Director

Jamie-James Medina

Detective, superhero, Mandela... and now hucksterish TV shopping salesman. Idris Elba can do it all - as he demonstrates in Jamie-James Medina's bright, breezy and multi-layered&nbsp;video for Big Talk, the actor's collab with Manchester producer duo&nbsp;Solardo.In the video, Idris is the charismatic host of&nbsp;BIG TALK, broadcasting live on lo-fi cams from a basement studio. As Solardo and two girls man the phones, he is delivering an evangelistic sermon for the financially interested - and his financial advice is entirely based around the mysterious substance of Ambergris - the unique form of waste product created by whales that can be used in making perfume.[imgtoken data:1]Medina employs some familiar devices of the shopping channel aesthetic, camerawork, stock footage, in-camera FX and titles - merging with 80s/90s&nbsp;music video greenscreen FX.&nbsp;But within the visual fun, there is something rather more serious going on. The insidiousness of the host and his message is where Idris comes into his own, enabling him to get his teeth into the character.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As Jamie-James Medina explained in his treatment for the video: "Idris is the host of BIG TALK - a little show about BIG ideas. He produces a weekly sermon for the financially interested. He is part financial advisor, part spiritual guru. And all hustler. Beneath the views on the day’s business news, our host is operating a surreal and dangerous game of deception.[imgtoken data:2]"On this broadcast, he seems to only be interested in one very specific natural resource: ambergris aka whale vomit. In its purest form, the intestinal slurry can be found bobbing through the ocean, where it slowly hardens under the sun. Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, described the smell of whale’s vomit as 'a faint stream of perfume.'&nbsp;It is this stream — the crystalized ambergris — that washes ashore and has become a highly coveted perfume ingredient, used to fix scent to skin. Indeed, a group of fishermen in Yemen stumbled upon a small chunk of the stuff in the belly of a dead whale in 2021, which they sold for $1.5 million."Our host looks into the camera and says, 'If you’re ready to storm the beaches in search of AMBERGRIS, then I have a deal for you! Call us right now on 0898-BIG-T£LK!'&nbsp;[imgtoken data:3]As the track continues to bang, we watch as the host pulls a brick of ambergris from his pocket and delivers a verse from Melville’s Moby Dick."A message on the&nbsp;dangers of human greed wrapped up into an alluring package - and it's a banging track. What more could you want?&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Phoebe Shakespeare

