Executive Producer

Randi Wilens

<h3>When it comes to making pop promos there are few people more experienced than the two women who now head up 1stAveMusicVideos, the new division at 1stAveMachine. We spoke to Liz Kessler and Randi Wilens about their big new challenge - and why it's happened now.</h3>They have each been doing their thing on both sides of the Atlantic for a while now&nbsp;- and occasionally crossing paths and collaborating on projects, which has led to their enduring long-distance friendship. But now they are working in tandem - allowing for ann eight-hour time difference -&nbsp;for one of the big international players in commercial production.1stAveMachine has grown from originally being primarily an animation production company, when they were founded in New York in the early Noughties, to being wholly multi-disciplinary, and global. And now they have added Music Videos to their offering – thanks to Liz Kessler and Randi Wilens.It’s fair to say that both women have big reputations in the world of music video production, for both their considerable achievements and considerable personalities.In London, Liz Kessler first established herself as in-house video commissioner at Island Records in the early Noughties. ("I came in for a couple of weeks to sort out a few outstanding invoices and ended up staying for 5 years," she says). She then moved over to production later in the decade at Academy Films. She remains the only person to have won both the Best Commissioner and Best Producer awards at the UKMVAs.Over in LA, Randi Wilens came into music video production a decade earlier, at the beginning of the 1990s, and has been representing directors and executive producing their videos ever since, firstly at commercial production companies like Bedford Falls, before establishing her own agency, RW Media.They both have garnered huge amounts of experience with A-list artists and A-list directors down the years. At Island, Kessler commissioned videos for Amy Winehouse, Busted and&nbsp;Sugababes. For the latter she commissioned the video for Freak Like Me. "Working with not one, but two legends at the same time making that video - Dawn Shadforth and Sophie Muller," she recalls. "And it was my first PROMO magazine cover, which was a bit special!"&nbsp;At Academy, she produced and executive&nbsp;produced some eminent directors - including Corin Hardy, Us, Nabil, Bison, Nadia and Martin De Thurah -&nbsp;on videos for The Prodigy, Wiley, Paolo Nutini, London Grammar and many others.<blockquote>I like breaking directors and I like working with directors that have been in the game for a minute or two.</blockquote>Meanwhile Wilens started out in videos working with The Black Crowes before exec producing one of the most controversial videos of the early Nineties: Nine Inch Nails’ Happiness Is Slavery. She went on EP the Wayne Isham-directed video for Michael Jackson’s You Are Not Alone. In the Noughties she worked with Irish director Meiert Avis on projects like Audioslave’s Like A Stone.Her roster contains a smattering of legendary video directors, including Mark Pellington and Kevin Kerslake – who recently directed a video for the current iteration of Smashing Pumpkins. But she also has lots of younger talent on her books too -&nbsp;and Wilens’ management company has always been big on animation - including Anthony Schepperd, Pix3lface, Dessie Jackson, Dusty Deen and more.“I represent 20 animators. I've got some fabulous female directors, and great young up and coming directors. So I kind of run the gamut. I like breaking directors and I like working with directors that have been in the game for a minute or two.”Kerry Smart, MD of 1stAveMachine in London spoke to Liz Kessler about creating a music video division at the company last year, who then recommended her old friend Wilens to run the US side. So a few months in, we caught up with them both on a Zoom call to find out how things were progressing… &nbsp;PROMONEWS: How would you explain your roles within 1stAveMachine &amp; IstAveMusicVideos?LK: We’re representing directors, building a new division within the company, scouting talent and exec production.And&nbsp;how are things going so far?RW: Well, I just did a video with one of their directors, an animation directing collective in Spain called BRUT, for the rock band Goo Goo Dolls, and I completely oversaw the project. I'm good friends with the band’s manager and close with their label, Warner Brothers. The Goo Goo Dolls loved BRUT’s treatment, and they just let them do their thing. There wasn't even one change.So that’s been exciting. Firstly, re-establishing a relationship with 1stAveMachine and being excited to get them work and meeting BRUT, this new company in Spain, and Martin Allais, who is their creative director.What's so exciting about these times, I think, is you can find directors all over the world. [You can] represent directors in six different countries, animators in six different countries. And that's something you didn't do ten years ago.[vidtoken data:0]Above: The Goo Goo Dolls' Run All Night, directed by BRUTWhere did your associations start with 1stAveMachine, and how did you begin working with the company?LK: I’ve known the wonderful Kerry Smart since we worked together at Academy Films. &nbsp;She and I spoke about working together on a music video department last year.