London based Director &amp; Animator, focussed on strong narratives, engaging performances, practical effects and 2d animation.

Director

Martyn Thomas

Martyn Thomas directs a riveting&nbsp;performance promo for Manchester alt-rock band Martial Arts, relfecting different ways live music has been captured on TV down the decades.&nbsp;At first, the video for Too Much Fun harks back to CRT television and old broadcast vibes, before jumping into high-definition in the final third.&nbsp;It's a fun, fresh vision, and works extremely well with the track.&nbsp;Thomas says the idea was inspired by the three distinct sections of the song. He&nbsp;wanted to directly reflect those sections, creating three different types of live TV coverage for the video, that was filmed at live music venue&nbsp;The Dome in North London.&nbsp;&nbsp;"Section one is bright, indy, with a sprinkle of grunge. We leaned heavily into tungsten lighting, smooth dolly moves, slow zooms and a retro VHS finish," he explains."Section two is airy, surreal, slightly psychedelic. This was mirrored by a stratigic lighting change, washes of colour and retro cross dissolves, also dubbed to VHS."[And then] Section three is tempo shifting, frantic, energetic. Here we drastically switched aesthetic to a hybrid mix of 25fps and 6fps via a custom camera rig, punctuating it with hard and fast strobe lighting."[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]

United Kingdom

George Blomiley

5db Industries

Steve Warby

Max Brill

Adam Scarborough

James Huthwaite

Nuval Jolly

Electric Theatre Collective

5db Records

Rosie Taylor

Indie

post punk

Martial Arts 'Too Much Fun' by Martyn Thomas

Martial-Arts-'Too-Much-Fun'-by-Martyn-Thomas

Following two visceral live action videos, <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2024/12/03/mould-chunks-martyn-thomas/89271" target="_blank">Chunks</a> and <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2025/03/10/mould-snails-martyn-thomas/90314" target="_blank">Snails</a>, Martyn Thomas now creates a&nbsp;hypnotic mixed-media&nbsp;digital collage for Bristol alt-rock band Mould.&nbsp;The video for Wheeze is&nbsp;a textural explosion of colour and raw expression, building upon&nbsp;the artwork for the band's EP Almost Feels Like Purpose - which was designed by the band's bass player Kane Eagle. It's a breathtaking display of multi-format creativity.&nbsp;"We wanted this video to be a moving version of the record sleeve, while also featuring a performance by the band," explains Thomas.&nbsp;"Kane sings lead vox on this so it really felt right to be referencing his artwork and creating something that linked the video to the release.[imgtoken data:1]"The main note from the band was 'just make it dirty' -&nbsp;so I spent a couple of days walking around London hand-scanning hundreds of textures and looking for anything that reminded me of Kane's artwork and fell into the 'dirty' category."These textures informed the whole look of the video, so once all the rotoscope line work was done the digital paint layers were added with colour swatches that were picked directly from the scans and some from the EP artwork. The swatching helped the whole piece feel a little more cohesive and a little less random."&nbsp;

Rock

Alt-rock

Mould 'Wheeze' by Martyn Thomas

Mould-'Wheeze'-by-Martyn-Thomas

Martyn Thomas directs a thrilling gorefest for his second video for alt-rock band Mould.&nbsp;Thomas's video for Snails follows vocalist&nbsp;Joe Sherrin on the run from his mates - who just so happen to be zombies. Packed full of practical effects, including gushing arteries, breakable glassware and fake flesh, it's a riveting display of undead mayhem.The use of Snorricam and POV also elevates the video, giving viewers an immersive look into the world on-screen. Another creative approach from the director for the Bristol-based threepiece following his video late last year for Chunks.&nbsp;&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]"The main narrative of this video was to have fun with the zombie trope and explore what it would be like to have your mates chase you down, force you to become a zombie and do what you used to do best... party all night!" explains Thomas, who directed the equally visceral Mould video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2024/12/03/mould-chunks-martyn-thomas/89271" target="_blank">Chunks</a> late last year.&nbsp;"The visual script was heavily informed by the structure of the song, each scene was written specifically for the verse, chorus, bridge pattern. Sometimes the music is just so strong that as creatives we have to follow its lead, I kinda love that."We wanted to lean into a bit of a Grindhouse look, mixed colour lighting and a strong grainy colour grade, the Snorricam also adding a frantic, almost claustrophobic feeling. We definitely wanted the audience to see all the blood and rotting flesh up close."

