&nbsp;- like his graduation film&nbsp;Heart Failure, essentially a self-written mini-musical about twentysomething relationships, and <a href="https://www.blinkink.co.uk/projects/deliciously-predictable">Deliciously Predictable</a>, his film for US potato brand Ore Ida&nbsp;- breaks his music video duck for&nbsp;Irish DJ Tommy Holohan &amp;&nbsp;Megra's old school rave tune Show Me The Sky by making a fearlessly gross comedy about primal fear and human vulnerability.&nbsp;As unrestrained in its imaginative&nbsp;violence&nbsp;as an&nbsp;old-school&nbsp;cartoon, Wightman's video features Jared (played by Hamilton Charles) a recovering obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferer who is about to experience a major relapse due to the appearance of a pesky fly.&nbsp;[vidtoken data:0]Jared becomes determined to remove the fly from his pristine home, but the fly has other ideas: we witness the vile insect&nbsp;enter Jared's head, via his right ear&nbsp;and, now played a man in fly mask and wings,&nbsp;advance towards his victim's brain. Jared's response, pouring cleaning fluid into his earhole is just the first extremely painful step to his abject submission&nbsp;at the hands' of the fly. It's a very cruel fate for poor Jared, and it's played for big, bad taste laughs.&nbsp;We talked to Will WIghtman about the video, and discovered that in an era where the instinct to play safe&nbsp;is stronger than ever, this bold, scurrilous work derived from his own experience of the same condition that essentially seals Jared's fate.He just needed to get it out there...[imgtoken data:1]Above: Will Wightman on set of the Show Me The Sky video<blockquote>I love mental comedy music videos from the Nineties and Noughties - that was definitely&nbsp;an inspiration.</blockquote>PROMONEWS: How did the project start? Was there a brief that suggested that Tommy Holohan was looking for an outrageous comedy horror for his Show Me The Sky video?&nbsp;WILL WIGHTMAN: I’ve had this loose concept buzzing around my head for a good while now, but Tommy’s music really unlocked it for me. I actually wrote the video to another one of his tracks a year ago. The timing didn’t work out that time, but when he came back round with this amazing new EP I jumped at it.I love the energy and cinematic quality of Tommy’s music. His tracks often evolve through different motifs and paces, in a way that’s quite rare for dance music.&nbsp;It’s so perfect for telling a story with different emotional beats, which is what drew me to his work. That and they're also just wicked dance tracks obviously.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2][imgtoken data:3]<blockquote>[Being OCD] is not just about keeping your room tidy and washing your hands.</blockquote>And what was the starting point for your Man vs Fly comedy - and when did you realise you needed to go to extreme lengths in showing one’s worst fears via a particularly vindictive insect?&nbsp;I've wanted to make a project inspired by my OCD for a little while now. There's a lot of misconceptions about it, so I wanted to talk about it in a way that was fun and not overly preachy.&nbsp;It's not just about keeping your room tidy and washing your hands. My experience of the condition mostly&nbsp;involves spending full weekends convincing myself that the mole on my neck is 100% going to kill me in the next 3-6 business&nbsp;days.&nbsp;That's&nbsp;where the idea started really, following a character who always believes the worst outcome is the only possible thing that can happen. Then, I just really ran with that. It's inspired by one of my fears about insects in my ear that I had as a kid (/fully grown adult).&nbsp;[imgtoken data:4][imgtoken data:5]<blockquote>The head and the wings were the key elements, then making the rest of him human added so much comedy.</blockquote>Like the music this seems to hark back to a past era, when off-the-wall comic ideas were more common in music videos. Was that a part of your thinking? Were there conversations about how extreme you could make it?I really love some of those mental comedy music videos from the Nineties and Noughties, so that was definitely&nbsp;an inspiration for this. People take music videos too seriously a lot of the time I think. This is fun music, so we wanted to make a fun video!Actually we had to keep an eye on that all the way through the process - making sure it never got too dark or too sad. We kept adding little beats of levity right into the last few days of the edit so we always kept a toe in the comedy sphere while still having that really gritty edge.That being said, this video is still definitely not for everyone![imgtoken data:6][imgtoken data:7]<blockquote>It’s a role that requires 100% commitment. Harrison absolutely delivered.</blockquote>The story is propelled by cutaways to Google searches and medical diagrams. So any factual basis for the horrible events that ensue?This is definitely&nbsp;something that happens for real! Up until the Ratatouille-style body control... you never know though!It’s a great performance from your lead actor. Who is he and why did you cast him? Does he have any background in creating self-destructive, obsessive characters?Harrison is a wicked comedy talent. I'd seen him in a few shorts and I just loved this unhinged and manic energy that he could bring. (I should add for the record that Harrison is not like that in real life; he's lovely.)There were a lot of different performance gears that we needed&nbsp;to switch between to make this work, from the out-and-out comedy beats to the more intense emotional moments and the much more physical almost choreographed movement at the end when the Fly has taken control.[imgtoken data:8]Above: Concept art for the fly character in the Show Me The Sky video, by artist&nbsp;Darius Bristow.[imgtoken data:9]Above: Members of the art department team prep the Fly - played by George Osman - on set.&nbsp;When casting this, I was looking for someone who was prepared to absolutely throw themselves into&nbsp;the insanity of what we were trying to create. It’s a role that requires 100% commitment. Harrison absolutely delivered. I think he’s a star to be honest with you.&nbsp;And the Fly is genuinely horrible, of course. How did you transform that actor into the creature?Thank you!&nbsp;The idea of the character was to create this theatrical exaggerated&nbsp;version of how a hypochondriac&nbsp; might&nbsp;imagine a fly. If you're finding him horrible, then we succeeded!One of the biggest challenges with the project was trying to decide how to bring the fly to life. That fly-to-human&nbsp;ratio was tough but crucial I think. He needed to be clearly a fly, but also a character with expressive, human features that helped him have that personality. Also, it&nbsp;needed to be a character we could actually make on the cheap.[imgtoken data:10][imgtoken data:11]<blockquote>The whole video rests on the relationship between Jared and the fly, but the two characters were never on set at the same time.</blockquote>In the end, the head and the wings felt like the key elements. Then making the rest of him human just added so much comedy. Lani, one of our incredible prop makers, built the mask and wings and&nbsp;then we just dirtied up our actor and got a nice&nbsp;pair of big manky pants and a bit of gold jewellery.&nbsp;When and where did you shoot the video and were there any particularly difficult challenges to overcome to make it all work?Certainly the most unique challenge of the shoot was trying to bridge the gap between our characters and their worlds. The whole video rests on the relationship between Jared and this fly, but the two characters were never on set at the same time.Directing both actors and my team to always be thinking about the character we weren’t&nbsp;filming, was actually really integral to making these two different worlds not feel entirely separate from one another.Hopefully we pulled it off, but you’ll have to be the judge of that!• Will Wightman is a director based at Blinkink in London - more of his work <a href="https://www.blinkink.co.uk/directors/will-wightman" target="_blank">here</a>

Will Wightman

 Will Wightman on Tommy Holohan's Show Me The Sky video: 'It's inspired by one of my most deep-seated fears.'