&nbsp; &nbsp; RW: I go back with 1stAveMachine&nbsp;when they were just a very small company, in the early 2000s. We did a bunch of videos with Asif&nbsp;Mian, so I’ve known Serge Patzak, one of the principals of the company since that time. Back then I thought he was amazing and always loved the vibe of the company.At that point they were based in downtown Manhattan, and I felt they were very underground and forward thinking. I just remember flying into New York [from LA], and liking how they did things, and how supportive they were of their director. We did 4 or 5 videos before Asif&nbsp;decided he really wanted to go into commercials.So I have history with the company, and was thrilled that they came back to ask me to work with them – and I loved that Liz brought me in. I worked with Liz when she was at Island and I loved that experience. So it just seemed like the dynamic was so fabulous and serendipitous.[vidtoken data:1]Above: PREP's Carrie, directed by Em ColeWhat’s the potential benefit for 1stAveMachine in being involved in music videos and other music-related content?LK: It’s a great way to source new talent and to give existing talent an opportunity for development. Other arms of the industry have always looked at the creativity in the music video world so a great video can also enhance the career of a director. &nbsp;IstAveMachine has a really great approach to mentoring&nbsp;and collaboration that’s a perfect fit for music videos. They really support their directors’ creativity so this felt like a very natural move. And there’s nothing more fun than a good video experience...RW: Doing musical visual content, it just gives you different exposure. People still love looking at music videos, directors still love doing them. You still have feature guys still like doing music videos. I mean, people love music. It's so universal. So I think it's exposure and just accessibility into a market that they're just not in.[vidtoken data:2]Above: Bob Marley's No Woman, No Cry, directed by Ron BroadyWho are the names on the IstAveMachine roster, or creatives connected to IstAveMachine, that either a) have a track record in music videos, or b) you have high hopes for making an impact in this field?LK: I’ll talk UK: Anthony Dickenson is a fantastic voice in music videos. &nbsp;His recent experimental films with Friedberg are gorgeous. And of course there’s his classic work with Findlay Brown and The XX.We have two very exciting new voices - Em Cole and Ricky Rose. They are super cool, very stylish but with something behind the curtain. They’re both innovative filmmakers with something to say. Em (like Anthony) is multi-disciplined with strong fashion and does colourful sexy photography as well as moving image. Ricky has been working with Black voices in London’s dance and art world - he’s done some lovely work with the V&amp;A.We have amazing animators based around the globe. And I’d encourage anyone looking for animation to check out the guys at BRUT, who did the recent Goo Goo Dolls video,&nbsp;put together by the amazing Randi . They have a wild imagination. We love their treatments.<blockquote>IstAveMachine has a really great approach to&nbsp;mentoring&nbsp;and collaboration that’s a perfect fit for music videos.</blockquote>RW: BRUT have a really strong aesthetic that I like - and they also have a great narrative bent. They wrote a great narrative treatment [for Goo Goo Dolls], and when you can do that in animation and you want to see a video over and over again, it just speaks volumes.I also like Em Cole, and Ron Brodie – I like his work a lot. IstAveMachine has an amazing roster and they're very collaborative and they're very excited about this division. So they've given me and Liz full reign to bring in music.On some of the directors that don't really have music videos, my goal is to send music to a few directors and see if the song resonates and have them write. Its often an effective way to get directors into the fold. I also ask their directors to give me bands that they want to work with, and then I go after those artists and say, this director loves your artist. I hit up managers.[vidtoken data:3]Above: Friedberg's MIDI 8, directed by Anthony DickensonAnimation is a big thing for you [aka RW Media], isn’t it? &nbsp; RW: It has been for a long time. I'm big in the tour visual game right now. I’ve just done huge animated tour visuals for Bad Bunny, Anderson Pak, Blink 182, Odesza, Matchbox 20… It's a big business. &nbsp; How do you assess the industry – the music video industry - at the moment?&nbsp;LK: Same struggles as ever. But also the same passion and love that music videos have always inspired.&nbsp;RW: It's kind of the Wild West. I'm finding that artists make decisions. It's really an artist world. They pick the treatment. They know usually what director they want to work with. It's just that budgets are challenging. &nbsp; What’s good about being an artist’s world is that you cut out a lot of periphery. The artist reads the treatment, knows what they like, gets on the phone with director, and you're shooting it.&nbsp;When you're dealing with the likes of Jack White or Billy Corgan, there’s no downside to that. They've been in the game a long time, and they know what they like. The downside is when you're dealing with an artist that really doesn't know what they want to do, and you go back and forth and back and forth, and then the video goes away.&nbsp;But to me the one thing that's so interesting about music videos now, is it's all about the creative. Back in the day, it was all about what the director had on their reel. Now if you write a great treatment and the artist likes it and I executive produce it, I can get you that job - even if you've got nothing on your reel.Yes, Instagram is important. But if that looks good, and you write a great treatment, I can get you the job.• Contact&nbsp;Liz Kessler about 1stAveMusicVideos in London <a href="http://liz.kessler@gmail.com" target="_blank">here</a>;&nbsp;contact Randi Wilens about 1stAveMusicVideos in LA <a href="http://randirwmedia@gmail.com" target="_blank">here</a>