Alexa Overall

Abby Williams

Mould 'Snails' by Martyn Thomas

Mould-'Snails'-by-Martyn-Thomas

Matilda Harding-Kemp directs an evocative, gently surreal promo for ukelele-strumming jazz singer&nbsp;Madeline Rose Witney.The video for Behind Those Eyes&nbsp;traces Madeleine's personal journey in London, where another ordinary night at a club becomes extraordinary. As she performs, the room transforms into a mirror of her inner world, revealing a strange encounter with alternate versions of herself, through a collection of memories and raw, captivating music.Interspersed with offbeat portraits of people in the crowd - often shot in an intimate, off-kilter angle - the video highlights the challenges&nbsp;of making it as a female jazz musician in London;&nbsp;the love and fear of expression on stage and in contrast, the intimate moments of contemplation.Shot at The Mildmay Club in North London, with a strong&nbsp;colour palette in the cinematography by Chaimuki and Carline Morin's grade, it's lovely work with a very appealing, introspective aesthetic.[imgtoken data:1]

Lana Lord

Matilda Harding-Kemp

Emily Barker

Dylan Schulz-soo

Chaimuki

Jak Waughman

Luke De Borde

Blaze Studio

Elizabeth Rita

Amerigo Brini

Caroline Morin

Guy Pearson

Jazz

Madeleine Rose Witney 'Behind Those Eyes' by Matilda Harding-Kemp

Madeleine-Rose-Witney-'Behind-Those-Eyes-'-by-Matilda-Harding-kemp

Martyn Thomas turns alt-rock outfit&nbsp;Mould into oddball vintage TV stars, in a clever combination of studio performance, art direction and practical effects.&nbsp;Shot over two&nbsp;days with a micro crew, Thomas's&nbsp;video for Chunks squeezes the most from limted resources&nbsp;to create something&nbsp;fun and obscure.Creative lighting choices and the monochromatic aesthetic create an abstract feel throughout, and harks back to iconic DIY rock videos of yesteryear. Meanwhile, some visual ideas were inspired by the early golden age of TV:&nbsp;&nbsp;the SFX&nbsp;eyeballs worn by the band are inspired by the questionable prosthetics featured in classic early 60s sci-fi show The Outer Limits.Thomas brings these elements together in a very effective performance edit, resulting in an excellent showcase for the Bristol-based threepiece.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Mould 'Chunks' by Martyn Thomas

Mould-'Chunks'-by-Martyn-Thomas

Martyn Thomas draws the emotion from&nbsp;stripped-back 80s TV style performance by Holly Walker via lo-fi analogue visual effects.&nbsp;The video for Unsung features a wistful performance from the artist, captured through crafted, drawn-out shots. Thomas then adds distortion, glitches and colour saturation to the footage, a new take on vintage TV in-camera FX.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]"Throughout the whole creative process I was able to work really closely with Holly," says Thomas. "Having that collaboration with the artist, exploring ideas and ultimately defining the visual story we wanted to tell is essential to me."We established early on that we wanted to continue the lo-fi analog aesthetic we developed in our last project together. For Unsung I wanted to use video distortion to suggest the blurred, hazy nature of memory and nostalgia.[imgtoken data:2]"We went deep on video refs from the 1970s and '80s. Madonna's Live To Tell intro inspired the opening shot; Blondie's (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear, played a part in styling; the performance tone was The Carpenters' Superstar; even a scene from Dirty Dancing."Post production got really experimental, coaxing this idea of diffused memory into an almost physical form was a lot of fun. Manipulating the images in real time with circuit bent hardware like a Tachyons+ Vortex or a random kit from the internet, dubbing to VHS and filming an old CRT TV."There is a lack of control with analog glitching, so a lot of happy mistakes occurred - and now I have all this weird equipment in my studio."

