Doomsday Entertainment

Director

James Lees

It's Bonnie &amp; Clyde by way of Drive with a hint of Grand Theft Auto in James Lees' excellent, cinematic and ultimately deceptive neo-noir for DJ Snake.The coloured lights of LA by night set the scene for a young couple in a muscle car filled with guns and money. It's a twisted American dream, and&nbsp;Lees' video adds layers of fiction to that dream, with hints throughout the narrative filled with robberies, car chases and double crosses that all is not as it seems.We eventually discover that the story we're so invested in is actually a videogame, and that turn is a weirdly sinister one once you see who's playing.&nbsp;With some great cinematic movements combined with video game tropes (and a hopefully intentional&nbsp; reference to the infamous hammer scene from the movie OldBoy), this is a densely-packed visual treat.

United States

Edward Line

Dance, EDM

DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber 'Let Me Love You' by James Lees

DJ Snake - Let Me Love You ft. Justin Bieber

James Lees has directed this simple yet powerful video for English singer-songwriter&nbsp;Passenger, aka&nbsp;Michael David Rosenberg, shot by&nbsp;DP Benjamin Loeb in Iceland. And ironically it&#39;s the viewer who is the passenger, being taken by the&nbsp;artist along on a solitary&nbsp;row-boat ride, where leisurely&nbsp;cross-fades meld one image into the next.The video for Somebody&#39;s Love is progressively&nbsp;melancholic,&nbsp;especially when, mid-way through the video, what seemed like an introspective boatride turns into an ill-fated expedition.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Thorsteinn Magnusson

Abi Hodson

Benjamin Loeb

Valdimar Örn Flygenring

Michael Carter

Ricky Gausis

Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK

Wanda Productions

Singer-songwriter

Passenger 'Somebody's Love' by James Lees

Passenger | Somebody's Love (Official Video)

An intense love affair expressed through intense choreography, and transported physically from city domestic to stark desert,&nbsp;in James Lees and dancer-choreographer&nbsp;Kiani Del Valle&#39;s co-direction of a piece for the marvellous Unknown Mortal Orchestra&#39;s First World Problem.Del Valle also performs in this mesmerising piece,&nbsp;commissioned by Nowness.&nbsp;&ldquo;With First World Problem&nbsp;I aimed to create a dialogue between two art forms&mdash;film and music,&quot; she told Nowness.&nbsp;&quot;I wanted the video to be a response to the band&rsquo;s lyrics and musical melodies, rather than showing literally what the song is saying.&nbsp;I am a big fan of silent films and how unspoken language can&nbsp;add a second layer to speech.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Kiani Del Valle

Jason Baum

Danielle Hinde

Jackson Hunt

Christina Flannery

Alternative

Unknown Mortal Orchestra 'First World Problem' by James Lees & Kiani Del Valle

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - First World Problem (Official Video)

James Lees delivers a masterful, heartbreaking&nbsp;bait-and-switch narrative for Lil Dicky&#39;s Molly. It&nbsp;centres around the rapper and comedian playing&nbsp;a man apparently&nbsp;getting ready on the morning of his wedding with his buddies - and then its&nbsp;revealed that the love of LD&#39;s life is marrying somebody else. He&#39;s just one of the guests.&nbsp;The moment it all comes crashing down, and the bride walks right past Lil Dicky&nbsp;is enhanced with some great framing and angle-trickery. It&#39;s a crushing moment - but from then on, we just can&#39;t help enjoying his excruciating pain. He&#39;s a bystander at an increasingly raucous party (and a cavalcade of typically strange wedding guests) and there&#39;s a great heap of comedic moments as he tries to put a brave face on it all.Plus, Brendon Urie (of Panic! At The Disco) shows up as the&nbsp;wedding singer, which adds a nice balance of outpoured emotion and joy, to the strange empty feeling you might otherwise get when relating to this little narrative.