1stAveMusicVideos

1stavemachine

Liz Kessler

Getting animated about videos with 1stAveMusicVideos' Liz Kessler and Randi Wilens 

Goo Goo Dolls - Run All Night (Official Music Video)

Prep-'Carrie'-by-Em-Cole

Bob Marley - No Woman, No Cry (Official Video)

Friedberg - Midi 8 (Official Video)

Animation team Dedo Ciego (‘Blind Finger’) of BRUT Collective have created an imaginative mixed media visual for Goo Goo Doll’s heartfelt Run All Night.Joaquín Urbina and Ana Gale - aka Dedo Ciego - use a range of collage techniques to evoke the themes of a song described by the US rock band’s frontman John Rzeznik as “about escaping your circumstances and finding hope in the wild unknown of the night”, incorporating stock imagery and typography.Produced by Brut Collective out of 1stAveMusicVideos - the new department at 1stAveMachine’s first completed project - the video begins with disembodied cutout body parts floating in space and playing the song’s haunting opening piano line, geometric shapes, and introducing a constant throughout: the silhouetted runner.Then the film builds a world around the runner and cutouts, through a sensory assault of vintage stock photography and psychedelic imagery. Together with the clever use of typography to represent lyrics it’s a powerful and mesmerising visual framing of the song.The new track, the first since the band's last album Chaos In Bloom,&nbsp;arrives ahead of Goo Goo Dolls’ The Big Night Out&nbsp;US tour.&nbsp;The band will be partnering with&nbsp;<a href="https://joetorre.org/" target="_blank">Joe Torre Safe At Home</a>&nbsp;for the tour, a nonprofit founded in 2002 by Ali and Joe Torre to provide healing and education services to youth who have been traumatized by exposure to violence including domestic violence, child abuse, teen dating abuse, and sexual assault to help break the cycle of violence.“It was great to work with the Goo Goo Dolls,"&nbsp;says Martin Allais, ECD and founder BRUT Collective.&nbsp;"They appreciated our art and it’s a breath of fresh air to work in an environment where artistic visions are supported and nurtured. We couldn’t be happier with this collaboration.”Executive Producer Randi Wilens added: “BRUT's Collective stunning treatment and keen aesthetic&nbsp; eally connected with the band.&nbsp;The piece is magical and the GGD's feel they were delivered a true piece of art.”&nbsp;

United States

Dedo Ciego

BRUT Collective

Martin Allais

Sara Camacho

Marc Sanz

Warner Records

Rock

Goo Goo Dolls 'Run All Night' by Dedo Ciego

Tess Lafia visualises&nbsp;singer-songwriter Madeline The Person's song about being fed up with her stoner boyfriend in a charming mix of&nbsp;animation with live action.&nbsp;The video for Why I Broke Up With You interweaves a stop-motion narrative featuring the strained relationship and broken promises within the setting of a doll's house,&nbsp;with Madeline's deadpan performance.[imgtoken data:1]This is a beautifully realised piece of work, which balances glossy beauty shots with quite a raw, grimy aesthetic in the narrative, and perfectly realises the themes in the track.&nbsp;At the end of the concept, Madeline celebrates her freedom and the next stage of her life, having chucked out her weed-obsessed&nbsp;boyfriend. He is just too wasted to protest...

Cleo Camp

Tess Lafia

Kane Lafia

Taytum Blake

Noah Deats

Mirror Films

Devin Sarno

Bamba Kimball

Eric Barrett

Beau Lyon @ Company 3

Warner Music Group

OB Management

Madeline The Person 'Why I Broke Up With You' by Tess Lafia

Madeline-The-Person-'Why-I-Broke-Up-With-You'-by-Tess-Lafia

He's probably best known for his remarkable works of handdrawn animated psychedelia for alternative and rock artists like <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2012/02/16/bonobo-eyesdown-machinedrum-remix-anthony-f-scheppard/11885" target="_blank">Bonobo</a> and Ape School, but Philly-based animator Anthony F. Scheppard makes a confident stride into mainstream pop for James Arthur's team-up with Ty Dolla $ign, without compromising his distinctive style.

