Director

Colin Read

Colin Read has executed an old-school conceptual idea with real emotional impact for Cautious Clay's Wildfire - from his upcoming debut album.Within a single set - a darkened sitting room consisting of a sofa and old-fashioned TV on a chest - Read brings all manner of human life and emotion, as the camera sweeps around repeatedly. And while we see each new scenario and are introduced to a new character, there is also a new iteration of the artist performing the song from within the TV.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Wildfire&nbsp;explores the fact that people’s intentions sometimes get lost in translation,” says Cautious - aka singer-songwriter&nbsp;Josh Karpah - about the song. “Good intention is not always enough to prevent people’s emotions and insecurities from spiralling. Subtle signals or cues can unintentionally ignite emotions - like a brush fire.”And the video delivers on the idea&nbsp;explored by Read and Karpah, on how each individual interprets the artist in a different way - heavily influenced by their current situation - alone and boozy; or on the verge of unbridled passion; or displaying the sensitivity of youth; and so on.The fact that Cautious is not only always changing, but always a really there - a&nbsp;three dimensional head with&nbsp;the TV -&nbsp;seals the deal on this satisfyingly theatrical idea.[imgtoken data:1]

United States

Leon Derriery

Pulse Films

Rik Green

Francesco Rizzo

Daniel Vignal

Ben Elias

Alex Huggins

Omar Nasr

Lucas Godlewski

Sasha Skolnick

Sena Murahashi

Joseph Bicknell

Company 3

Anna Kelman

James Siewert

Cautious Clay

Luigi Rossi

LFR Productions

Hands London

Cautious Clay 'Wildfire' by Colin Read

Cautious-Clay-'Wildfire'-by-Colin-Read

Challenging as it was, 2020 was a big year for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/profiles/colin-read/48415" target="_blank">Colin Read</a>.&nbsp;When he was not making acclaimed videos for Glass Animals - including the definitive 'first lockdown' video for Dreamland - and Doves, the Pulse Films director was helping to mobilize the American skating community to vote, with his Skater Vote PSA.Colin - above, with some trilby-stealing friends&nbsp;- also won his first UKMVA award in October for Mild Minds' Walls, the ingeniously constructed video that caused a stir at the start of the year. Prior to that, his early music video output came&nbsp;in tandem with the work as a skate filmmaker, where he made his name with&nbsp;groundbreaking films, including the award-winning <a href="https://vimeo.com/407629369" target="_blank">Spirit Quest</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;Colin grew up in Florida - describing himself as a 'military brat',&nbsp;due to his family involvement in the armed services - then he went on to study fiction writing at the University of Florida, before moving on to New York University.&nbsp;Now 32, he lives&nbsp;in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with his wife Fernanda.And we caught up with Colin just as his&nbsp;new Weezer video just&nbsp;dropped - a masterclass of in-camera trickery - to get his take on the past year, and what he gets up to&nbsp;when he's not working. And recently&nbsp;that's involved a lot of pet-sitting...WORK:How long have you held your current position? What were you doing before this? I suppose I’ve been a director&nbsp;since 2017, when I directed my first music video. Before that I was a skate filmer, an agency editor, a furniture mover, a magazine interviewer, an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjunct_professor">adjunct professor</a>, a fry cook…What was your first job, or first significant break in the industry? In 2017, I directed <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2017/06/26/radiohead-man-war-colin-read/48426" target="_blank">Man Of War&nbsp;for Radiohead</a>, which was not only my first significant job, but the first official 'directing' experience of my life, after a decade of mostly making skate videos.&nbsp;It was terrifying, but it turned out that there was a lot of spillover of skills, from making conceptual skateboard videos to directing anything else.[vidtoken data:0]<blockquote>The first official 'directing' experience of my life, after a decade of skate videos... was terrifying.</blockquote>Name one music video that inspired you that get involved in making music videos? Most of the videos that inspired me used extremely simple concepts that feel fresh and fully explored. Like Gondry’s The Hardest Button to Button&nbsp;for the White Stripes.[vidtoken data:1]Name one project you’ve done that was significant as a learning experience – and why? Every single one of them. I stepped into this world knowing nothing, and have had to learn everything along the way. Most of the learning came from being very open about what I didn’t know, and taking every new experience as a lesson.It took a long time to feel comfortable in my abilities and knowledge. And after jumping into the broader filmmaking world as a director, I immediately stepped back and helped out on other friends’ sets, learning the technical side of things.<blockquote>It took a long time to feel comfortable in my abilities and knowledge.</blockquote>The <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/09/14/doves-broken-eyes-colin-read/66645" target="_blank">Broken Eyes&nbsp;video for Doves</a> that I did last year was my first time shooting on film since some little personal projects in 2008 or so; I loved learning about the workflow, and the restrictions - and thus creativity - it brings. Sometimes, less shooting time is more.[vidtoken data:2]What are your favourite music video-related jobs of the past year or so, and why? That Doves video, because it let me shoot with a great friend, Logan Triplett. He and I had been supposed to shoot my first feature last spring, but Covid had its own plans for our production schedule…&nbsp;<a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/01/22/weezer-all-my-favorite-songs-colin-read/69107" target="_blank">Weezer's All My Favorite Songs</a>&nbsp;is another favourite, because it was just incredibly fun to make. I loved the instant gratification of the practical effects and forced perspective gags. And I still can’t believe that the guys in Weezer let me portray them as phone-obsessed zombies.