Art Director

Katie South

Charlie Di Placido demonstrates his command of shooting dance performance, with an&nbsp;absorbing promo for Steven Wilson.&nbsp;Following the exceptional longform project for Jungle's new album Volcano, the video for Wilson's Economies Of Scale plays to Di Placido's strengths in choreographed concepts and awe-inspiring one-takes, and boasts an elevated, emotional experience from the first frame, featuring powerful performances from the two dancers,&nbsp;Sasha Shadid and Salomé Pressac.&nbsp;The concept was centred around the album artwork, and builds on it in an enigmatic, completely captivating way - as Di Placido explains.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]"One of my favourite videos of the year," he says. "It's always such a privilege when an artist has the bravery to give you such scope in terms of how you approach a visual and to allow me to hero these incredible dancers."Sasha Shadid and Salomé Pressac gave such inspired performances and the end result is a real moment in time captured. I wanted to play with the audience expectations on who these characters are and their roles in the Economies of Scale within society, as it were.[imgtoken data:2]"The object which is based around the album artwork is a mystical force which has had a profound effect on our 'business man' played by Sasha. He struggles with it as it forces him to question his place within our narrative in the hall of this grand old building."The nature of the location and small nods in the art direction, a discarded red briefcase, are there to gently guide the viewer to what might be at play here. Sasha is being forced to confront his role within a system which is not in line with his true spirit.[imgtoken data:3]"Salomé's character goes through a mini three part metamorphosis as she watches Sasha's opening freestyle before she takes center stage. These are comments on how women are forced to represent themselves within society. Her final form, her true self is bare footed, almost feral and she's made an outfit out of business men's ties."Sasha &amp; Salomé come together as they are both overcome with a deep longing for the freedom this object provides. The final message 'All Times Leaves Is Me And You' ties back into Steven's original brief for what this song means, namely that your personal connections and the love you have for you nearest and dearest should supercede any attempt to win a rat race because they're the only thing that is real."

United Kingdom

Sasha Hadid

Salomé Pressac

Pili Mateos

Charlie Di Placido

Rowan Macintosh King

Carrie Sutton

Contentus Maximus

Conrad Russell

Brandon Quan 

Matthew Craig

Maddy Williams

Oli Hill

Ben Eeley

Max Tuite

Dan Howe

Yazmin Khan

Alex Gregory

No.8

Electronic

Steven Wilson 'Economies Of Scale' by Charlie Di Placido

Steven-Wilson-'Economies-Of-Scale'-by-Charlie-Di-Placido

Just to keep you on your toes, Ama Lou goes a bit posh in her new self-directed video.Caught Me Running follows Ama Lou's character - a well-to-do, quirky, country woman who lives on a secluded English isle with very little interaction with the outside world.

Matilda Sadeghi

Ama Lou

Jake River Parker

Daisy Haddigan

Marlzama Films

Kid From Space

Hanan Cher⁣

Bill Rae Smith

Mahalia John

Sam Hunt

Emily Mulkerrins

Fintan O'brien

Callum Watt

Damon Sewell

Iona Greaves

Esme Horn

Mdhamiri Á Nkemi

Carolin Moran

Shivam Solanki

Interscope Records

Ama Lou 'Caught Me Running' by Ama Lou

Ama Lou - Caught Me Running (Official Music Video)

Jake River Parker directs a second promo for NOISY, this time for riotous track Desire.&nbsp;In an enigmatic red industrial space, we see a mysterious character studying a screen, which is linked up to something behind a curtain in the distance.&nbsp;Eventually revealing the NOISY boys, the video cuts between a mixed-media performance setup and an on-screen display of&nbsp;hidden desires, running straight from vocalist&nbsp;Cody Matthews' brain.&nbsp;The atmospheric video balances snapshots of a narrative with a glitchy, textural aesthetic, all encapsulated in an intriguing concept.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]