Tommy Holohan & Megra - 'Show Me The Sky' (Official Video)

Will Wightman's debut music video is finally here and its a jawdropper.&nbsp;It's an outrageous, near-the-knuckle comedy-horror&nbsp;for Irish DJ-producer Tommy Holohan&nbsp;which preys&nbsp;on the sum of our worst, most irrational&nbsp;fears.&nbsp;Recovering obsessive-compulsive&nbsp;Jared is preparing for a date, when he's aware of another presence in his room - a persistently buzzing fly. As Holohan's banging rave track Show Me The Sky kicks in, Jared suffers an OCD&nbsp;relapse, and battle is joined. But there's only ever going to be one winner.[imgtoken data:1]Wightman has&nbsp;mined some primordial fears about bodily invasion, and&nbsp;his own experience of the condition of OCD, to deliver a no-holds-barred, anarchic&nbsp;comedy - a nightmarishly cruel version of the&nbsp;climactic scene in&nbsp;Ratatouille, as the sadistic Fly ruthlessly exploits Jared's vulnerabilities to become his&nbsp;gleeful puppet-master.From the excellent performances (Harrison Charles as Jared, George Osman as The Fly), to the zany camerawork, a practical build and old school VFX, plus medical diagrams&nbsp;dotted through a breakneck edit by Nick Armstrong, this is a breathtaking riot of cartoon-style mayhem.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]But it's also not for the squeamish or fainthearted. Will Wightman has stepped into the territory of wickedly gross-out cartoonish humour that was more common in dance music videos a few years ago - quite a brave thing to do in these days - and arguably gone even further.His first pop video is not only very funny, it's going to stay in your head a long time.

Ireland

Charlie Herbert

Joe Totti

Jack Hamilton

Conor Maloney Hill

Aldo Camilleri

Sehar Kidwai

Sadhbh Maguire

Lani Hernandez-David

Lucy James

Harrison Charles

Clapham Road Studios

Nick Armstrong

TenThree

Rachel Goodger

1920

Strings & Tins

Jim Stewart

Alex Gregory

Charlie Morris

Dance

Rave

Tommy Holohan 'Show Me The Sky' by Will Wightman

Balázs Simon and Cátia Abreu co-direct a stirring, innovative promo for Sad Night Dynamite.&nbsp;The video for Wake Up Pass Out is a&nbsp;tour de force&nbsp;of creativity, blending complex techniques with cutting-edge technology in a haunting, hypnotic package, which takes the duo's taste for challenging, fantasy-driven&nbsp;visuals to the next level.Welcome to a new kind of monster, faturing the twin heads of SND's Josh and Archie...[imgtoken data:1]Balázs Simon drew inspiration from themes of overconsumption and a lack of self-control. In today's world, many of us are familiar with the experience of not knowing when to stop, often passing out with a phone still in hand. Social media obsession has a way of taking over our lives, turning us into our own monsters.&nbsp;"That's where the idea for the video came from; I love the sardonic honesty in Josh and Archie's music", Simon explains.&nbsp;"Instead of staying in the present and watching the guys perform on stage, we're lured into the arse end of a nightclub to watch their distorted, monstrous versions, which have only one goal: to grab our attention and consume us."[imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;From the live-action shoot to 3D scanning the band, motion-capturing their performances, detailed prosthetics, a CGI monster, and photoscanning the streets of London to form the basis of the digital world, it's an ambitious project that is completely captivating from start to end.&nbsp;Definitely not something you'd want to encounter after a heavy night drinking...&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Dávid Dell'Edera