Kibrea Carmichael

Salomé Pressac

Paix Robinson

Brittany Newman

Wizzo

Olwyn Fagan

Forever

Sam Alberg

Tim Sidell

Sasha Nixon

Najma Alimour

Rose Esme Lucas

Rob Barlow

Thomas Nicholson

Esther Edusi

Luke Farley

Yasmin Khan

Jessica Debruyne

Spencer Campbell

Alex Jimenez

Color Collective

Fons Schiedon

Ultra Records

Dance

Solardo & Idris Elba 'Big Talk' by Jamie-James Medina

Solardo-&-Idris-Elba-'Big-Talk'-by-Jamie-james-Medina

Jamie-James Medina has created a lockdown video for Mark Ronson, sourced from his fans all over the world, all shot on the same night.Quarantine conditions has prompted Ronson to cover Richard and Linda Thompson's folk classic&nbsp;I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight - a song that crystallises that desperate desire to have a night out, meet people, and go a bit crazy. A song he has also dedicated to two great New York music producers lost to the pandemic, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Harrell" target="_blank">Andre Harrell</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Willner" target="_blank">Hal Willner</a>.With Raissa on vocals, Ronson requested fans from all over the world to send footage of themselves in lockdown on one night, April 24th.&nbsp;Jamie-James Medina has worked with editor Spencer Campbell in bringing that footage together with self-shot material of Raissa, to create a poignant reflection of the situation created by Covid-19.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;MARK RONSON:"In the first few weeks, one song I couldn’t stop listening to was 'I want to see the bright lights tonight' by Richard &amp; Linda Thompson. For me, it’s the ultimate song about a messy weekend night out. All the weird but wonderful human interactions that go down. Not knowing what might happen once you head out that front door. Maybe a little hookup, a good time, even a hint of danger. But whatever it is, you know you’re going to forget about the boredom and stresses of everyday life for a few hours."I imagine the reason I’ve been so drawn to this song is because I miss that all very much, I bet a lot of us do. I suddenly had this idea to cover the tune and hopefully make a video by asking you all to send in pics and vids of your cities at night."I told this idea to Raissa, one of my favourite new artists. She had never heard the song before but loved it and within hours sent me back an incredible vocal that brought a freshness to the tune I hadn’t imagined. And then the your footage started to come in, and it was beyond anything we could have hoped for. So much emotional depth, humanity, humour, love and universality. Jamie-James Medina took all that and was able to make maybe one of my favourite videos I’ve ever been involved with. Dedicated to Andre Harrell, Hal Willner, and all the bright lights who shone."

Final Cut

Mark Ronson ft Raissa 'I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight' by Jamie-James Medina

Mark-Ronson-Ft-Raissa-'I-Want-To-See-The-Bright-Lights-Tonight'-by-Jamie-james-Medina

Jamie-James Medina says the idea&nbsp;behind his video for Rudimental was that &quot;the video is the video&quot;. And&nbsp;indeed, this really is a deconstruction of the whole process of making a video for Scared Of Love.We get the trials and tribulations of pre-production, the email trails (featuring producer Stavvas Stavrou and commissioner Dan Curwin), and Stefflon Don not making the shoot and phoning in her performance...In the meantime, Ray BLK&nbsp;provides the backbone of the performance video, while Medina also investigates our addiction to screens.&nbsp;

Savvas Stavrou

Anna Saffery

Ato Yankey

Olan Collardy

Anthony Mchugh

Kairo Jones

Vini Jones

Xander Mitchell

Natalie Michaelides

Shanice Cooke

Esther Apageyi

Alex Gregory

The Mill

Dan Curwin

Atlantic Records

Rudimental ft Ray BLK and Stefflon Don 'Scared Of Love' by Jamie-James Medina

Rudimental-'Scared-Of-Love'-by-Jamie-james-Medina

Jamie-James Medina casts 22 year old Belgian, Paris-based multi-disciplinary artist, singer and model Clare Laffut with his supercool sensibility.The video for Verité is part-audition, part-doc, part-stylised fashion shoot, and was filmed in Paris in December last year, shot by DoP Cezary Zacharewicz on 16mm.&nbsp;&nbsp;

France

Francois Larpin

Marilou Lapierre

Mélanie Poisson

Cezary Zacharewicz

Lucie Beauvert

Laura Marciano

Marion Parizot

Julia Wretzkymou

Nathan Punwar

Jack McGinity

Time Based Arts

Philippe Ascoli

Alternative

Claire Laffut 'Verite' by Jamie-James Medina

Claire Laffut - Vérité

Timbuktu band&nbsp;Songhoy Blues&#39;s collaboration with Iggy Pop gets the coolest treatment by animator Alden Volney.A series of trademark Volney-esque animated loops captures the mood and spirit of Sahara - a combination of majestic African landscapes and wildlife, banal Western consumerism, iconic guitar-playing and the unmistakeably sinuous body of The Ig.It&#39;s beautiful stuff.&nbsp;So just lose yourself in this&nbsp;perfect accompaniment to the track.