Ruby Cara

Chris Anthony

Rowan Mackintosh King

Common People Films

Charlie Relph

Ramy Dance

Giulio Piccirillo

Montgomery Smith

Hebe Wallace

Dom Phipps

Company 3

Artist Building

Alternative

Indie Rock

NOISY 'Desire' by Jake River Parker

Noisy-'Desire'-by-Jake-River-Parker

Tajana Tokyo directs a slick, feelgood promo for BRIT-winning girl group FLO's team-up with the legendary&nbsp;Missy Elliott.&nbsp;Taking inspiration from Missy Elliott's 2002 hit Work It, the main refrain&nbsp;of Fly Girl has&nbsp;manifested one of the best collabs in recent memory, in this fusion of old school and modern R&amp;B.&nbsp;And Tajana Tokyo's&nbsp;accompanying video has a vibrant, celebratory concept.It takes place at a packed bar, where the trio perform, dance and get down with the party vibes, joined by a whole host of energetic characters.&nbsp;Representing the nostalgia of the Noughties with a future-facing, contemporary vibe, it's an immediately engaging visual with a brilliant cameo from the icon herself, which will have fans of both artists on the edge of their seats.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2][imgtoken data:3]

Chloe Rosolek

Tajana Tokyo

Scarlett Anderson

Somesuch

Saorla Houston

Holly Williams

Shaun Waldie

Nathalie Pitters

Saskia Whinney

Maëva Demurger

Zorica ŠaliĆ

Philips Nortey

Matt Alsop

Catherina Scarpellini

Rebecca Richards

Island

Andre Reid-McKinley

FLO ft Missy Elliott 'Fly Girl' by Tajana Tokyo

Flo-Ft-Missy-Elliott-'Fly-Girl'-by-Tajana-Tokyo

Jake Parker directs an atmospheric promo for India Shan.&nbsp;Boasting a striking burnt-orange colour palette, the video is formed of several effervescent performance vignettes, which are overlaid with various abstract textures and lighting effects.&nbsp;The understated performance seamlessly binds the setups, and is helped out by a gentle edit which use cross-fades and drawn out shots to match the energy of the piece.&nbsp;

Rhiannon Lagden

Jake Parker

Max Conran

Marti Guiver

Keaton Williams

Jay Gomez

Joe Edwards

Riccardo Angei

Holly Hamilton

Ruby Sandler

Dominic Phipps

India Shan 'Don't Wanna' by Jake Parker

India-Shan-'Don't-Wanna'-by-Jake-Parker

Trailblazing London jazz outfit Ezra Collective hit the ring in Femi Ladi's joyous video for Victory Dance.Customers of a cornershop receive a mysterious invitation by the shopkeeper, leading them downstairs into the basement and a magical space. Suddenly we are in&nbsp;a big hall, a boxing ring in the middle - not to witness a boxing bout, but the moves of jazz dancer Jay Allen, and a thrilling performance of the individuals of Ezra Collective, and then the group as a whole.[imgtoken data:1]This is the band's first ever music video, reflecting their position at the heart of London's resurgent jazz scene. Femi Ladi achieves a sense of wonder and real occasion by keeping things based around the performances, and top and tailing the piece with the narrative element involving the audience. It really works.&nbsp;"I’m a big fan of the Ezra Collective, I find their music so refreshing and unexpected," says Ladi.&nbsp;"I had a personal experience of hearing the band's music for the first time when I stumbled into a performance of theirs by accident a few years back. I instantly became a fan. So, we went with an Idea that had similar journey of discovery with the band playing a secret gig somewhere quite unexpected."

Femi Ladi

Courtney Bennett

Oliver Bingham

Scarlett Gardner

Jamie Hitchens

Rosie Taylor

Jenny Glynn

Jay Allen

Kaz Ove

Yoomin Lee

Jazz

Ezra Collective 'Victory Dance' by Femi Ladi

Ezra Collective - Victory Dance (Official Video)