Suzie Walsh

Catia Abreu

Balázs Simon

Rowan Mackintosh King

Charlie Relph

Peter Bishop

Maddy Williams

Kitty Rajakulasingam

Milo Brown

James Tilyard

Hara Spyrou

Lauren Webster

No.8

Máté Barbalics

Ádám György

Dániel Szabó

Umbrella Collective

Jumpcut Productions

Sunnyside Animation

Awal

Parlophone

Alternative

Sad Night Dynamite 'Wake Up Pass Out' by Balázs Simon, Cátia Abreu

Sad-Night-Dynamite-'Wake-Up-Pass-Out'-by-Balázs-Simon,cátia-Abreu

Blinkink director Raman Djafari has curated an international team of 15 guest animators to craft a visually stunning animated journey for the opening single from Coldplay's new album.The video for feelslikeimfallinginlove - where&nbsp;two souls that continually find each other in various forms - is composed of the work of animators working in a variety of disciplines,&nbsp;including stop motion, 2D, 3D &amp; digital painting, oil pastels on paper, watercolour, and laser cut felt.It was also a true global effort, involving a diverse team from Switzerland, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, and South Korea.[imgtoken data:1]The project aimed to create a coherent framework allowing individual animators to express their unique styles while maintaining a consistent narrative.&nbsp;The transitions between these segments required meticulous planning, and each animator initially created the start and end of their scenes, enabling the creation of 16 bespoke transitions.The result is akin to a visual form of the parlour game Consequences - and a dreamlike experience. Seamless transitions that transport viewers to newly constructed worlds, preserving the emotional continuity from one section to the next.<blockquote>Each animator&nbsp;is distinct in their visual language but unified in their ability to capture genuine emotion...</blockquote>"In every music video that I have directed, there is always one idea or image that appears early in the process and guides the project until the very end. In this case it was the image of a pair of two. Friends, lovers, soulmates.[imgtoken data:2]"The concept of this video centers around the motif of a couple, a pair of two, searching and ultimately finding each other. How they are represented changes throughout the video. The journey depicts this pair traveling between worlds and changing form, expressed through 15 styles of animation, by 15 animators from across the world, told in 3 chapters: 1. longing 2. searching 3. finding."What I love about the medium of animation is that it’s so capable of speaking in the language of our thoughts and emotions. That is, fluently transcending between feelings, changing perspectives, reflecting the way we as people experience the world or even our dreams. I wanted to make a video that expresses this through the many forms animation can take."For the past couple of years, I’ve travelled to animation festivals across the globe and met so many talented animators, many of which became friends. I wanted to bring some of these people to this project, artists I have seen grow and develop their own unique approaches and refine them over the years as well as animators who I have always looked up to and now can call peers and friends.[imgtoken data:3]"This community is so rich in talent and keeps growing even larger beyond festivals over the internet. In many ways this video is about highlighting 14 of these incredible animators."At the very beginning, when storyboarding the video I tried to come up with scenes that manage to hold both the fragility and overwhelming euphoria of falling in love at the same time. I wanted this journey to feel like a dream, moving through varying styles of animation, each scene connected through an intricately animated transition.Every transition was to bring us to a new world, but would carry on the emotion of the previous sequence. The world I wanted to create was a surreal one, but the feelings which are expressed would be familiar and resonant.[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>I hope this video will spark a sense of wonder and fascination for the medium of animation.</blockquote>"I wanted to create a framework for all the animators that would allow them to express themselves with their individual style while keeping the narrative and direction coherent. I curated a list of animators, each of them distinct in their visual language but unified in their ability to capture genuine emotion and a sense of warmth and honesty."For each one of them, I came up with a scene and a pair of characters and then developed their scene idea further together with them. In some cases, I provided sketches and designs for characters and props, for others I shared references and then again for some the scene changed quite a bit from my original storyboards. The collaboration with each animator was different and I am so thankful for every single one of their contributions. It was a lot of fun to see each scene developing parallel to each other and trying to direct everyone towards the vision of the video without stifling everyone's individual approach and creativity.[imgtoken data:5]"Because each animator required different kinds of feedback and because many of them are scattered throughout the globe, coordinating and bringing them together was challenging but a lot of fun. From the very beginning I tailored every scene toward the particular style and approach of each animator. I enjoyed trying to see this video through the lens of their craft and presenting them with the scene I came up with for them."The transitions were another fun challenge that stemmed from the need to blend all these styles seamlessly. I tried to find surprising changes in animation style and bring them together through a transition that was specific to each scene idea and technique."I really hope this video will spark a sense of wonder and fascination for the medium of animation in the audience so that they check out everyone involved in this project and start following their work and hopefully discover even more animation beyond that."

Raman Djafari

Jon Mealing

Tokay

Dante Zaballa

Martin Robic

KINEMUS

Jack Zhang

Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Nicklas Nilsson

Moera.cf

Gaia Esther Maria

Aaron Fisher

Karlotta Freier

Hannah van der Weide

Kohana Wilson

Ram Han

John Malcolm Moore

Coldplay 'feelslikeimfallinginlove' by Raman Djafari

Coldplay 'feelslikeimfallinginlove' - Raman Djafari

Dave Bullivant directs a portrait of strength and vulnerability for the return of Jon Hopkins - featuring aerial rope artist&nbsp;Bryony Louise Fowler.&nbsp;The rousing promo for Ritual features Fowler's extraordinary, gravity-defying performance, moving gymnastically around a hanging rope metres&nbsp;above the ground,&nbsp;shot in a hypnotic and trance-like way, mainly at super-high frame rates.&nbsp;Intercutting close-ups and expansive wide shots, the macro and micro elements of the performance are put under the lens of DoP Adam Scarth, building in energy in parallel to the thrillingly atmospheric track through the edit by Thomas Grove Carter.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]"Jon's music is always very visceral and moving," notes Bullivant.&nbsp;"He came to me with this amazing track and an Instagram link to Bryony and her amazing work. What followed was an exercise in creative trust."Bryony is the most incredible performer. The strength and endurance that she has to be able to do what she does is incredible. She really captured the emotion of the music and portrayed it in the most wonderful way. There is no post production here, she really did it all for real - although there are some crash mats framed out of a few of the shots."I could talk at length about each department being completely amazing on this, from Adam's lighting and camera work, to Tom's amazing edit, and Jodie's beautiful grade. Not to mention Ayomidi pulling it all together in about three days. The whole team were amazing. Very very proud of this film."

Bryony Louise Fowler

Harry Watts

Martha Lake

Aartthie Mahakuperan

Dave Bullivant

Ayomide Alli

Sachin Parmar

Adam Scarth

James Stevenson Bretton

Matt Turner

Louis Barron

Bertie Wood

Andy Edridge

Daniel Lemon

Nina Mangold

Ayopo Abiri

Thomas Grove Carter

Trim Editing

Jodie Davidson

Picture House

Stephen McNally

Electronic

Jon Hopkins 'Ritual (evocation)' by Dave Bullivant

Jon-Hopkins-'Ritual'-by-Dave-Bullivant

The first single from the return of Bashy arrives with an outstanding&nbsp;video directed by George Power, combining a&nbsp;range of techniques, including a palette of animation styles,&nbsp;to illustrate the rapper's reflections on growing up in North West London.Power's video for&nbsp;Sweet Boys Turn Sour combines live action - both Bashy (aka Ashley Thomas) performing, and also the dramatisation of his younger 'sweet boy' self - with 2D, scribble animation and claymation - to add a visual flourish to the grime star's autobiographical story, without distracting from the message.Since his debut album came out fifteen years ago, Ashley Thomas has gone to acting fame (including Top Boy, THEM and&nbsp;Great Expectations).&nbsp;This video for the first single from his second album, Being Poor Is Expensive, was shot around&nbsp;Combe House on the Brunel Estate, where he lived during his formative years.&nbsp;The various styles of animation employed by George Power are all deceptively innnocent and fun,&nbsp;before revealing their&nbsp;darker purpose: the main two dimensional cartoon character becomes a demon who personifies the bad stuff in the local area; claymation&nbsp;blobs morph into guns and knives.&nbsp;Power also adds montages of photos of the real Thomas as a child, and his transformation into a tough 'sour' youth in his&nbsp;teens.A powerful complement to Sweet Boys Turn Sour, also helping to focus upon the questions around the relative influence of surroundings and upbringing that are raised by the artist in the song.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;

George Power

Angela Mulhern

Ashley Thomas

Joe Kennedy

Arthur Attenborough

Joe Mullin

Gian-Claudio Calipa

Sam Macdonald

Hannah Cooper

Joey Henshaw

Irene Corral de Gaspar

Alina Besanidou

Jakob Lemme

Rob Strange

Aurelie Mason Perez

Femi Konteh

Vlad Barin

CHEAT

Sarah Banks

Grime

Bashy 'Sweet Boys Turn Sour' by George Power

Bashy - Sweet Boys Turned Sour (Official Video)