[vidtoken data:3]<blockquote>I still can’t believe that Weezer let me portray them as phone-obsessed zombies.</blockquote>The video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/03/13/mild-minds-ft-boats-walls-colin-read/63826" target="_blank">Mild Minds' Walls&nbsp;ft. Boats</a> was close to me for a different reason. It let me tell a story about the refugee crisis and immigration issues that are important things in my own family.[vidtoken data:4]And then there was the <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/05/06/glass-animals-dreamland-colin-read/64653" target="_blank">Glass Animals video for Dreamland</a>. It was also a lot of fun - probably because Dave Bayley himself did most of the heavy lifting! For that one, we had to write an instructions manual for Dave to be able to shoot the video himself, handling high-end gear with absolutely no knowledge of production. Luckily, he was a fast learner.[vidtoken data:5]<blockquote>Dreamland was a lot of fun - probably because Dave Bayley did most of the heavy lifting!&nbsp;</blockquote>What are your favourite other jobs of the past year or so? <a href="https://www.skatersvote.com/" target="_blank">Skaters Vote</a> was a very important one for me to make, after I witnessed a lot of apathy toward the 2020 US elections within the skate community. We got a lot of good friends and skate icons together for that one.[vidtoken data:6]What are you currently working on? Writing on some new projects, while my existing narrative ones have been thrust back into limbo by current events.What kind of work would you like to be doing in future? Narrative. I studied fiction writing, and narrative is my first love.&nbsp;But also, any projects that let me explore fun shortform ideas![imgtoken data:1]Above: On-set of the Weezer 'All My Favorite Songs' shoot. "I loved the instant gratification of the practical effects and forced perspective gags."What advice would you give someone entering your field? Take every lesson as it comes, and make your own stuff as much as you can. Don’t worry about doing anything the conventional way - carve out your own path. If you make interesting work, people will notice, no matter what it is.<blockquote>Vacation? Holiday? What are those?</blockquote>LIFE:Tell us something that we don’t know about you…&nbsp; I once accidentally stood on a manatee.When you’re not working, what do you like to spend time doing? Skateboarding, rock climbing, taking care of eternal back problems and general bodily malfunctions.Where did you go on your last holiday (or vacation)? And where would you love to visit? Vacation? Holiday? What are those? It’s been so long now that I don’t remember.<blockquote>During lockdown I relearned skate tricks&nbsp;I haven't done in fifteen years.&nbsp;</blockquote>What’s the favourite/most rewarding part of your routine during lockdown?&nbsp; Exercise. I lose my mind without physical&nbsp;activity, so last year I had to embrace doing home exercise in front of a computer&nbsp;screen, watching internet instructors. Walter Kemp from&nbsp;<a href="https://obefitness.com/" target="_blank">obefitness.com</a>&nbsp;is my guru. I also ended up going skateboarding by myself a lot, and relearned some tricks I haven't done in fifteen years.What’s the best movie (or movies) you’ve seen recently? I loved&nbsp;The Sound of Metal.[vidtoken data:7]What’s your favourite TV show, or shows? Succession.What are your favourite music videos by other people in the past year? There were so many. Off the top of my head, Oscar Hudson’s baby cake feast for Slowthai; and Nelson de Castro’s mirrored video for Always.&nbsp;That video had me grinning and shaking my head at its genius nonstop. True mastery.[vidtoken data:8]<blockquote>Nelson De Castro's video had me grinning and shaking my head at its genius non-stop.</blockquote>Favourite music artist(s), and favourite gig(s) in the past year? I keep coming back to James Blake recently. And the most recent 'live gig'&nbsp;I went to, before Covid wiped them off the earth, was the one I invented for the Danny Brown &amp; RTJ video for 3 Tearz.&nbsp;So much fun, with a horde of fans up close and personal to the guys. Can’t wait to experience that again.[vidtoken data:9]Best book you’ve read recently? <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44436221-interior-chinatown" target="_blank">Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu</a>.Favourite food and/or favourite restaurant(s)? Peter Pan Donuts in Greenpoint (below), and Super Pollo in Ridgewood. Staples.[imgtoken data:2]And/or your favourite/most comforting food whilst stuck in lockdown? I made many new types of cookies. And some homemade pizzas that&nbsp;we perfected.Anything else you’ve achieved in lockdown that you wouldn’t have done otherwise? We survived lockdown&nbsp;by dog and cat-sitting for a series of friends and family. We fell into a lucky rhythm; when one person would come home, another would ask if we could watch their pet. Even though we were still staying isolated, it let us feel like we were doing something exciting, by being in new homes that weren't ours,&nbsp;and getting to hang out with a&nbsp;bunch of dogs and cats.So I got to have a lot of doggy time I otherwise might not have had. That's an achievement.<blockquote>We fell into a lucky rhythm; when one person would come home, another would ask if we could watch their pet.</blockquote>What’s your favourite political or charitable cause, and why? <a href="https://www.aclu.org/" target="_blank">The ACLU</a>, because its fight against government abuse is something that America has sorely needed lately.Best recent purchase? A nice yoga mat that doesn’t stretch or slide under me. (Although it was a gift from my wife, since she knew I’ll use anything forever, no matter how far past its useful life it actually is.)Work &amp; Life - balance/ imbalance out of five (1 for imbalance; 5 for balance)? Generally tending toward 1 when I’m deep within a project, but I’m working on that.• Colin Read is represented for music videos and commercials at <a href="https://www.pulsefilms.com/director/colin-read/music-video" target="_blank">Pulse Films</a>