Mark McCune

Kate Arizmendi

Paris Pickard

Brian Vanucci

Alternative, Hip Hop

Lil Dicky ft. Brendon Urie 'Molly' by James Lees

Lil Dicky - Molly feat. Brendon Urie (Official Video)

James Lees delivers another polished performance video, this time for&nbsp;Maverick Sabre&#39;s Come Fly Away, which&nbsp;sees the artist in desolate,&nbsp;urban settings, and dark dwellings.&nbsp;

Daniele Hinde

Brooke McDaniel

Michael Berlucci

Paul Rodgers

Caroline Clayton

Maverick Sabre 'Come Fly Away' by James Lees

Maverick Sabre - Come Fly Away

Ex-JLSer&nbsp;Aston Merrygold gets the funk bug with Get Stupid, brought to life in&nbsp;James Lees&#39; thoroughly entertaining video set in an LA shopping mall. This pop confection has&nbsp;upbeat&nbsp;energy, great choreography and unadulterated fun which owes a fair bit to the great American musical - and just a bit to Uptown Funk. Infectious, irrepressible fun.&nbsp;

Joe Faulstich

Aaekemon Jones

Tyler Jensen

Sam Seager

Dance

Aston Merrygold 'Get Stupid' by James Lees

Aston Merrygold - Get Stupid (Official Video)

Sometimes you just have to get in the car and drive.&nbsp;James Lees has delivered this motivational&nbsp;pick-me-up of a video for Rachel Platten&#39;s emotional Fight Song, that has Rachel picking herself up from despair to go on a roadtrip of self-discovery. And she gets to&nbsp;perform her big pop number&nbsp;in all manner of lovely locations in the process.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Angela Gregory

Kourtney Gleason

Lol Crawley

Kevin Phillips

Josh Hegard

Arianna Tomasettig

Bryan Younce

Rachel Platten 'Fight Song' by James Lees

Rachel Platten - Fight Song

Disorientated time-traveller Benjamin Booker finds himself in the deep south during segregation-era America, in this short film featuring his songs Slow Coming&nbsp;and Wicked Waters,&nbsp;directed by&nbsp;James Lees.&nbsp;The piece packs a real punch&nbsp;through its depiction of the rampant police brutality and pervasive racism that was characteristic of the&nbsp;time.&nbsp;Masterfully crafted, the video employs each song as a backdrop&nbsp;to heighten the dramatic tension at different points&nbsp;in the narration. The opening sequence for Slow Coming, has Booker discovering and eventually becoming tangled up in a scene involving the death of a little girl at the hands of the police.&nbsp;A gap then follows between songs which delivers the full,&nbsp;silent blow of Booker&#39;s&nbsp;disbelief before his shock turns to&nbsp;anger for Wicked Waters.James Lees has outdone himself with this powerful, well-crafted work using the past to focus on the&nbsp;pressing&nbsp;issues facing America today.&nbsp;

Declan Ryan

John Richoux

Brent Kiser

Jeff Desom

Amber Leonard

Jessica Masters

Rena Rheaves

 Benjamin Booker 'The Future Is Slow Coming' by James Lees

Benjamin Booker 'The Future Is Slow Coming' Dir: James Lees

In his promo for Black Taxi&#39;s Take Off The Edge, director&nbsp;Carlos Lopez Estrada seemlessly mixes live action and animation in this insight&nbsp;into an hilarious night of a quirky couple...

Carlos Lopez Estrada

Ian Blair

Alissa Torvinen

Paul Holman

David Edsall

Matt Tompkins

Arjun Prakash

Nelson De Castro

Jordy Scheinberg

Taylor Brusky

Tanner Merrill

Jason Kummerfeldt

OB Management

Zora Ellis, Carlos Lopez Estrada

Cameron Clark

Michael O'Connor

Iordanis Kioumourtzoglou

Brooke Webber

Tye Whipple

Cristina Bercovitz

Naheem Kujenya

Black Taxi 'Take Off The Edge' by Carlos Lopez Estrada

Black-Taxi-'Take-Off-The-Edge'-by-Carlos-Lopez-Estrada

For Ella Henderson&#39;s sparse and emotive piano ballad Yours, James Lees compliments the soundtrack with&nbsp;a stripped-back, simple performance piece, with the fast-rising UK singer in a city apartment at her piano and&nbsp;her lover asleep in the next room...

Brooke Modaniel

Andrew Whittaker

Inbal Weinberg

Sony Music

Elizabeth Doonan

Ballad

Ella Henderson 'Yours' by James Lees

Ella Henderson - Yours

Shot on a LA studio back lot in 106 degrees of heat, Brighton singer-songwriter Mike Rosenberg goes for a stroll along the fake streets followed by an increasing&nbsp;entourage of contrasting characters vying for his attention in James Lees promo for his new single 27.