Alex Carswell

Dan Matthews

Ellie Clapperton

Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK

Ramshackle Productions

Krunel Saadrani

Darren Ladbury 

Filip Adamczewski

Jamie Oliver Lia

Naz Sonmez

Danyal Kadir

Dance

Electronic

Holly Walker 'Unsung' by Martyn Thomas

Holly-Walker-'Unsung'-by-Martyn-Thomas

Martyn Thomas directs a mesmerising animated promo for Aspect's Carrier.The director's one-line idea&nbsp;provides a succinct overview of the concept -&nbsp;&nbsp;"I just imagined I was a 16mm camera on acid at a rave..."Layering minimalist linework over coruscating lights and abstract textures, the video feels hallucinogenic but strangely intimate and addictive, perfectly encapsulating the rave energy and spirit.&nbsp;

Part Four

Aspect 'Carrier' by Martyn Thomas

Aspect-'Carrier'-by-Martyn-Thomas

Martyn Thomas directs an impressive animated promo for Dutch DJ and producer&nbsp;Sander van Dijck - aka&nbsp;San Holo.&nbsp;The visual for Black And White is made up of thousands of 2D rotoscoped frames, starts as a series of simplistic line drawings, before exploding into a succession of breathtaking collage images, packed full of texture and colour.&nbsp;A tremendous visual feat, the craftsmanship evident in each moment is awe-inspiring, and the concept as a whole reflects the yearning soundscapes in the track. And remarkably,&nbsp;Thomas completed the whole job to an eye-wateringly tight two-week deadline.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;&nbsp;

Netherlands

Thorwald Van Den Akker

Ninja Tune

San Holo 'Black And White' by Martyn Thomas

San-Holo-'Black-And-White'-by-Martyn-Thomas

Olly Murs&#39; new single brings with it this&nbsp;heartwarming tale of love between old friends, courtesy of director Martyn Thomas. Starring Game Of Thrones actress Charlotte Hope, the video charts the friendship of two touchingly relatable characters from their school days to adulthood. As their affection grows and matures, the viewer is teased with a familiar but effective combination of unspoken feelings, longing looks and missed opportunities.And as with all great romcoms, the climactic ending provides an emotional twist that does not disappoint.

Keira Malik

STITCHTHAT

Tim Mogridge

Giles Maunsell

George Nelson

Adam Scarth

Tom O'Keefe

Eira Wyn Jones

Seth Crosby

Grace Zito

Hayley Gittins

Jason Wallis

Charlotte Hope, Sam O'rourke

Mike O'Keefe

Sony Music

Ben Keswick

Kat Sykes

Singer-songwriter

Olly Murs 'Beautiful To Me' by Martyn Thomas

Olly-Murs-'Beautiful-To-Me'-by-Martyn-Thomas

A group of Frank Turner fans assemble to display their tattoos - inspired by Frank - in Ed Lilly&#39;s lovely, breezy promo for his Losing Days single.

Ed Lilly

David Wieder

Adrian Pekitt

Luke Judlin

Tom Budgen

Alex Elkins @ Post Blue

Indie Rock

Frank Turner 'Losing Days' by Ed Lilly

Frank Turner 'Losing Days'