Work & Life Q&A: Colin Read

Radiohead - Man Of War

The White Stripes-Hardest Button To Button

Doves - Broken Eyes

Weezer - All My Favorite Songs (Official Video)

Mild-Minds-'Walls-(ft.-Boats)'-by-Colin-Read

Glass Animals - Dreamland (Official Video)

Skaters Vote

Sound of Metal – Official Trailer | Prime Video

Waze-&amp;-Odyssey,-George-Michael,-Mary-J.-Blige-&amp;-Tommy-Theo-'Always-(director&#039;s-Cut)'-by-Nelson-De-Castro

Danny Brown - 3 Tearz (Official Video) ft. Run The Jewels

Colin Read mixes past and present, toying&nbsp;with our perception of the digital world, in his video for indie-rock legends Weezer.Read affectionately draws upon the the band's roots in the 1990s, dovetailed with their selves in the here and now, to create&nbsp;a sort of anachronistic hybrid reality, with a different kind of internet: the optimism and sociability of early web days are back - courtesy of a young man with a magic chatroom portal. But then, everyone also has smartphones.Our hero connects with a female chatroom pal - and then they join up in reality. The magic portal then takes them elsewhere, and finally to Weezer in the studio. And these transitions are achieved by 90s-tastic in-camera trickery rather than post VFX. But can 90s tech really triumph over the modern variety?It's an ambitious, constantly imaginative way to show how the more interconnected we are through the internet and social media, the less connected we are as human beings. And nothing makes that point clearer than the video's downbeat ending.[imgtoken data:1]

Johnny Hernandez

Joseph Barbalaco

Obra House

Trevor Wineman

Erick Aguilar

Bryam Aguilar

Matt Sokoler

Spencer Gongwer

JP Sweeney

Tony Pettibone

Skott Khuu

Grant Gilligan

Charneice Edwards

Diana Escamilla

Samuel Gursky

Irving Harvey

Reprobates

Weezer 'All My Favorite Songs' by Colin Read

Colin Read employs technical ingenuity to chronicle a man's descent to the brink of madness for Doves.In the Broken Eyes video it's the same room, the same camera move (more or less) being replayed again and again. Each time a fraught domestic situation gets worse. It's a lockdown nightmare, basically.But can this selfish, self-destructive individual pull himself together before it's too late?&nbsp;