Ben Newbury helms a scintillating and breathless POV journey of a rocket-powered space woman as she flies across the globe, Iron Man-style, for Navos and Galantis's uplifting dance anthem What It Feels Like.Newbury has harnessed the latest in both drone and greenscreen technology to create this action-packed extravaganza, to make it feel like a woman really can fly - speeding through&nbsp;some glorious landscapes, both natural and urban - until she makes a truly spectacular&nbsp;crash-landing.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;"You know you’re on to a basic concept that will probably make a good video when each time you talk it through everyone keeps having more and more ideas for it -&nbsp;that totally happened with this," says Ben Newbury. "I have to give props to the commissioner John Hassay. He was looking for a video that: a young audience would watch to the end;&nbsp;a video that captured euphoria (the feeling not the TV show). Challenge accepted.<blockquote>Having a wild visual idea is one thing but you’re only going to hook the audience if they connect to it.</blockquote>"So the pitch was this… we experience the explosive, psychedelic journey of a spacewoman as she re-enters the atmosphere and hurtles round the surface of the earth - all from a POV inside her helmet. This hyper-colour, over-saturated, warp speed journey takes us from the edge of space, through epic mountains, forests, cities and deserts, flying through impossibly small spaces and trippy VFX wormholes, to match the euphoric feeling of the track. Before she smashes into the ground. Easy peezy."The flight itself was created with FPV drones, filmed around the world, frame matching different takes to create one sequence. Adding in the initial fall from space and trippy wormholes in VFX. Once our VFX wizards had the edit stitched together, and we had all enjoyed another Covid test, we headed to the XR stage in Garden Studios. After some careful testing, Olly Nice our cinematographer extraordinaire rigged the camera inside a space helmet, created by our fabulous art director Katie South, ready for the XR screens to play back the journey.[imgtoken data:2]"The XR screen array enabled us to perfectly match the lighting in the reflections inside the helmet and on her hands and arms, allowing our space woman to appear to look around and throw her arms out in time with the flight (as well as becoming the desert backdrop and lighting for our final shot). Our wonderful actress Poppy Christie positioned herself underneath the camera, while our SFX team (the whole rest of crew) held all manor of wind machines, spritzers, leaf blowers and smoke machines ready for launch. This made the final video pretty much a one-taker, with everyone firing smokers and squirting water at the camera."One goal I kept coming back to throughout pre-production was to make sure the video was about the emotional experience the space woman was having on her journey down to earth. Having a wild visual idea is one thing but you’re only going to hook the audience if they connect to it. If they care. It needed a human element to create that sense of jeopardy. So our solution was to shoot a plate shot of Poppy performing the flight facing the XR screen without the helmet, then composite that as a reflection into the visor in a final round of post, to allow the audience to see her performance.[imgtoken data:3]"Pulling all this off would not have been possible without the brilliant Ramy Dance and Alessia Lendrum from Common People Films. Alessia harnessed the true purpose of the internet, organising FPV drone pilots all around the world, who shot in deserts, mountains, jungles and cities to create the amazing footage that makes up the flight."Big shout out to Tom Bailey and Greg Ayala at FNDM who designed the artwork that kicked off the thought process. I also want to thank our head leaf blower op and PA - Ynez Myers, AC - Mark James, HMU - Eliza Clarke, the Drone Pilots - Luca Morandini, Fabrizio Botto, Smirnov Dmitrii Olegovich, Zakir Mohammad &amp; Jerry Chan. Then on Edit - Matthew Blacklock, Grade - Kathryn Dymmock, Sound Design - James Hall and our VFX brains - James Taylor, Darri Thorsteinsson and Shivam Solanki. As well as Andy Roberts, Amy Collins and Mariama Camara. And finally Navos and Galantis for making such a massive banger."

Ben Newbury

Alessia Lendrum

Las Bandas Be Brave

John Hassay

Olly Nice

Ynez Myers

Mark James

Eliza Clarke

Matthew Blacklock

Katie Dymmock

Coffee & TV

Darri Thorsteinsson

James Taylor

Poppy Christie

Island Records

Dance

Navos X Galantis ft YOU 'What It Feels Like' by Ben Newbury

Navos-X-Galantis-'What-It-Feels-Like-Ft-You'-by-Ben-Newbury

Ama Lou self-directs the&nbsp;promo for Same Old Ways, where contrary to the title of the song, tradition gets a welcome makeover.&nbsp;In the video - made in collaboration with The North Face -&nbsp;we follow the induction of two inner city kids (Ama&nbsp;and her friend) on their first day of boarding school. At the start, the viewer is set up to anticipate the worst for the pupils as they enter a daunting environment. But instead, they are welcomed with open arms, having a great time taking&nbsp;part in some classic old English boarding school activities.&nbsp;Excitable and celebratory,&nbsp;the video - shot by Ama's sister Mahalia John - is full of feelgood vibes, and the breathtaking setting is an excellent location for the camaraderie to ensue.&nbsp;