Keaton Henson might be too shy to perform in public, but he's certainly building a collection of top videos. Joseph Mann's <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/2012/03/21/keaton-henson-small-hands-by-joseph-mann/" target="_blank">'Small Hand's</a>, David Wilson's <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/2011/10/10/keaton-henson-you-dont-know-how-lucky-you-are-by-david-wilson/" target="_blank">'You Don't Know How Lucky You Are'</a> and the mightily sad <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/2011/03/07/keaton-henson%E2%80%99s-charon-by-david-wilson-john-malcolm-moore-and-keaton-henson/" target="_blank">'Charon'</a> have all rocked the emotional boat.
This time Martyn Thomas directs for this Blair Witch venture. Wonderfully atmospheric/unnerving, with some top work going into the abandoned caravan found in the woods, it strikes a different chord (both visually and musically) for Keaton Henson's releases. All authentically in wobbly VHS of course.
Martyn says: "Keaton approached me with the idea of shooting a found footage video on VHS and had a few sketches and notes of what he wanted. I then went away and wrote out something I felt could be believable enough but would still follow the track as best possible.
"In the past I have seen what shooting on a HD format and dubbing to VHS turns out like so we were both very keen to shoot this straight to VHS. The camera is an early 90s VHS camera, a noisy, clunky piece of kit, that needed a lot of TLC on the day. I'm still surprised we got a shot of a deer at 6am with all the racket it was making. All of the glitches happened in camera, so although its re-edited, all the content came from the original recording.
"Rather than setting up each shot and rolling camera etc, we set up a scenario and ran the camera through it as if being carried by an amateur film maker. These results were much more realistic, albeit terribly shot at times. It was important to Keaton that this felt real and lo fi, something risky and different, something I feel he has achieved with this track as it is quite off style for him. 
"While making this video I was very aware that in order to make this believable we needed to throw quite a few rules out of the window too. So on reflection I think together we have managed to create something we can call unique when comparing to our past works."

Marie

James Dyer

Joely Brammer

Drew Wright

Daniela Kitchiner, Jack Bridges and Tom O'Donnell

Keaton Henson 'Kronos' by Martyn Thomas

Keaton-Henson-'Kronos'-by-Martyn-Thomas

A one-shot, one-take, no budget video - and a singer who magically appears and disappears... This video of a live performance by Stac &amp; Royce Wood Junior of their song Wet is directed by Marie-Claire Denyer and Martyn Thomas, who employed an old theatrical trick 'Pepper's Ghost', to create the in-camera effect.
All you need to create the Pepper's Ghost effect is a plate glass and some special lighting techniques, and you can make things appear, disappear, and one object morph into another. "We used a pane of glass measuring 4ft x 7ft (given and delivered to us for free by a very nice man called Dan) and 3 different lights on the artist that would fade in and out during the performance," says Marie-Claire. "It was shot at The Oval House Theatre who also let us use their space in kind."

Julie Elgar

Stac & Royce Wood Junior 'Wet' by Marie-Claire Denyer & Martyn Thomas

Stac-&-Royce-Wood-Junior-'Wet'-by-Marie-Claire-Denyer-&-Martyn-Thomas

Bob Harlow's third video for Pulled Apart By Horses' seriously rockin' V.E.N.O.M - it's the first single from their second album Tough Love, to be released in the new year, and it makes Black Sabbath sound a bit sissy - is a tongue-in-cheek horror which sees lead singer Tom rendering his band members babbling foam-frothing wrecks with his 'candle-fingers'. 
Referencing different eras of the horror genre - it's beautifully shot in black and white - it was filmed in deepest Oxfordshire, in an actual haunted house. 
Not just haunted by some horrible old Tory either. If you look closely enough you might be able to see the ghost (well, Bob did apparently...)

Somesuch

Bob Harlow

Jaime Feliu

Pulled Apart By Horses 'V.E.N.O.M' by Bob Harlow

"A renegade shoot in an undisclosed woods in Hampshire" says Mogridge. "The idea was to not take too much focus away from the song by keeping things relatively simple"
"The one cloudy day in July the band and crew did not enjoy - the 3:00am start for no sunrise!"

Scott Peters

Sam Bradley

Canterbury 'More Than Know' by Tim Mogridge

Canterbury-'More-Than-Know'-by-Tim-Mogridge