Don Shapira

Logan Triplett

Rachel Batashvili

Emma Penrose

Dave McCabe

Luke Carr

Abbey Oliver

Jennifer King

Alexandra Lubrano

Paul McKee

EMI Records

Doves 'Broken Eyes' by Colin Read

Doves-'Broken-Eyes-'-by-Jack-Smith

Released to tie-in with the release of his acclaimed debut feature Get Duked! on Amazon last week, Ninian Doff provides the movie's young quartet of unlikely heroes&nbsp;with a new mission of extreme&nbsp;mischief: an ill-advised break-in at a&nbsp;mansion containing the prized possessions of Run The Jewels and 2 Chainz.&nbsp;The feckless foursome's blundering efforts at a daring heist is overseen at all times by a series of animated portraits, and sculptures, of RTJ's Killer Mike and El-p, and guest star 2 Chainz. They discover the famous RTJ gloves, and some pink jewels giving off some psychotropic properties - and then they go too far.As in Get Duked!, the riotous fun that Doff creates around his characters transitions effortlessly from realistic live action comedy to something way more extreme and cartoonish - shrinking the characters down in a dimension,&nbsp;giving them metallic limbs and sending their faces into supersonic time warps, as they confront giant version of RTJ and 2 Chainz.[imgtoken data:1]It is high concept aesthetic - arguably a big step further from the movie - and it involved a really big production effort including shoots of the artists in New York and Atlanta - with Colin Read providing second unit directing duties - while Doff, aided and abetted by regular DoP Patrick Meller, shot the main action with his Get Duked! cast in the UK.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is a brilliant effort - but to properly enjoy, and get to know and love the characters, go check out the feature first.

Ninian Doff

Drew O'Neill

Davud Karbassioun

Claire Adcock

Jerome Franc

Patrick Meller

Jeff Vine

Jenny John Chuan

Jono Yates

Paulina Rzeszowska

Gaby Winwood

Paul O'Reilly

Homespun

Kai Van Beers

Nineteen Twenty

George Reid

Jessica Hayes, Nicole Palucsis  Peter Phillips

Chris King, Chrys Aldred, Adam Mchale, Claire Larkin                   Jamie Stitson

Miranda Kahn

Amaechi Uzoigwe

Cynthia Lawrence-John

Harriet Salmon

Ben Keswick

Ben Carey

Kristian Zuniga

Dylan Harrington

Hip Hop

Run The Jewels ft 2 Chainz 'Out Of Sight' by Ninian Doff

Run-The-Jewels-'Out-Of-Sight-Ft.-2chainz-'-by-Ninian-Doff-(colin-Read-Nyc-2nd-Unit-Director)

Colin Read marks the transition between lockdown and a more open world, in the ambitious video for Heat Waves.&nbsp;Starting out as a multi-camera perspective of vocalist&nbsp;Dave Bayley - as he drags a bunch of TV's down a London street -&nbsp;the visual ends with a bittersweet performance, with the other band members trapped in the monitors.&nbsp;Interweaving mobile phone footage&nbsp;- the production enlisted the involvement of the residents of a street in Hackney to make the video - and&nbsp;broadcast-quality cameras, this&nbsp;is a comment on an extraordinary time, and takes a hesitant step&nbsp;towards a "new normal", shaking off the lockdown aesthetic and building towards a multi-format style visual.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Erin Sayder

Rachel Bashford

Chris Malin

Sam Meyer

William Pope

Bon Walshe

Sam Gursky

Irving Harvy

Hands 

Emily Tedrake

Louis Vella

psychedelic pop

Rock

Glass Animals 'Heat Waves' by Colin Read

Glass-Animals-'Heat-Waves-'-by-Colin-Read

Colin Read celebrates joining Pulse Films' music video roster with one of the most inventive and resourceful products of the Covid-19 crisis&nbsp;for Glass Animals.Although Read was frustrated in his ability to achieve his original idea for the band's track Dreamland, he successfully overcame the problem, days after lockdown came into force in the UK, with his ingenious 'flat-pack music video'.The result is a video of two halves - a suitably dreamlike start, with Glass Animals' frontman Dave&nbsp;Bayley moving through a room of floating objects, is succeeded in the second half, which reveals the making of the video, and in doing so, the underlying 'flatpack video'&nbsp;concept.&nbsp;We discover&nbsp;that the elements required to make a video&nbsp;- including camera, lighting, props, and dolly rig - were delivered to Bayley's home. Via&nbsp;a detailed 40-page master instruction book and accompanying photo glossary provided by Read,&nbsp;he was talked through the process of making his own video by Read, DoP Ruben Woodin Deschamps, and other heads of production. Bayley is duly&nbsp;able to build and dress the set, lay a dolly track, as well as set-up the cameras (including an Alexa Mini), rig the lighting - and make his own video.Colin Read makes a virtue from the restrictions imposed on shooting videos, with an idea that is&nbsp;potentially transferable to other artists - although he will no doubt to prefer to make videos in the normal way, just as soon as its safe to do so.&nbsp;