Having been associated with a number of famous Christmas&nbsp;ad campaigns down the years, it's the turn of Jack Brown to continue the tradition at Blinkink, with his music video for Jorja Smith's cover of East 17's iconic Yuletide&nbsp;hit, Stay Another Day - an exclusive seasonal release by Amazon Music.Employing 2D animation within 3D-rendered environments, Brown creates a beautiful and emotive film that follows Jorja and a white fox through a snowbound&nbsp;cityscape.&nbsp;Of course the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wNhdjoF-6M" target="_blank">first video for Stay Another Day </a>is as iconic as the song, and Brown nods to the original&nbsp;with the character design of Jorja - wearing a white fur-lined coat, just like the E17 boys in the video.&nbsp;It also shares the downbeat&nbsp;tone of the song as the Jorja character cuts an isolated&nbsp;figure, while the city rises up around the wandering fox - until they join forces at the end.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

Jack Brown

Mish Mayer

Thomas Hannan

Amazon Music UK

Gareth Owen

Charlotte Herbert

Weiden Wong

Tjimen Snelderwaard

Andrew Khosravani

Harriet Hobday

Soul

Jorja Smith 'Stay Another Day' by Jack Brown

Jorja Smith - 'Stay Another Day' (Official Video)

<h3>We chat with the director who signed to Blinkink this year following the huge success of his student film&nbsp;Heart Failure, won Best Director at BFI Future Film Festival&nbsp;and made his first foray into commercials with two memorable music-based ads&nbsp;- and discover he's now ready to&nbsp;take the plunge into making music videos.</h3>Will Wightman has been busy bringing music and film together, in surprising and exciting ways. In fact, he has yet to make a music video. But on the other hand, he has been well occupied in his mission to singlehandedly rejuvenate and re-energise another genre:&nbsp;the film musical. As a result he has been getting some serious attention - and prizes.In the past year, Wightman has won Best Director at the BFI Future Film Festival and picked up a Cannes Lion. And in April he officially joined the director's roster at London animation studio Blinkink, leading to his introduction to directing his first couple of commercials.&nbsp;&nbsp;Both ads have seen him use the&nbsp;musical form in original ways, combining the features of the genre&nbsp;with the craft in puppetry and different styles animation for which&nbsp;Blinkink is renowned. He had done so in entertaining ads for very different ends: firstly, a PSA for animal rights charity PETA UK to highlight the cruelty of the production of wool and leather; and then a spot for US frozen food brand Ore-Ida that acclaims&nbsp;the reliable greatness of their&nbsp;french fries.But it's his breakthrough short film which really exhibits Wightman's reinvention of an old film genre for a new audience. Heart Failure is a comedy about relationships, breakups, heartbreak and recovery, all from a Gen Z perspective. And it has another special power that no other short film can claim: it's a musical. An 'EDM&nbsp;musical', to be exact,&nbsp;with a 21 year old lead character called Frank who can only honestly explain his situation and predicatment to the audience&nbsp;through song.If this sounds corny&nbsp;- and everyone hates musicals, right? - it certainly is not. In fact, it's super-cool. Superbly constructed, fast-paced, genuinely funny, with terrific performances from the actors playing the three protagonists, Heart Failure uses its structure to make all kinds of astute observations about the complications of modern living for early twentysomethings - most of which is centred around their phones, of course.And on top of all that, this is a student film. Wightman wrote the film and the soundtrack - produced by Will Marchant who also DoPed the film - as his graduation film from Falmouth School of Art&nbsp;in 2021. It has gone on to appear in numerous festivals, win various awards - and appeared at the most recent shows of BUG at the BFI.So we got in touch with Will to congratulate him on his success so far and ask him a few questions...&nbsp;[vidtoken data:0]<blockquote>I’ve always felt that the musical was a relatively unexplored space.</blockquote>Promonews: Heart Failure is remarkably accomplished for a student filmmaker. How did you get to that point? What had you made before that?Will Wightman: Honestly, I've just been making films for as long as I can remember. I was very much that kid at school. I had a laptop to help with my&nbsp;dyslexia at secondary and I used&nbsp;to carry it around the streets and parks near my house to film&nbsp;stuff with the webcam. I used to force my poor mates to act and hold lights, then I got to college and met lots of people who loved it&nbsp;the way I did.I studied TV production at uni and worked as a freelance editor too. So yeah, I've pretty much always had a film project on the go. Before Heart Failure, I'd probably made 40 films or something. Not that any of them are even slightly worth watching.&nbsp;[I bet some of them are - ed]&nbsp;Why did you decide to make Heart Failure into a musical?That really was the first piece of the puzzle actually! I'd been mulling this idea for a modern musical for a while.&nbsp;As a lifelong musician, I’ve always felt that the musical genre was a relatively unexplored space. I just think there’s huge potential for stories told through music&nbsp;but so often the whole genre is shrugged off as cheesy and outdated. Injecting a musical with electronic dance music and super contemporary filmmaking was a really exciting combination to me.&nbsp;I&nbsp;spent a long time thinking about what would be the best story to tell with that style of storytelling. When I got my heart horrifically broken in my final year of uni, it just sort of came to me... weird.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>When I got my heart horrifically broken in my final year of uni, it just sort of came to me...</blockquote>This was a graduation piece I believe, so what help did you have from the college in making it?I had a couple of great mentors in my third year and the uni had a lot of kit that we had access to for free. We shot the film during Covid though, so to be honest beyond that we were pretty on our own with it. I actually didn't hand it in as part of my coursework in the end because it wasn't finished. We ended up doing all the post after we'd graduated!&nbsp;You fit the age range for the characters and subject matter so… was it inspired by true events?Oh&nbsp;big time.&nbsp;I get really frustrated with how so much of the world talks about young people, and the nature of the film industry is such that basically no high-end content is ever written or directed by anyone under the age of 25 or even thirty.&nbsp;This film for me&nbsp;was really just about trying to distil down my own experience of being 21 into something that captured that as authentically as possible. Don't tell my ex though.[imgtoken data:2]<blockquote>It was about trying to distil down my own experience of being 21... as authentically as possible.