Alden Volney

Riff Raff Films

Transgressive Records

Rock

Songhoy Blues ft. Iggy Pop 'Sahara' by Alden Volney

Photographer, filmmaker, label founder, music producer, and all-round creative powerhouse,&nbsp;Jamie-James Medina&#39;s long-time association&nbsp;with XL Recordings and it&#39;s subsidiary label Young Turks has resulted in him building a distinctive body of work as a music video director, for the likes of King Krule, Gil Scott-Heron and Iggy Pop. His latest collaboration is with the hugely talented and highly respected musician/producer Sampha Sisay on the video for (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano.&nbsp;Heralding the release of Sampha&#39;s debut album Process earlier this month, the video - which comes in both 2D and 360&deg;/VR versions &ndash; is a striking combination of intimacy, emotion and visual effects, as Sampha plays at the piano in a recording studio, accompanied by a girl (Adwoa&nbsp;Aboah) who appears to be&nbsp;crumbling away to dust. We spoke to the Jamie (above right, on set with Sampha and Adwoa) about the making of the video. On set pics (C) jamie-james medina &nbsp;[vidtoken data:0]&nbsp;Promonews: How did the reflective and reminiscent nature of the song influence your treatment for the video?Jamie-James Medina: Every visual idea should start with the music and I always tell young artists to be patient and let the music guide the visuals.&nbsp;But I first heard a demo of this song in February of 2015 - the version you hear in the VR experience. I&rsquo;ve never spoken to Sampha about this, but there is a feeling of love and loss that runs through his lyrics and melodies and this song forced me to think about how those emotions evolve over time.My father passed away when I was 18 and I often try to remember his voice. We have no recordings of him in conversation, no video - but would I still recognise his voice? That was the simple idea that I wanted to explore - how we hold onto memories - which led to this idea of disintegration.It&rsquo;s a very intimate piece &ndash; does that come from having a close relationship with the artist?Actually, I&rsquo;ve worked very closely with Young Turks and the many acts signed to Samph&#39;s label, but we&rsquo;d only met in passing &ndash; at festivals, in the studio. With every shoot, the challenge is to create a relationship with the subject as quickly as possible and he was very trusting and open.&nbsp;Sampha is a brilliant collaborator.And where did you create that intimate atmosphere?This video took many months of work - in London, Amsterdam and NYC. I was covering the US election for The Observer up until the 1st of November, was in London on the 5th to start prepping the shoot at Duke Island Studios on the 7th and flew straight back to NYC on the 8th to cover election night and start editing with&nbsp;Final Cut&nbsp;on the 10th. That was all very stressful for me, but I wanted to create an atmosphere on set where Sampha and Adwoa&nbsp;Aboah, our lead, could find that intimacy. Just a very simple look and feel - an exposed studio, low light. Once we had that on film, I went back and forth to Amsterdam to work on the VFX with&nbsp;PostPanic, our creative partner, to bring this idea to life.[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>&quot;With every shoot, the challenge is to create a relationship with the subject as quickly as possible and he was very trusting and open.&nbsp;Sampha is a brilliant collaborator.&quot; Jamie-James Medina</blockquote>It seems that increasingly moves from being around Sampha to being about the girl. How would you describe the role of Adwoa in the video?The song is so intimately Sampha&rsquo;s story, I wanted to define that upfront with his performance. And then we slowly introduce Adwoa, who represents all of the emotions and ideas that I heard in the music.She seems to be aware that the clouds of floating particles coming off her seems to signify her demise &ndash; or is that me just projecting that as a viewer?An emotion coming undone. A feeling, drifting away. A fading memory. They&rsquo;re both holding onto these final moments together.When did you decide to do <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ncE-yR8mI" target="_blank">a 360&ordm; version</a> and what are you trying to achieve with that?That came from Google and YouTube and from&nbsp;m ss ng p eces, our executive producer. They opened up that idea. We realized early on that the 2D version would focus on the intimacy of their relationship and unfold narratively and the VR version would be itself an intimate experience and put the viewer in the middle of that narrative.&nbsp;Did you have a good idea how you wanted the VFX to work before you shot the video?&nbsp;Yes and no. This was my first experience with heavy VFX and I think I had a good idea of how I wanted the dust to look and feel - we did a lot of concepting - but it took a while to get the movement of the dust right.&nbsp;Dust is lighter than sand and heavier than flour - we had these conversations for weeks. Her disintegration could never look aggressive or horror, so it took a few false starts to get that right, but I love that learning process and we got there in the end.