Ruben Woodin Deschamps

Bon Walsh

Indie

Glass Animals 'Dreamland' by Colin Read

Colin Read directs an impressive concept tackling migration, displacement and family separation in the video for Australian artist Mild Minds.&nbsp;Introducing a fresh perspective, built around clever visual effects and subtle tricks, we see a father&nbsp;and daughter (played by&nbsp;real father and daughter actors, Alberto and Ana) looking to escape the streets, desperately searching for a way out.Visually stunning, the camera starts to track right to left and breaks through to a different setup, as the boundaries of each scene start to bleed into each other, different locations and worlds colliding in tandem with the narrative.&nbsp;Creative and unique, the inspired use of layers as a metaphor for borders and a top-notch edit help make this one of the standout videos of the year so far.&nbsp;

Australia

Unit9

Giacomo Vigliar

Andrew Maso

Alex Frishman

Kerry Mack

Dance

Electronic

Mild Minds ft Boats 'Walls' by Colin Read

Danny, El-P, and Killer Mike in a Brooklyn warehouse with 100 camera-wielding bruisers, some champagne and a couple of blunts.<div>&nbsp;</div>

Mirmade

Kevin Hayden

Danny Brown ft Run The Jewels '3 Tearz' by Colin Read

Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, <a href="https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-greene-park/history" target="_blank">"a landmark cherished for its history, trees and monuments"</a>, now has a tribute from Battles, NYC's&nbsp;kings of New math rock, on their new album. Colin Read's video is a more wide-ranging tribute to New York City, and all kinds of participants in non-motorized transportation.Read brings together a small army of skaters, cyclists, joggers, scooterists, rollerbladers, and every other method of self-transport users -&nbsp;an extended crew of DIY transportation-enthusiasts. Then they're&nbsp;commandeered to pull along Battles pair Ian Williams and John Stanier as they perform, like latterday charioteers, or Brooklynite Ben Hurs.Good to see them putting those pesky kids to work...

Connor Lawson

Jacob Ireland

Jenny Montgomery

Warp Records

Alternative

Battles 'Fort Greene Park' by Colin Read

Battles-'Fort-Greene-Park'-by-Colin-Read

This excellent video for South African singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou takes place in a studio apartment with some interesting furniture - its made from men.&nbsp;Directed by American director Colin Read in Alice&#39;s hometown of Berlin, the simple, strong idea for Skin Crawl really works very well, exemplified by the reveal when she arrives home and removes the covers from her sofa.&nbsp;From that point&nbsp;the men in Alice&#39;s life are the supports for her books, her plants and even her stairs.&nbsp;And when it looks like the men have had enough - but Alice knows how to nip a revolt in the bud.Read says on his Vimeo page: &quot;With her lyrics, Alice reminds that women are more than just objects for men to use. So for the video, I inverted that dynamic, and had Alice using men as objects&mdash;literally.&quot;An&nbsp;object lesson in having a low budget video make a big impact. &nbsp;

Bastian Loewen

Peregrine Films

Lucas Fiederling

Ignacio J Durruty

Niklas Coskan

Dan Schulz

Laura Müller

Alice Phoebe Lou 'Skin Crawl' by Colin Read

Alice Phoebe Lou - Skin Crawl (official video)

A meditation on love, loss, and scarecrows by the Deep South-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Dege Legg, aka Brother Dege visualised in beautiful widescreen photography by Colin Read.Shooting in a perfect cornfield, mostly at corn-height, Read captures the strange encounter between Dege and a female scarecrow - shot entirely in the golden hour of sunset, or so it seems. It makes for an absorbing video for The Moon And The Scarecrow, the central track from Brother Dege&#39;s current album,&nbsp;Farmer&#39;s Almanac.

Brother Dege 'The Moon And The Scarecrow' by Colin Read

Brother-Dege-'The-Moon-And-The-Scarecrow'-by-Colin-Read

It&#39;s two tales as different as day and night in Colin Read&#39;s gripping video for Radiohead&#39;s Man of War.A camera sweeps through a park on a Steadicam,&nbsp;cutting abruptly&nbsp;but seamlessly between identical shots in day and night. Before long we&#39;re introduced to our lead character whose daytime movements begin decidedly more relaxed than his night time parallel. Every action has an equal or opposite reaction and the paranoid, fidgety sense of impending trouble blurs the lines between the day and night actions before they seemingly become one and the same. A simple and sinister story structured superbly in the edit.

Colin Read

Director

Interviews featuring Colin Read

Videos featuring Colin Read

2021 (2)

2020 (6)

2019 (2)

2018 (1)

2017 (1)

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