</blockquote>How did you find your excellent cast? When and where did you shoot it? When was it completed?Finding people who could sing and act the way I wanted&nbsp;was a real&nbsp;challenge. We put a few casting calls out and put all of our tiny budget into paying proper rates for good actors. I'm so glad we did it that&nbsp;way because&nbsp;our cast really smashed it.&nbsp;When it came to filming the thing. We shot in my actual student house, as the third and final lockdown lifted. There were six of us on set at a time and honestly, it was the toughest shoot I've&nbsp;ever been a part of.I'm so thankful to everyone who helped me bring this film to life and I'd especially like to shout out to my very patient housemate who let us turn his house into a film set/bomb site.What happened next? Presumably, it’s been screened at various festivals and won prizes, which must be exciting. What were the big highlights?The film has taken me further than I ever could have dreamed of to be honest. We were at BIFA, Cannes Lions, the young director awards, BFI Future Film, the Webbys and a bunch more. It's been a dream come true.The biggest thing for me though is the people I've met through the film's journey. I met&nbsp;Blinkink&nbsp;who have been just so nurturing&nbsp;and supportive of me. I also signed with my film and TV agent of the back of the film, and he's helped me secure some really exciting deals that hopefully I'll be able to tell you about soon.[imgtoken data:3]&nbsp;<blockquote>We shot in my actual student house, as the third and final lockdown lifted.</blockquote>What was the key factor on you signing to Blinkink?I love everyone at Blinkink. We have really similar values about the kind of stuff we want to make and it's just a great&nbsp;creative community&nbsp;to be a&nbsp;part of.As one of their only fully live-action directors, I was really excited by the chance to be somewhere I could&nbsp;bring something properly different to the roster, and also be repped by a company that could offer me something properly unique in return. I can't wait to see what we do together in the next few years!You’ve now made the ads for Peta&nbsp;and Ore-Ida. There are similarities between them stylistically - and they’re also both musical too, of course. Any input in the creation of the songs from yourself?I wrote the music for both of them actually! Writing music has always been a big part of my process.&nbsp;I usually&nbsp;write the script and music at the same time. It really helps me to visualise the tone and pace of a scene, then when the film is cut together, I reproduce the track from the ground up with a much more capable music producer than me.[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>Jessie Cave did an amazing job walking that line between humour and heartbreak [in Shop To Save Lives].</blockquote>On the PETA film you tread a fine line between sweetness and horror. What was the key in making it work?In many ways, <a href="http://blinkink.co.uk/projects/shop-to-save-lives" target="_blank">PETA's Shop To Save Lives</a>&nbsp;is a much simpler project than Heart Failure or Ore-Ida, but it's definitely the biggest tonal challenge I've come up against.&nbsp;PETA traditionally&nbsp;look for that shock factor with their marketing, but they wanted us to make something more palatable this time, while still delivering their message effectively.&nbsp;A lot of it was about letting the audience's imagination to do the heavy lifting; having the animals sing about these horrific injuries, blissfully unaware, felt more powerful than actually showing them. It was the same with the wounds, rather than using hyper-realistic latex injury detail, we used fabrics, paint and coloured&nbsp;beads&nbsp;to create our 'gore'. I wanted it to be horrific, but I felt softening the edges of it ever so slightly made it fit into our kids TV world better and so somehow felt more eery.&nbsp;Ultimately though, the key for me was having Jessie Cave at the centre of it. She's really part of the audience in many ways, and her emotional journey through the film really signposted how each scene needed to make the audience feel too. Jessie did an amazing job walking that line between humour and heartbreak, she was a pleasure&nbsp;to work with.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:5]<blockquote>Writing music has always been a big part of my process.</blockquote>What was the best takeaways from making a) PETA's Shop To Save Lives, and b) Ore-Ida's Deliciously Predictable?For me, Shop To Save Lives was an incredible opportunity to learn the advertising ropes and work with a far bigger team than I'd ever been involved with. I'd never shot with sets or puppets, so I really had to learn on the job.Meanwhile, <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/projects/deliciously-predictable" target="_blank">Deliciously Predictable</a> was about taking everything I learnt from PETA and doing it 10 times bigger. I feel really lucky to have been a part of such cool projects this early in my career. Fingers crossed there will be more soon!What’s next on the agenda? What are you working on at the moment?I've got a few feature film&nbsp;projects in development. Then at the same time,&nbsp;I have my eye on some music videos.&nbsp; I'm really keen to collaborate with musicians&nbsp;and let someone else take the musical reins for a change. I think working with a small budget again will also be a great chance to see how my creative muscles have grown. Nothing produces good work like limitations.&nbsp;I&nbsp;think&nbsp;at this stage of my career, I just want to surprise people with what I do and not be driven by money or big names.&nbsp;My main hope is that when people watch the next thing I make, they’ll think something along the lines of ‘holy shit! I wasn’t expecting that!’Do you have a favourite artist (or artists) who you think would be ideal for a Will Wightman music video?Where do&nbsp;I start? There's loads up-and-coming DJs that I love. Sammy Virji or TwoShell, for example,&nbsp;have such a palpable energy&nbsp;in their tracks, and I'd love to make something that feels properly kinetic like that.I love the visceral intensity&nbsp;of rock bands like Idles or&nbsp;Squid. I also love the cinematic quality of Black Country New Road,&nbsp;their tracks have real heart.&nbsp; If I'm dreaming big, I'd love to do a video for Disclosure or Apex Twins, and A$AP Rocky has made some amazing videos over the years. I could go on!&nbsp;To be honest though, I think the perfect artist for me is really someone who's up for collaborating; someone who's happy to put ego aside and just make something properly creative. At this stage in my career, I'm open minded!• Will Wightman is represented for music videos and commercials by Blinkink, watch his reel <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/will-wightman" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;

Will Wightman: "At this stage, I just want to surprise people."