Mikael Nakkas

Natalia Glow

Nathan Ford

Hannah Jel

Dean Marshall

Ollie Lemmings

Sam Johnson

Jack Sands

Apollo Wilson

Britini Campbell

Alesha Williams

Caroline Morin

Wash

Ama Lou 'Same Old Ways' by Ama Lou

Ama-Lou--'Same-Old-Ways'-by-Ama-Lou

Callum Lloyd-James brings the magic of Scalextric to life in this delightful promo for iconic rock band The Wombats.&nbsp;Shrinking the group down into miniature&nbsp;racecar drivers, we see a group of kids build their own racetrack in a bedroom, complete with fire effects, nostalgic 80's toys and a rickety Jenga set that is just begging to destroy the whole setup.&nbsp;The video is worth a watch&nbsp;for the facial expressions of the group alone. But along with the playful concept and great performances from the cast, it's a real ride that matches the energy of the anthemic track, brought together in a blistering edit by Lloyd-James himself.[imgtoken data:1]"The film was inspired by a combination of things, including Tron (1982), Owl City - Fireflies and the band's artwork for their new album," he says.&nbsp;"This all came together with a series of nods to the lyrics, Mariokart, Wacky Racers, as well as the artwork to the band's debut album."We shot the film on six different cameras, including mounting a GoPro to a Scalextric car to get the POV shots on the track. It was so interesting experimenting with all the different things we could do with the idea once we had it down on paper. The band really put their all with their performance too, which made my life a lot easier on set."It took a long time to develop and gave me a lot of headaches, but the team came together to make something I know we are all really proud of. Shout out to Jake Parker, Katie South and Thomas English to going above and beyond on this one. It was a massive undertaking and a colossal effort from everyone involved."

Callum Lloyd-James

Head & Wrecker

Joe Mulvihill

Thomas English

Chris Steel

Anastasiya Cherkasyuk

Will Stuetz

Suzie Walsh

Emma Gandolfo

Callum Lloyd James

Framestore 

Marisa Garner Associates

Awal

Rock

The Wombats 'This Car Drives All By Itself' by Callum Lloyd-James

The-Wombats-'This-Car-Drives-All-By-Itself'-by-Callum-Lloyd-james

Ben Cole &amp; Odunsi (The Engine) direct a&nbsp;trippy promo for Half A Tab.&nbsp;Running at eight minutes in length, the short film opens with a group of friends getting ready to go out, and quickly culminates in a surreal night out full of futuristic fashion and chromatic visual effects.&nbsp;Taking place in an abstract, almost parallel world, the video has a haunting, unique vibe, and perfectly suits the Alté soundtrack.&nbsp;

Ben Cole

Odunsi (the Engine)

Chris Murdoch

Prettybird

Juliette Larthe

Laura Carrion Del Pozo

Jake Hunter

Eve Carreno

Will Crafts

Alex Cullen

Jermaine Ampomah

Endah Tche

Tiara Wada

Josh Chadwick

Final Cut

Myles Bevan

Time Based Arts

Makarov Aleksandr

Chuka Okonjo

Kodak

Alte

Odunsi (The Engine) 'Half A Tab' by Ben Cole & Odunsi (The Engine) 

Odunsi-(the-Engine)-'-Half-A-Tab-'-by-Ben-Cole-&-Odunsi-(the-Engine)-

Carl Addy directs a gorgeously vibrant and textural promo, combining performance with intriguing visual effects, for metal behomoths Bullet For My Valentine.&nbsp;Beneath a series of warped animated layers, the video for Rainbow Veins intermixes glitchy performances with character vignettes - beautifully shot by Thomas English and graded by Jax Harney -&nbsp;blending together in a nightmarish hallucination.&nbsp;The distorted VFX heighten&nbsp;the surreal aesthetic, whilst contrasting colour palettes lend an otherworldly style to the concept.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;

Katie South

Art Director

Videos featuring Katie South

2023 (4)

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