Bullion Productions

Director

James Willis

Loski and Stormzy are men on a mission - to deliver satisfaction to all sorts of women - in Joao Retorta's thoroughly enjoyable video for Flavour.They play a couple of delivery men, making a number of drop offs around London to supply their special product. What is it? Well, the clue is very much in the songtitle.It's a winning concept, which plays to the strengths and the chemistry of Loski and Stormzy, and provides a series of engaging episodes as they service an&nbsp;increasingly upscale clientele.&nbsp;DoP&nbsp;Harry Wheeler experiments with vibrant lighting and buoyant camerawork to match the steady flow of the track, allowing the charming performances to take focus. And it's a confident step by Joao Retorta into building a narrative around a pair of charismatic artists.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Joao Retorta

Joel Spencer

Jack Newman

Beatrice Giustini

Luke Goodrich

Harry Wheeler

Joe Sherno

Ciaran Beale

Verity May Lane

Robyn Rowan

Ellie Johnson

Ten Three

Tim Smith

CHEAT

No.8

OB Management

Kat Catteneo

RCA Records

Grime

Loski, Stormzy 'Flavour' by Joao Retorta

Loski-With-Stormzy-'Flavour'-by-Joao-Retorta

If you want to remember why you fell in love with dance music in the first place, this is the one for you.João Retorta travels to Ukraine to capture&nbsp;the spirit of a youth subculture devoted to rave, soundtracked by the&nbsp;euphoric techno of Prayer, by the Leeds electronic duo Prospa.Retorta has created a heightened, impressionistic piece about the kids who get lost in the music - and feeding in their experiences and philosophy throughout the piece via subtitles. As the subtitles become stranger, the line between documentary and fiction is completely blurred. The very stylish visuals serve the music beautifully, aided by a superb edit by Brendan Jenkins.

Nick Hayes

Norm Li

Brendan Jenkins

TenThree

Joseph Bicknell

Masha Kotsar

Semera Khan

Polydor

Dasha Deriagina

Marco Grey

2332 Films

Dariia Lagenberg

Dance

Electronica

Prospa 'Prayer' by João Retorta

Prospa--'Prayer'-by-João-Retorta

Bullion&rsquo;s James Willis captures the essence of Soulwax&#39;s unique live performance set-up in an intricate but explosive video for their latest track Is It Always Binary.The video features The Transient Program For Drums and Machinery, an installation imagined by Soulwax and ILL-Studio, built for live performance, and operated by Stephen and David Dewaele, Stefaan Van Leuven, Iggor Cavalera, Victoria Smith, Blake Davies and Laima Leyton.Is It Always Binary&nbsp;was recorded and filmed live in London on the 29th August 2017, with cinematography by James Rhodes.

Nailah Clair Blissett

Hannah Gracie

Kerry Green

James Rhodes

Ryan Parkins

Ky Brasey

Charlie Jenkins

David Hamilton

Priscila Matano

Jack Abbot

Edwin Metternich

Framestore

Soulwax 'Is It Always Binary' by James Willis

Soulwax-'Is-It-Always-Binary'-by-James-Willis

James Willis teams up with Shakka to present this&nbsp;up-beat colourburst of a&nbsp;video for Say Nada featuring JME. It&#39;s all about Shakka getting over a recent breakup by throwing one hell of a dance party...&nbsp;

Drew O'Neill

Emilio Schlappi

Mairead Albiston

Phil Penford

Nayan Patel

Jamie Jarvis

Emma Croft

Oisín O'Driscoll

The Mill

Daniel Harris

Rme / Sony

John Moore

Nigel Ruwende

Jake Flowers

Simon Chubbock

Andrew Fletcher

Ryan Delahunty

Karl Taylor

Kevin Lanre

Christine Tynkevych

Mucheal Kiggendu

Hip Hop

Shakka ft. JME 'Say Nada' by James Willis

Shakka-Ft.-Jme-'Say-Nada'-by-James-Willis

Director&nbsp;James Willis follows up his intimate Denai Moore <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2015/03/27/denai-moore-no-light-james-willis" target="_blank">live sessions</a> by collaborating with indie art house rockers Django Django. Released as part of the band&#39;s much anticipated second album Born Under Saturn,&nbsp;he captures Django Django&rsquo;s complex live set up in a series of smoothly executed&nbsp;one-shots for the tracks First Light, Reflections, Beginning to Fade, and Pause Repeat, photographed by James Rhodes.Here, First Light gets the one-shot treatment...

Luke Cairns

Ben Marshall

Neil Hawkins

Sonny Sheridan

The Farm

Jane Third

Because Music

Katie Denman

Anna Meller

Indie, Alternative

Django Django 'First Light (live)' by James Willis

Django-Django-'First-Light-(live)'-by-James-Willis

In this stunning live performance video shot all in one take, James Willis&nbsp;captures Denai Moore singing No Light, from her upcoming LP Elsewhere.&nbsp;Fittingly, it&#39;s expertly and minimally lit, conjuring up a&nbsp;mournful&nbsp;atmosphere.&nbsp;At first,&nbsp;Denai is shrouded in darkness as she performs alone.&nbsp;Then, as the song gains momentum,&nbsp;other musicians slowly come into view with their added&nbsp;layers of sound.Proving that simplicity can be very powerful &ndash;&nbsp;when the song is as good as this one &ndash; James&nbsp;Willis fully commits to the theme of darkness&nbsp;as&nbsp;no performer is ever fully visible, including Denai herself.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Rik Burnell

Kai Blamey

Mark Scurr

Paul @ My Brother Bob

Jess Cheetham

Hannah McLoughlin

Denai Moore 'No Light' by James Willis

Denai Moore - No Light Live

James Willis completes his trilogy of videos for Cash+David with this sensitive portrayal of physical contact for the UK duo&#39;s Bones track.The concept of the video is based around the idea of being in control or controlled and aided by intricate choreography from Alexandra Green, James explores the beauty of the human body in movement.

