Director

Nicolas Jack Davies

Nicolas Jack Davies got into directing video remotely by Zoom almost before everyone else, with Marcus Mumford. And he thinks that staying home has had a beneficial effect on his working habits. He also gets to watch lots of telly with his kids - even if that sometimes leaves him in tears...What were you working on before the lockdown? Commercials in the UK and the States - both postponed. Both picking up when we’re out the other side of lockdown apparently… fingers crossed.What are you working on now? Just shot a lockdown video for Marcus Mumford, which was a challenge, but fun to pull off. Seems like ages ago now as so much of this style has found its way to our screen so quickly, but it felt genuinely exciting (if that’s a suitable word for these times) to try and pull something like that off without leaving the house![vidtoken data:0]I’ve been working&nbsp;on a feature doc about the bands At The Drive In and The Mars Volta, and the two central figures of those bands Omar and Cedric. Fortunately, a huge part of it is editing pre-existing footage from the last 25-30 years, so it can be managed at a social distance. So far at least!What's the most surprising, or least predictable thing, that's happened to you&nbsp;during quarantine? Most surprising is how much having a (unavoidably) strict routine has had a positive effect on my work. I’m the most disorganised person and spend my workdays rambling from production offices to edit houses, so to have a routine and a consistent place of work has really benefitted me. The least predictable thing is trying to handle my kids at the same time as working - a total minefield.What's the favourite part of your daily routine? Having lunch with everybody in the house.<blockquote>I’m definitely in that camp of people who’ve started to have genuinely weird vivid dreams.</blockquote>Are things getting harder/better/staying the same? The first four weeks felt okay I suppose - as long as we stayed healthy - but there’s no doubt it has started to get harder. The anxiety around what’s happening out in the world and the constant information and updates and news is draining for everybody, I’m sure.That said It’s interesting seeing many people adapt to this new normal. And it does feel weirdly normal now. Although I’m definitely in that camp of people who’ve started to have genuinely weird vivid dreams. Last night I entered drug rehabilitation with the 80s/90s professional wrestler <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C4lK41SX-Q">Macho Man Randy Savage</a> after being arrested repeatedly for driving down a one-way street the wrong way.What have you learned about yourself during quarantine? That in normal daily life, I don’t talk to my friends and family nearly enough about their lives.[imgtoken data:1]Best meal you have eaten/are regularly cooking (send photo, if poss!) I went through a phase of making soups because we fucked up the veg order twice in a row! But I’ve developed a pretty mean bean chilli, and my BBQ skills have improved tenfold.Best thing you’ve watched, or heard, while on lockdown, and why? And the&nbsp;worst...? The best?&nbsp;The first two episodes of The Last Dance on Netflix got me hooked in. I watched Big Hero Six with my youngest son and cried my eyes out twice.[vidtoken data:1]The worst? Sorry to say, but Paul McCartney on that Together At Home live mega-cast doing Lady Madonna - just didn’t do him any justice at all.How's your Work/Life balance at the moment? Not bad. The thing that probably makes me feel unbalanced the most is how much I love having time alone on a commute. Not because I’m away from everybody, but because it’s a transition between work/home and back again that’s kind of special. I’m totally freelance and I might think differently if I was 9 to 5 to same place every day - but my best thinking happens in that time.• Nicolas Jack Davies is represented for music videos and commercials at Sweetshop. Watch his reel <a href="https://www.thesweetshop.tv/uk/director/nick-davies/" target="_blank">here</a>.