Heart Failure | The EDM Musical | 2022

London production studio Blinkink has signed two North American directors, as part of its expanding&nbsp;mixed-media roster: Canadian Cole Kush (above, left) and NYC native Zach Tavel (right).<a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/cole-kush?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">Cole Kush</a> is an 3D animator extraordinaire, renowned for creating unsettlingly realistic depictions of uncanny, bizarre characters and scenarios, in videos for Mac DeMarco (below), A$AP Rocky and others, and for clients including Nike, Adult Swim, HBO, SNL and Vice. He is also one half of the creative studio Grin Machine, with Dan Streit.[imgtoken data:1]With a background in&nbsp;clinical biology that has contributed to the distinctive flavour of his work, Kush is also working on projects in development with Blink Games and Blink Industries, Blinkink's longform division."Cole's been a collaborator with us for years," explains Josef Byrne,&nbsp;executive producer at Blinkink. "He's worked with our long-form division, the Don't Hug Me I'm Scared crew, and is developing a game with our new Blink Games team. It's only natural that we get him even more intertwined with us."His music videos are some of the most bizarre things we've seen, and he brings that tone seamlessly into his commercial work, Nike Jordan being a great example. Very excited to push&nbsp;Cole's work even further and into new worlds and techniques."<a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/zach-tavel?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">Zach Tavel</a> is also adept at creating imaginatively bizarre comedy in his work for the likes of Band of Horses (below), Lone Star beer and Ranch Rider seltzer. He draws influence from the&nbsp;bizarre fringes of life and the accidental surrealism of B-movies and old regional TV commercials.[imgtoken data:2] Tavel is a live action director who often works with practical effects, handmade sets and non-traditional casting methods in order to experiment with visual style. Humour is at the core of everything he makes, with a particularly demonstrable talent for performance-based comedy.&nbsp;Blinkink EP Josef Byrne adds: "What Zach has created off his own back is incredible - most of the projects on his reel he's written and directed himself. His performance comedy is some of the finest we've seen. His visual style and ability to make weird stuff is exactly what we love in live-action. We can't wait to bring some Blinkink to his work."• Watch Cole Kush's&nbsp;reel at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/cole-kush?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">here</a> • Watch Zach Tavel's reel at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/zach-tavel?utm_source=blinkink+press+release&amp;utm_campaign=6eb3c59de9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_29_02_24_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3cebc7de07-6eb3c59de9-80544333&amp;mc_cid=6eb3c59de9&amp;mc_eid=20957b1ada" target="_blank">here</a>

Cole Kush

Cole Kush and Zach Tavel join Blinkink

Jack Brown directs a psychedelic, dreamy visual for regular collaborators&nbsp;Yussef Dayes and&nbsp;Tom Misch.The animated video for Rust is a spacey journey through hypnotic dreamscapes and performance vibes, with an inspired blend of 3D background and hand-drawn, 2D characters.&nbsp;This is Jack’s third collaboration with Yussef Dayes and Tom Misch following&nbsp;Nightrider&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/09/09/tom-misch-yussef-dayes-tidal-wave-jack-brown/66466">Tidal Wave</a>&nbsp;(taken&nbsp;from the duo’s 2020 album&nbsp;What Kinda Music), this time for Dayes' first solo album.[imgtoken data:1]“It felt really special to work with Yussef and Tom again, to&nbsp;make the third instalment of our animation saga and extra special to do it for&nbsp;Yussef’s incredible debut album," Brown says. "I wanted to expand the world of Nightrider and Tidal Wave by bringing it into&nbsp;a 3D space while maintaining the classic 2D feel."This was made possible by&nbsp;the big brain, super-talented Richard Noble who built these landscapes from&nbsp;my silly sketches.&nbsp;Big love to the small crew of dedicated and talented people&nbsp;who worked on this and to Yussef and Tom for consistently making the best&nbsp;sounding music out there."

Richard Noble

Jazz

Yussef Dayes ft Tom Misch 'Rust' by Jack Brown 

Yussef Dayes feat. Tom Misch - Rust  [Official Video]