Jamie-James Medina on making Sampha's '(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano' video

Sampha - (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano (Official Music Video)

Sampha '(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano' by Jamie-James Medina

&nbsp;Jamie-James Medina delivers two beautifully simple pieces of video for Sampha.Using delicate choreography, a simple studio setting, and subtly mesmerising VFX, the clip shows Sampha sitting at his piano whilst the room around him swirls with the dust of his co-star&#39;s dwindling physical form.The long form version of this video relies on the interplay between the two characters to underline the delicate beauty of the visuals and the track itself, whereas the shorter version is an immersive VR piece that allows you to take Sampha&#39;s place at the piano and see that beauty from a first-person perspective. Using VR as a companion piece to a larger, more traditional video format makes for a compelling interplay between the two and is one of the more immersive and rewarding VR experiences in music videos&nbsp;of late.

Spencer LaVallee

m ss ng p eces

Ari Kuschnir

Dave Saltzman

Sonya Sier

Grace Wales Bonner

Phil Penfold

Ariyon Bakare

Arthur De Borman

Nadia Altinbas

Des Hamilton Casting

PostPanic

Ania Markham

Jules Tervoort

Mischa Rozema

In Jamie-James Medina&#39;s layered new video for Iggy Pop, premiered on&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/20XsTKR" target="_blank">Nowness</a>,&nbsp;vintage footage of a boxing match &ndash; a world title fight held&nbsp;in Africa &ndash; shares space with Iggy&#39;s reflective performance of the Josh Homme-produced American Valhalla,&nbsp;within a square that obscures most of the person behind it - model Ruth Bell - until the very end.The fight we see is a&nbsp;contest between boxers Dick Tiger and Gene Fullmer that took place in Nigeria in 1963. But you&#39;d be&nbsp;forgiven for thinking&nbsp;about the late&nbsp;Muhammad Ali while watching it, and his own fight in Africa, and arguably&nbsp;his greatest victory, in The&nbsp;Rumble In The Jungle.&nbsp;And of course, with the sad passing of the man known as The Greatest, there are few people who could ever hope to aspire to that title, in any field. But Iggy might be one of them.&nbsp;

United States

Tania Staykova

Eric K

David Myrick

Tracy Alfajora

Tom Poole

Company 3

Ruth Bell

Iggy Pop 'American Valhalla' by Jamie-James Medina

Iggy-Pop-'American-Valhalla'-by-Jamie-james-Medina

Erik K. Yue shoots Okay Kaya up-close - seriously close &ndash; as the camera and the New York-based Norwegian singer spin&nbsp;around in various locations, in this intriguing promo for the deliciously atmospheric Gravity.

Eric K. Yue

Mikey Rossiter

Hot Charity

Indie

Okay Kaya 'Gravity' by Eric K. Yue

Okay-Kaya-'Gravity'-by-Eric-K.-Yue

This&nbsp;marvellous&nbsp;CGI animation&nbsp;by Fons Schiedon introduces the new SBTRKT album Wonder Where We Land,&nbsp;and the next incarnation of the SBTRKT persona - from the man behind the mask, to fully-fledged creature.With Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig on vocals,&nbsp;New Dorp. New York is a cryptic lyrical tribute to the Big Apple, which Fons Schiedon has translated into a noirish, dreamlike version of the urban landscape, through which the SBTRKT creature moves, heading from &#39;New Dorp.&#39; to New York.And the creature undergoes a certain transformation through the video, as his confidence grows &ndash; from small and jumpy to large and dominant, as he establishes himself as top predator...