Kimberly Stuckwisch

Eric Greenburg

Black Crow Records/Nettwerk

Jenna Baum

Passenger '27' by James Lees

Passenger - 27 (Official Video)

James Lees brightens up a dull day in the office by adding a touch of surreality in his&nbsp;promo for Scare Away The Dark by Passenger - aka singer-songwriter Mike Rosenberg.After having their workspace invaded by a bits of woodland and animals, the staff escape to a forest - C.S. Lewis-style - and&nbsp;take it to the next level by, erm, losing their clothing...

Melodie Roulaud

Vid Price

Sam Rawlings

Andrew Bradley

Sebastian Wintero

Passenger 'Scare Away The Dark' by James Lees

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For the promo to their rousing single Counting Stars, James Lees films a spirited performance by OneRepublic who&#39;ve set up shop in a dusty, damp warehouse space (complete with a roaming aligator).The action is complimented with a sidebar narrative of a preacher and his followers getting a bit over enthusiastic, it has to be said...

Interscope

Chayse Irvin

Everette Eglin

Varnish

Andrew Ibea

OneRepublic 'Counting Stars' by James Lees

OneRepublic - Counting Stars

James Lees takes young French artist Elisa Jo into the depths of wintry England for her first music video, for the song Defeated, and thanks to the help of a few friends was able to achieve a true sense of gritty British cinema due to shooting on 35mm with some of the last film stock being produced by Fuji&hellip;James Lees on making the video for Elisa Jo&rsquo;s Undefeated&ldquo;For her first music promo proper, Elisa Jo and her label wanted a performance video with a distinctive British feel. After listening to the track I felt the video should echo the melancholy and desolation of the lyrics and most of all, the honesty. No tricks, no twists, just Elisa and the emotion of her song.&ldquo;Regarding choosing the locations I&rsquo;ve always felt the flat unending landscapes and classic British suburban estates of near where I grew up in the Midlands are very cinematic and a perfect reflection of real Britain. So we went and shot the whole thing in and around Peterborough. The landscapes and portraits we were looking to capture just lent themselves to film so perfectly it made me really push to shoot on 35mm. Luckily this became a reality with the generosity of Fuji and the incredible support of Chris Youlton at Arri.&ldquo;Working with Ula Pontikos to capture everything in it&rsquo;s raw, untouched simplicity was a total joy. After two years of not shooting on film I&rsquo;m desperate to keep using it again just as it seems to be dying &ndash; Fuji have ceased production of film stock and Technicolour is due to close it&rsquo;s lab next month. Hopefully the continuation of Kodak and the i-dailies lab will mean we still have the opportunity to make this aesthetic choice for some time to come!&rdquo;

France

Ula Pontikos

Onesix7 Productions

Celine Roubaud

Tom Bott

Darren Baldwin

Aubrey Woodiwiss

The Mill

Coffee & TV

Shawn Manning-Dalby

Angela Davies

Chris Kane

Marcus Autelli

Rupert Power

Marie Kliszowski

Indie

Elisa Jo ‘Defeated’ by James Lees

Elisa Jo 'Defeated' Dir: James Lees

James Lees' video for Bloc Party's Kettling is likely to stir memories and probably mixed emotions in a good many viewers. It's a thrilling recreation of that classic playground favourite, now generally outlawed as being too dangerous: British Bulldogs. 
Filmed with a group of kids from a south-east London school James captures all the excitement, aggression and fear that's associated with this downsized form of warfare - and, of course, the violence, and ensuing injuries... 
"I liked how the band were very keen to not be too on the nose with the video for 'Kettling' - which obviously conjures images of last year's riots and the previous student riots," James explains. "So with this concept we tried to draw parallels whilst creating something that worked in its own right.
"I remember playing British Bulldog in my school playground and it was great reliving it as I researched the rules - stuff like having to grab onto someone for long enough to shout "British Bulldog 1, 2, 3!". I wanted to keep the kids young in the video but obviously this brought a lot of filming restrictions. We only had a few hours to film everything and kids at that age are prone to wandering concentration, so it was a real case of keeping the energy up and making sure they were always engaged and enjoying themselves. 
"I love filming with kids, if you work with them in the right way you can get them to forget the cameras and reality of what is happening so much more easily than you can with adults. There is a total and utter belief and conviction in the task you have given them and it just becomes a case of ensuring you snatch the best moments.
"Particular thanks should go to my fantastic production team, headed by Abi Hodson and Melodie Roulaud who pulled everything together in under a week and helped secure such an awesome cast of kids. Thanks to Nathan Perry-Greene at Cut &amp; Run for an amazing job and the many hours of watching slow mo and countless tweaks I insisted on! Finally big thanks to John Moule, the label and the band for making our life easier by being so cool."