<h3>There really could only be one outcome when Raman Djafari got together with Ashton Nicole Casey - aka Ashnikko. Sheer creative mayhem.</h3>He is the director of very cool and weird animated videos. And she is the artist behind some very cool and weird videos - mainly non-animated -&nbsp;who is about to release her long-awaited debut album WEEDKILLER.&nbsp;And so it came to pass:&nbsp;the explosion of visual imagination&nbsp;that is the music video for Worms. In the clip, Ashnikko is the pilot of a futuristic monster truck, hurtling&nbsp;Mad Max-style through a post-Apocalyptic&nbsp; world accompanied by a posse of fantastical creatures drawn from ancient legends, to eventually do battle with a rival truck-beast - known as a&nbsp;Weedkiller.This visually intense scenario also integrates the real life Ashnikko into a richly complex fully animated environment, in a bold development of the textural and tactile form of CGI - which resembles stop motion animation -&nbsp;for which German director Djafari has become known as a result of&nbsp;his work with <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/05/21/squid-pamphlets-raman-djafari/71003" target="_blank">Squid</a>, <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/08/20/elton-john-dua-lipa-cold-heart-pnau-remix-raman-djafari/72463" target="_blank">Elton John &amp; Dua Lipa</a> and others.[vidtoken data:0]The video is also a crucial element in&nbsp;delivering the conceptual themes of the album, where the American artist's concerns&nbsp;about environmental destruction are expressed through the idiom of the fantasy literature she loves. As she has explained:“This fae is grappling with the tragedy of their world being destroyed by weedkillers. They’re kind of roaming this desert with a giant weapon on the back of their tank-like monster truck, and fighting off these weedkillers in this great battle. "They’re trying to convince themselves that everything is OK, and that this heartbreak is something they can deal with, but it’s definitely something they’re destroyed by. It sets up the story really nicely for the other songs that I have that are deeper in the concept.”So we spoke to Raman Djafari to find out about the making&nbsp;of the video from his perspective - from building on the world that Ashnikko has created for the album, to the challenges of adding live action directing to his skillset.[imgtoken data:1]Above: Raman Djafari (right) watching Ashnikko perform on set of the Worms video.&nbsp;<blockquote>Worms is a banger... it also brings such powerful imagery and metaphors to the audience's imagination.</blockquote>How did the project start for you? Was Ashnikko familiar with (and a fan of) your previous work? RD: One of the great things about working with BlinkInk is that I get the opportunity to pitch on really amazing projects. This was one of them. Ashnikko and their creative director Vasso [Vu] really liked my treatment. They told me they had already been following my work for a while and were super happy to work with me. This made me blush and then almost faint, I played it cool though and pretended I ate a spicy pepper.What did you find most inspiring about Ashnikko, and the track Worms? I feel like Ashnikko is an amazing worldbuilder, and captures our generation's feelings and thoughts so well. They’re a queer icon that represents many people's experiences and brings voice to those in a magical way. I love the blend of rap, hyper-pop and electronic music and how fucking hard their music videos always go.Worms is a banger - I think that’s obvious. But it also brings such powerful imagery and metaphors to the audience's imagination. It sets the tone for both darkness as well as joy. I love how Ash manages to weave contemporary themes into large concepts - like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weedkiller_(album)#:~:text=The%20concept%20behind%20the%20album,seeks%20revenge%20by%20becoming%20part" target="_blank">the lore they wrote about the Weedkillers</a>.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]Above: the fantasy art-influenced main artwork of Ashnikko's debut album WEEDKILLERYou’ve said that it was a creative collaboration with Ashnikko and Vasso, her creative director. What was the starting point of that collaboration?&nbsp;In the beginning both of them just told me about this world they developed for the album. They explained the juxtaposition between the Weedkillers and the organic life, the origins of the state this world is in. We sent each other references and explored different directions to pursue with this video. Throughout there was a feeling of curiosity and mutual trust.What ideas did they have (in the written brief, or from conversations) that helped you with your treatment?&nbsp;There were some reference images that came with the first brief. A medieval etching of a lion type creature (or maybe it was a Venetian lion, I'm not sure anymore), a hellmouth painting, an Alexander McQueen piece, a hyper-femme magical anime girl... all of these combined really already painted a picture in my head.The&nbsp;first synopsis I read about&nbsp;WEEDKILLER&nbsp;really enriched this mood with context. The allegory to the current climate crisis that this story portrays, felt urgent and real yet imaginative and fun to engage with.[imgtoken data:3]&nbsp;[imgtoken data:4][imgtoken data:5]Above: Stages in creative development from inspiration (Breugel's&nbsp;Fall of The Rebel Angels) to early drawings and full creation of Ashnikko's monster truck.&nbsp;<blockquote>I suggested intertwining&nbsp;references to medieval art and Baroque paintings with sci-fi visuals and dystopian narratives.</blockquote>What really appealed to them about your ideas for the video?I think what made them connect to my take on this video was how I suggested to intertwine references to medieval art and Baroque paintings with sci-fi visuals and dystopian narratives. I felt there was the opportunity to bring a different angle to these topics and visuals we are exposed to on a frequent basis.What were the biggest influences and inspiration on the production design and character design? First and foremost, the painting&nbsp;The Fall of The Rebel Angels [by Pieter Breugel], which really was the starting point and a continuous reference point throughout the production. A lot of medieval depictions of beasts and demons, next to 90s mecha anime like&nbsp;Neon Genesis Evangelion, 80s Kaiju movies and&nbsp;Jim Henson puppets. But also sculptures by Marguerite Humeau and my always-beloved Hieronymus Bosch.So much for character design. Our cockpit was very inspired by&nbsp;Mad Max&nbsp;(obviously) but also&nbsp;Star Wars&nbsp;and the Army Of Me&nbsp;music video by Björk.[imgtoken data:6][imgtoken data:7][imgtoken data:8]Above: On set of the Worms video shoot: Ashnikko in her monster truck cabinHow much time did you have to create all of the many weird and wonderful creatures in the video? And how long did you have to complete the animation?I probably spent two months&nbsp;on and off working on the character designs. I even finished the last ones when we already started the animation production. Design is such an iterative and playful process for me that I like to explore as many options as possible before settling. Mostly I really need a while to find the language for a project. The animation production took about two and half&nbsp;months.You have combined animation with live action - is that the first time you’ve done that? How did that affect the way you made the video? Was it less storyboarded than a fully animated video?Yes, this was my first time. Super exciting! I was a bit scared to be honest. I really wasn’t sure if it would work.The video was fully storyboarded, just like a regular animated music video. But I knew we would get a lot of exciting material on set, so I didn’t try to be too specific about what I wanted from the live action bits. There were some crucial shots of course, but also still quite a bit of wiggle room to fit in whatever nice moments we would capture on the day of the shoot.[imgtoken data:9][imgtoken data:10]Above: Ashnikko with her creative director Vasso Vu, on set of the Worms videoYour background is in illustration, and 2D animation. So how did you develop your three dimensional animation technique? What’s your secret for making CGI look like stop motion animation? I was always curious about 3D but a bit scared of the software. At some point I just started experimenting and then integrating it into my music videos. Now I do both 2D and 3D as well as a mix between the two.To me working in 3D is actually really close to painting, which I did before I even started illustration. It’s so much about texture, light, colours, composition - and it is so flexible. You can always change and adapt a scene, like in painting.I always felt a bit distant from most 3D animation I would encounter because it felt a bit cold and overly perfect. I wanted something that felt warmer. What I like about stop motion is that everything looks so tangible, so imperfect and vulnerable. It is so much easier to connect to a stop-mo puppet than with a highly perfected 3D character, at least for me. That's why I am trying to emulate aspects of that look.<blockquote>I always direct my animators to try to keep a certain amount of roughness or jankiness.</blockquote>The way I achieve it has different aspects. For one I pay a lot of attention to textures and materials, trying to give everything a decisively heavy textural feel. Then it is a lot about shape design and detail distribution, being very conscious about how I place details in the composition of a design and how small I am allowed to get.And then obviously the animation itself. I always direct my animators to try to keep a certain amount of roughness or jankiness, so the animation curves don’t make everything look too smooth. Moreover we animate on 2s, meaning 12fps, compared to 24 or 30fps, which is way more common in 3D.Light also plays a big role. I put a lot of work into lighting my scenes in a very painterly way, accentuating specific shapes very consciously and emphasizing the materiality of the characters and sets. It is an interplay of all these aspects and probably some more. I made a tutorial about this once, I think it should be online somewhere.• Raman Djafari is represented for music videos and commercials at <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/raman-djafari" target="_blank">Blinkink</a>. Watch The Making Of Worms <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/projects/the-making-of-worms" target="_blank">here</a>.

Raman Djafari on making Ashnikko's Worms: “I really wasn’t sure if it would work.”

Ashnikko - Worms

This PSA for PETA, the charity for the prevention of cruelty to animals, skirts a very fine line between comedy and horror and does so brilliantly. Will WIghtman's film takes the satirical form of an educational TV show for young children. The giddily happy young female presenter - played by Jessie Cave - has her world turned upside down by the farm animals she meets in the studio.&nbsp;It's Wightman's commercial debut since his award winning university short Heart Failure&nbsp;(which he wrote, directed and composed) blew up last year. Similarly, the 23 year old directed, co-wrote and composed this film for PETA, with additional composition from String &amp; Tins.This powerful and memorable video is part of PETA’s ongoing work to re-educate the public about using animal products in fashion. It offers an unflinching explanation of how clothes are really made and the consequences for the animals involved. However, the campaign ends with a message of hope, asking the audience to: “Shop like their lives depend on it”.“This project was all about tone for me; combining a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour with these intense emotional beats felt like an amazing way to talk about this subject in a new and impactful way," says Wightman. "I feel insanely lucky to have worked on such an important project and to do so alongside such an outstanding group of creative and technical minds. No one does it like BlinkInk.”