Liene Berina

Ania Markham @ Postpanic

Young Turks

SBTRKT ft Ezra Koenig 'New Dorp. New York' by Fons Schiedon

Sbtrkt-'New-Dorp.-New-York.'-by-Fons-Schiedon

Book-ended by an Alfred Hitchcock presentation, Jamie-James Medina plays with 90 degree camera angles in this hugely-watchable promo for King Krule&#39;s A Lizard State.Deliciously and authentically retro, Medina&#39;s simple living room set-up, Tim Sidell&#39;s photography and Archy Marshall&#39;s (King Krule) driven performance&nbsp;keep the viewer transfixed...&nbsp;Jamie-James Medina talks to Luke Tierney about making the video for King Krule&#39;s A Lizard StateLT: Having previously worked with King Krule, was it always the plan to work together again?J-JM: I guess so, for me it definitely was. If I&#39;m not filming Archy and King Krule, I might be taking photos and working with his label, so I love being involved. I just knew it would be fun cutting to A Lizard State. I always wanted to do that video.With the possibility some young people, fans of King Krule, won&#39;t know too much about Alfred Hitchcock, were you worried the cultural reference could be lost?Nah, I don&#39;t think we worried about that at all. Archy and I are Hitchcock fans and thats all we thought about. There were two Hitchcock biopics in 2012 and he&#39;s still a huge part entertainment and culture. Vertigo replaced Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time in BFI&#39;s list of the best movies. And musically, King Krule&#39;s references reach way back sometimes, so I just have to assume that people get it.Where and how did you come across such fascinating footage?The Alfred Hitchcock Presents series is so great. I watch that show all the time when I travel. Cinema looked down on TV back then and there is this suggestion that Hitchcock was kinda slumming it with a television show, but every episode is brilliant. And his intros are just so good. You could take any intro from any episode to set up a music video and it would work. And I love that format of intro and outros for shows like&nbsp;Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone, so I wanted to work with that idea.Did you recreate the illusion effect?We did, we built the set from scratch to match the original footage. And the set had to move from upright, with the camera tilted, to laying flat to get the dolly shots.Your portrayal of King Krule is not that of a gawky teenager, very different from your previous portrayal in &#39;The Noose of Jah City&#39;, was that your aim?I didn&#39;t really think about that - he just grew up naturally. And the suits are a part of his live show, so maybe Archy was thinking about that.&nbsp;Having photographed stars such as Lady Gaga, Jay Z, and Kanye West, do you feel that being a professional photographer affects you as a director?A little bit, yeah - just in my personal experience. I&#39;ve worked as an editorial photographer for 10 years and you&#39;re searching for THE SHOT. A great moment or a great portrait.&nbsp;But with video, a narrative has to unfold and build over time and move through acts&nbsp;and that&#39;s something I&nbsp;learned on the job. So many photographers are moving from still images into film (out of necessity), but it&#39;s such a different medium.&nbsp;And for me photography is a very singular act - I take the photo. But film is so collaborative and I&#39;m still trying to figure that part of it out.&bull; Check out Luke Tierney&#39;s blog,&nbsp;<a href="http://wordischeap.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Word Is Cheap</a>, or his Twitter @wordischeap, for more thoughts on his favourite music videos&nbsp;

Audrey Davenport

Stuart Mackay

Nat Jencks

Viet-An Nguyen

XL Recordings

Phil Lee

King Krule 'A Lizard State' by Jamie-James Medina

King Krule - A Lizard State (Official Video)

Willis Earl Beal&#39;s novella Principles Of A Protagonist and EP of the same name now becomes an short animated film which bring his drawings to life, directed by Nobody* (Willis), produced by Jamie-James Medina and Spencer LaVallee, and featuring the music from the EP.The film is part of NOWNESS&#39;s Shorts on Sunday series. Delightful, insightful,&nbsp;visually gorgeous&nbsp;(in it&#39;s low-key way) and of course, very autobiographical:&nbsp;&quot;In times like these a protagonist needs to rely on his principles...&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;And the big storm is about to hit the city.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

Jamie-James Medina

Director

Interviews featuring Jamie-James Medina

Videos featuring Jamie-James Medina

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