Rosa Rooney

Kole Onis

Rusty Cocks

Ben Todd

Richard Bradbury

Theo Berman

Asishana Daniyan

Sophie Emmett

Anthony McCaffery

Bloc Party 'Kettling' by James Lees

Bloc-Party-'Kettling'-by-James-Lees

James Lees directed this promo for Pam Hogg's new collection in an autumnal Epping Forest. Which is, of course, exactly the sort of clobber you'll be wearing next season for popping down to Morrisons...
"Its great to see what you can do with just a Canon 5D, a roll or two of 16mm, a single handheld light and an amazing fashion collection by Pam," says James, whose currently in the process of talking to new companies for music video representation following the closure of Warp Films' music department. "Pam was also always set on using the Southern Death Cult song 'Horse Nation' which works brilliantly in creating a dark and brooding atmosphere. Particular thanks must go to Darren Baldwin at Final Cut for a considerable commitment of time, patience and talent and the models for their incredible dedication and great attitudes."


As well as this fashion promo, James has also recently directed a publishing promo as well - a 'trailer' for a new novel called BED, written by James's friend and frequent collaborator David Whitehouse, and published by Canongate. The music is by BVill Ryder-Jones - former guitarist and founder member of The Coral, whose debut album comes out on Domino Records in November.
"The trailer was crewed by lots of promo news regulars who I shall remain forever indebted to for dedicating their time and considerable talents for bugger all money."

Steve Annis

Ruth Crawford

Pam Hogg 'To Kingdom Come' and David Whitehouse 'BED' by James Lees

Pam-Hogg-'To-Kingdom-Come'-and-David-Whitehouse-'BED'-by-James-Lees

The combination of UNKLE with Nick Cave demands something special, and the video for Money And Run by Tom Haines does not disappoint. It grabs you by the throat with its portrayal of moneyed thugs on a weekend jolly in the country - and leaves the sense of how sickeningly unfair life can be. 
"The video takes Nick Cave's mantra of "I took the money" and uses the self-aggrandising, first person sermon as the narrative start point," says Tom. "Coupled with UNKLE's layered, psychedelic treatment of the track its a re-imagining of a weekend romp, where a group of toffs act-up, cause havoc and generally have their way, unimpeded by the rule of law."

"The idea was to present a world that is once removed from reality, a sort of exaggerated reality in the vein of JG Ballard, Will Self - or even more pertinently Anthony Burgess, in that it's a gang who are essentially amoral sociopaths, ready to fight or fuck whoever they see fit, echoing the infamous Droogs.
"It's not intended as a direct broadside to any particular politician, though borrows from the iconography and styling of the Bullingdon Set - who now reign supreme. I suppose it's a crude allegory, but in that sense it allows us to have a lot of fun with the scenarios and settings. The kind of fun that makes you feel uneasy in hindsight."

Tom Haines

Veronica Saez &amp; David Wieder

The Hobo Film Company

Marko Fuchs

Richard Hudson

Saffron Hunt

Andy P

Final Cut

James Tillett

Jack Meadows

Ed Line

Prime Focus

UNKLE feat. Nick Cave's Money And Run by Tom Haines

UNKLE-feat.-Nick-Cave's-Money-And-Run-by-Tom-Haines

As well as the usual merrymaking this also includes some genuine political mass action - footage from the student protests in London from earlier this year, shot by William Bridges. Meanwhile, David Fishel's previous work includes the Drums' Surfing video, while Celia is a filmmaker and choreographer who's made several dance films. They and William are "criminally unsigned", according to James, who exec produced this through his own Hobo Film Company.

William Bridges, James Lees, David Fishel (Paris) & Celia Rowlson

Lucile Weigel

Andrew P

JB @ Part Time Punks Records

If The Kids’ Life Is Now by William Bridges, James Lees, David Fishel in Paris and Celia Rowlson-Hall

If-The-Kids’-Life-Is-Now-by-William-Bridges,-James-Lees,-David-Fishel-in-Paris-and-Celia-Rowlson-Hall

You Me At Six&#39;s refreshing genre-mashing Rescue Me - a collaboration with Chiddy Bang - gets an equally refreshing promo courtesy of James Lees with this sporty number filmed at the All Stars Boxing Club in West London...

James Lees

Director

Videos featuring James Lees

2016 (4)

2015 (5)

2014 (3)

2013 (2)

2012 (1)

2011 (4)

2010 (1)

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