Commercial Break: PETA 'Shop To Save Lives' by Will Wightman

Raman Djafari combines live action and animation to brilliant effect in the extraordinary new video for the brilliant Ashnikko - creating&nbsp;a Mad Max-esque dystopian landscape to transform the pop star into a monster truck-wielding hero, fighting off robot overlords as she navigates a strange new world.In an intense bombardment of visual imagination, Djafari fuses his signature aesthetic of texturally rich CGI with the unhinged, transgressive ambitions of Ashnikko, to create a wonderful, weird, high-octane action movie.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]The influences on the video range from painters Bruegel and&nbsp;Carravagio, to Bjork, to&nbsp;90s animes like Neon Genesis Evangelion - but you really have to watch on repeat to catch everything that is going on.Djafari worked closely with Ashnikko and her creative director Vassu Vu in conceptualising the video for Worms - which takes the distinctive style of his&nbsp;previous work -&nbsp;such as his massively successful video for Elton John and Dua Lipa's Cold Heart - into a whole new dimension.[imgtoken data:2]"I wanted to create a vast world that stretches way beyond the bounds of this one music video, like there's an abundance of stories waiting to be told," says Djafari.&nbsp;"I indulged my love for creature design and developed dozens of individual characters, monsters, robots and a huge monster truck. It was important to me to bring the world around this album to life, with a richness that reflects the depth of the music and lyrics.[imgtoken data:3]"Working with Ash and Vasso was a truly precious collaboration between artists - they supported and trusted my personal interpretation of the universe they created together. Looking back, I wish I could have spent more time in this world. I feel like this video barely scratches the surface of what I would love to create together with Ashnikko."Fingers crossed we'll get another chance to collaborate in the future.” &nbsp;

Jake River Parker

Molly Turner

Vasso Vu

Julia Pavliuk

Hunter Daly

Rupert Hornstein

Nicola Braid

Tanmoye Khan

Laurent Arnaud

Laura Little

Holly Wood

Claire Moore

Mee Kyung Kim Porter

Georgia Olive

Rich Woolway

George Neave

Coffee & TV

Rich Martin

Will Hooper

Ashnikko 'Worms' by Raman Djafari

Ashnikko_Worms_credits

Blinkink has announced the signing of two new&nbsp;talents to their roster of directors - Samuel Mason and Isabel Garrett.Garrett,&nbsp;who is joining Blinkink for global representation,&nbsp;is known for handcrafting&nbsp;tactile stop motion pieces that straddle the line between surreal and subversive.&nbsp;Graduating from the prestigious National Film and Television School in London, she is formerly a resident artist at Alexander McQueen’s Sarabande Foundation, her films combine stunning animation craft with her dark sense of humour.Commissioned by Sarabande, her upcoming short film&nbsp;Bod&nbsp;is a delicate yet avant-garde film that captures the tactile, vulnerable beauty of the characters designed by sculptor and performance artist Daisy Collingridge. The film is set for online release January 19th with an event celebrating the launch at Sarabande Studios in London. Watch the trailer&nbsp;<a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/projects/bod?token=xZQT9PEEzAlztn19VCg3wGi3jt1SKADY" target="_blank">here</a>.Meanwhile,&nbsp;Mason is a director and visual artist whose work sits within the realms of hyperrealism, weaving narratives through tangible dreamworlds. His films are extravagant and highly concepted with detailed storytelling that take viewers on journeys that transcend this world. They have innate photo-realistic qualities yet maintain an artful, painterly feel that blends the surreal with the cinematic.Mason's video for Mac Miller's Colors and Shapes, taken from the late artist’s mixtape&nbsp;Faces,&nbsp;struck gold at the Clios, picked up a Graphite Pencil at D&amp;AD, was nominated at this year's UKMVAs,&nbsp;and was awarded ‘Music Video of the Year’ by Shots last year. As well as music videos, he has also traversed the world of commercials with films for Honda, Spotify, Facebook and New York Times. He joins Blinkink for representation in the UK and Amsterdam.• Watch Samuel Mason's work at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/samuel-mason">here</a>• Watch Isabel Garrett's work at Blinkink <a href="https://blinkink.co.uk/directors/isabel-garrett" target="_blank">here</a>

Isabel Garrett and Samuel Mason join Blinkink

Following his previous work for BRONSON, Bastille and the BBC's coverage of last year's Winter Olympics, Balázs Simon now pushes the boundaries in animation further with his remarkable work&nbsp;for US electronica duo Odesza.The video for Light Of Day - a track with plaintive vocals by&nbsp;Ólafur Arnalds - introduces us to a hunched figure, emerging from a cave: he is a very old man, robed in furs, who surveys&nbsp;the remote, hostile, freezing mountainous world around him.&nbsp;On a distant peak a golden light is visible. And the old man begins to set off, on the impossible&nbsp;journey to reach that&nbsp;light. - an unfeasible task, due to the hostility of the terrain.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]This magical tale, a life-affirming parable of the benefit of fortitude and on the cyclical nature of Life itself, is given great depth by its hugely impressive and innovative execution. It takes the form of an animated painting, where the 2D nature of the image is continually developing, and the old man's progress is expressed through the application of painterly digital brushstrokes. This is an aesthetic style that really works as the underlying movement of the figure is essentially realistic.<blockquote>I wanted to harness the immersive qualities of 3D animation, but also make it more painterly.</blockquote>Simon achieved this very distinctive and poignant visual piece through a combination of&nbsp;live action, motion capture, 2D and 3D animation.&nbsp;To create an immersive world, the environments were crafted in 3D with painterly 2D brushstrokes applied. The character’s movement was recorded via motion capture and real life elements were shot to complement the 3D environment, heightening the sense of realism.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]"I was fascinated by the idea of this very old character who gets rejuvenated in a sense during his struggle to experience something magical," says&nbsp;Balazs Simon. &nbsp;"This film is about focussing on the values of life, and not giving in to the pressures we face each day. I wanted to harness the immersive qualities of 3D animation, but also make it more painterly than usual. The result is a mixture of hand-painted backgrounds, in-camera effects, motion capture - and tens of thousands of algorithmic brush strokes in each frame!"&nbsp;Like the old man's journey to the top of the mountain, it is a brilliant achievement - and rather magical too.