Annika Summerson

Alexandra Green

Simona Boulding

Daria Posrednikova

Darren Ladbury 

Dom Herd

Nick Leishman

Sophie Medhurst

Ricardo Lemos

Paul Diamond

My Brother Rob

Kou Chieh Chung

Amber Ross

Cash+David 'Bones' by James Willis

Cash+David - Bones

Our new interview series gets started by&nbsp;quizzing <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/profiles/james-willis" target="_blank">James Willis</a>, one of the UK&#39;s bright young directors and co-founder of Bullion,&nbsp;one of London&#39;s buzziest young production outfits. Since co-directing videos for Jamie N Commons and others, he&#39;s now directing solo, most recently completing standout videos for Cash/David. James, 27, is from Grimsby,&nbsp;and now lives in East London.Education: I studied Photography at Franklin Sixth Form College in Grimsby and then graduated from Leeds Met with BA Hons in Graphic Design.&nbsp;Previous occupations:&nbsp;I used to be a runner at Partizan back in the day, and before that I worked in a frozen food factory.Favourite music video of the past 12 months?&nbsp;Arcade Fire&#39;s&nbsp;After Life by Spike JonzeFavourite video of all time?&nbsp;Michael Jackson&rsquo;s Smooth Criminal&nbsp;Favourite publications/websites: I love what the boys are doing over at The Green Soccer Journal, bring design, fashion and football together in one beautifully formatted publication. My favourite website at the moment is http://www.yatzer.com/.&nbsp;Favourite food/restaurant: My favourite food at the moment has to be Capish&rsquo;s Italian American Street Food; I think they still have a residency at the Duke of Edinburgh in Dalston.Favourite drink/drug: It&rsquo;s got to be whiskey sodas all the way, and paracetamol for the headache in the morning.Last movie you saw (and was it any good)?&nbsp;The last film I saw was Lukas Moodysson&rsquo;s We Are The Best,&nbsp; and yes it was good.Favourite directors: Martin Scorsese, Lucas Moodyson,&nbsp;DANIELS and Daniel WolfeLast gig you went to (and was it any good)? John Cooper Clarke at the Shepards Bush Empire, it was amazing.Favourite bands/artists: I can&rsquo;t stop listening to the new War on Drugs&rsquo; album.Currently reading/favourite book: I&rsquo;m currently reading Kimberly&rsquo;s Capital Punishment by Richard Milward; &amp; American Psycho.What was the first music video you worked on - and what were you doing on that job? I was a runner on a Wombats video, I had to take Les Dennis for a carvery in Snaresbrook. He was wearing a Christmas jumper and chatting about how much he hated Noel Edmunds.Favourite job of the past 12 months: Shooting Cash + David&rsquo;s new video for Pulse was pretty rad.What&rsquo;s the next Big Thing you&rsquo;re working on? I&rsquo;m going to India and Russia to shoot a commercial, which is pretty exciting.<blockquote>&quot;I had to take Les Dennis for a carvery in Snaresbrook. He was wearing a Christmas jumper and chatting about how much he hated Noel Edmunds.&quot;</blockquote>What would most improve your life? A PA who doubled up as a kick-ass researcher and treatment designer.Best moment, or fondest memory, of your career thus far? The best moment of my career so for has to be forming Bullion Productions. I feel we have a really good thing going over here and have some exciting directors creating some exciting work.Worst moment? Realizing your best friends are now your business partners.Biggest frustration? My dyslexiaPerson you most admire? Dan Wolfe. I used to assist him back in Partizan days, and its great to finally see him making his feature debut after smashing it in music video and commercials for so long.&nbsp;What advice would you give to someone starting out in music video production? Always say yes to everything until you don&rsquo;t have to anymore.Any hot tips for future stars in music video, directors or otherwise? Be persistent, hungry and believe in your ideas. Never take no for a first answer and always return your favours.&nbsp;

The Questionnaire: James Willis

James Willis returns for his second video for Cash+David, and although the setting is grittily urban, his clip for Pulse has a lot in common with his choreography-based video for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2014/02/27/cash-david-funn-james-willis" target="_blank">Funn</a>...

Natalia Tagliaferri

James Evered

Andrew Bradley

Arthur Loveday

Robbie Morrison

Paul Dimond

My Brother Bob

Lock It In

Lauren Hedges and Leanne Flinn

Cash+David 'Pulse' by James Willis

James Willis conjures up and dance-off between a couple of musical greats in his video for Cash + David&#39;s Funn.Who are the greats? The clue is in the name of the band. The reason why the video is very good is in the classy execution - styling, photography and of course choreography is bang-on in James&#39;s absorbing promo.&nbsp;

Nicola Joy

Ionut Paliev

Alba Ruiz

Will Rae Smith

Richard Mills

Anna Thompson

Heather Falconer

Dave Graham

Ross McDowell

Cash + David 'Funn' by James Willis

It's nicely shot (on an Arri D21 and a RED) by Steve Nelson, it features a stunning flamenco-inspired dance and atmospheric visuals. Now the team have formed their own outfit, Bullion Productions, and are now in the process of completing The Maccabees new video, and have other projects in the pipeline.

James Willis

Director

Interviews featuring James Willis

Videos featuring James Willis

2020 (1)

2019 (1)

2017 (1)

2015 (3)

2014 (3)

2010 (1)

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