Sweetshop

Quarantine Q&A: Nicolas Jack Davies, Sweetshop

Marcus Mumford - You'll Never Walk Alone

Disney's Big Hero 6 - Official US Trailer 1

Faced with the issues of enforced quarantine in making his video for Marcus Mumford's version of You'll Never Walk Alone, Nicolas Jack Davies turned to Zoom - possibly before most of us had heard of it -&nbsp;and&nbsp;pioneered some principles of the current phase of remote directing. Crucially&nbsp;the end result,&nbsp;with Mumford performing with Reuben James from their respective homes, has real emotional impact.Mumford's recording of the classic song - best known for its associations with&nbsp;Liverpool FC - preceded the onset of the Covid-19 crisis, and its purpose was always to support causes close to his heart: The Grenfell Trust and War Child UK. But the fact that Mumford and James had to rig up the camera set-up themselves, as per the directions of Davies and DoP Edgar Dubrovskiy, certainly adds another layer of purpose to the project.It was also made feasible by Davies' longstanding relationship with Mumford, that goes back to the very early days of Mumford &amp; Sons, and resumed last year after a long hiatus with the music video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/12/10/mumford-sons-blind-leading-blind-nicolas-jack-davies/62296" target="_blank">Blind Leading The Blind</a>, from the band's recent album Delta.&nbsp;Dubrovskiy also worked on that video, as did editor Liam Bachler, who does a fine job here with the ebb and flow of the creative process, where the usual separation&nbsp;of 'BTS' and 'video' disappears.

United Kingdom

Theo Youngstein

Morgan Whitlock

Justin Edmund-White

Edgar Dubrovskiy

Liam Bachler

TenThree

Vic Parker

Raised By Wolves

Philip Bolland

Factory

Island Records

Rock

Marcus Mumford ft Reuben James 'You'll Never Walk Alone' by Nicolas Jack Davies

Marcus Mumford delivers the emotion at the heart of his band's new track Blind Leading The Blind through a cathartic performance on the drums, in this&nbsp;intense yet reflective video directed by Nicolas Jack Davies.Shot whilst the group were on tour in Bangkok, the industrial&nbsp;laundry setting works perfectly, ensuring Mumford's performance is&nbsp;the sole focus for the duration of the video.&nbsp;Edgar Dubrovskiy's use of super-slow motion creates snapshots of the action - shot on a Phantom 6K -&nbsp;allows the viewer to ponder these heightened emotional moments and the setting. And the further use of strobe lights creates a frenetic and exaggerated energy which Marcus Mumford thrives in. And ultimately this is all about Mumford's powerfully physical yet emotional&nbsp;performance.The video is the result of a renewed collaboration between Mumford &amp; Sons&nbsp;and Davies - formerly of directing duo Fred &amp; Nick, who directed much of the band's visual output&nbsp;for their first two albums. Having shot the band performing the track at ACL in October, Davies has now directed a strongly cinematic accompaniment to this powerful track&nbsp;- pure&nbsp;in its concept, and executed very well indeed.[imgtoken data:1]

Anson Gil Mercado

Laura Geagea

Thanadet Pradit

Tenthree Editing

David Knight

Alt Rock

Mumford & Sons 'Blind Leading The Blind' by Nicolas Jack Davies

Mumford-&amp;-Sons-'Blind-Leading-The-Blind'-by-Nick-Davies

When Brave Bird Saved is Fred &amp; Nick’s 15 minute short film featuring the first four tracks from Laura Marling’s new album Once I Was An Eagle – a combination of artist and dance performance in a cinematic setting, that serves as an introduction to the album and a precursor to Fred &amp; Nick’s video for the album’s first single <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO2gm29rI7E">Master Hunter</a>.Fred &amp; Nick say: “We wanted to progress things on from our previous collaborations with Laura, and with the narrative of Once I Was An Eagle being so strong our interpretation was from a theatrical perspective. We wanted this to feel expansive, ambitious and have a strong sense of journey at its core. The story expands and continues onwards into the video for Master Hunter and then further beyond in the coming months.“We shot the film in just ten hours with heroic effort from all involved – with particular mention to choreographer Kitty McNamee, dancer Jessica Lee Keller, DP Tom Banks and his team, steadicam op Ari Robbins, and our producer Sloane who was incredible and stuck with it throughout – and Billy Mead and his team at Ten Three, James Tillett and Edwin at MPC, Andrew Curtis and Lucile – all of whom consistently went above and beyond during the post process.”The trailer is below – and the full 15 minute film is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7eRrTKmYO0">here</a>.

Nicolas Jack Davies

Director

1 interview featuring Nicolas Jack Davies

3 videos featuring Nicolas Jack Davies

2020 (1)

2019 (1)

2013 (1)

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