United Kingdom

Anthony Schepperd

Jori Teplitzky

Taik Lee

Carolee Karpell

Ian Foster

Francis Amisola

Puks Phadke

Amelie Swann

Hip Hop

James Arthur & Ty Dolla $ign ft. Shotty Horroh 'Treehouse' by Anthony F. Scheppard 

James Arthur & Ty Dolla $ign feat. Shotty Horroh - Treehouse

Superstar DJ Steve Aoki seems to be enjoying a peaceful moment as Jimmy Ahlander and&nbsp;Robin Antiga&#39;s video for Lie To Me begins. But there&#39;s a surprise in store.Ahlander and Antiga&nbsp;have created a photorealistic virtual Aoki, who changes to reveal further identities - an older version of himself in the form of a statue; and then finally stripped back to reveal the android identity within. And is this his real self all along?

Jimmy Ahlander

Robin Antiga

Goodcompany

Pixeltown

Trevor Potts

Scissor Films

Steve Aoki

Ultra Records

Steve Aoki ft. Ina 'Lie To Me' by Jimmy Ahlander & Robin Antiga

Steve-Aoki-Feat.-Ina-'Lie-To-Me'-by-Jimmy-Ahlander-&-Robin-Antiga

Animator Steve Mertens has created this enchanting, elaborate&nbsp;animated world&nbsp;for Chicago-based pop band&nbsp;Louis The Child&#39;s track It&#39;s Strange, which features&nbsp;singer&nbsp;K. Flay as our lead&nbsp;protagonist.It sees the singer going on an adventure through an ultra-vibrant world, casually meandering around under the sea, navigating fiery underground pits of doom like it&#39;s nothing, and&nbsp;riding on butterflies among other fantastical things. And as&nbsp;she sings about her newly-found love,&nbsp;intricately drawn creatures such as a beautifully coloured dragon wind through&nbsp;the clouds to the beat of the music.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Steven Mertens

RW Media

Valentina Vistoli

Ultra

Louis The Child ft. K. Flay 'It's Strange' by Steven Mertens

Louis-The-Child-Ft.-K.-Flay-'It's-Strange'-by-Steven-Mertens

Chelmsford-native Rat Boy&#39;s dance-pop single Move has been paired with this awesome stop-motion animated video made by&nbsp;Dillon Markey.In it, we&nbsp;follow a&nbsp;skater&nbsp;through hollywood as he gets chased by ninjas, fighting his way out of close calls and zigzagging effortlessly through the city. It&#39;s a fitting aesthetic for the hip-hop influenced track, with a grinning&nbsp;protagonist that perfectly embodies&nbsp;the&nbsp;giddy&nbsp;defiance of the song.

Dillon Markey

Sam Seager

Parlophone/warner Bros.

Rat Boy 'Move' by Dillon Markey

Rat-Boy--'Move'-by-Dillon-Markey

Following up his ghoulish transformation in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2015/10/29/panic-disco-emperors-new-clothes-daniel-cloud-campos" target="_blank">Emperor&#39;s New Clothes</a>, Brendan Urie gets back in&nbsp;into his usual dapper suit&nbsp;look for Death Of A Bachelor, a heavily&nbsp;Frank Sinatra inspired video.An expertly shot performance video with a&nbsp;noir aesthetic, it sees Urie charm&nbsp;and dazzle us on stage,&nbsp;showing off his impressive vocal range and swoon-worthy&nbsp;stage presence.&nbsp;Who knew Brendon Urie had so much Sinatra in him?

Scantron

Mel Soria

Panic! At The Disco 'Death Of A Bachelor' by Scantron & Mel Soria

Panic!-At-The-Disco--'Death-Of-A-Bachelor-'-by-Scantron-&-Mel-Soria

Calum Macdiarmid has directed this stirring, beautiful film for Melody Gardot&rsquo;s new single Preacherman &ndash; taken from her forthcoming album The Current Man &ndash;&nbsp;&nbsp;inspired by the racially motivated murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was killed in 1955, 60 years ago this August.Emmett Till&#39;s murder became a seminal event in 20th century American history, many believing it contributed to the start of the American civil rights movement, and the video was made in association with the Emmet Till Legacy Foundation, which educates young children about racism in the United States.Calum Macdiarmid does proper justice to the&nbsp;tragic story by employing a&nbsp;sensitive&nbsp;and compassionate angle with his direction.&nbsp;

Calum Macdiarmid

Tim Francis

Jonathon Ker

Great Guns

Annie Hanlon

Sheridan Thomas

Sy Turnbull

James Demetriou

Glassworks

Cynthia Lole

Decca Records

Amile Wilson

Dugal Macdiarmid

Matt Hare

Melody Gardot 'Preacherman' by Calum Macdiarmid

Melody-Gardot-''preacherman''-by-Calum-Macdiarmid

Shot in the Mojave desert and beautifully captured by DP&nbsp;Todd Banhazl, Jimmy Ahlander and Robin Antiga&#39;s allegorical&nbsp;promo for Smashing Pumpkins&#39; Drum&nbsp;&amp; Fife sees a group of kids armed with catapults and a drum, playing war&nbsp;in the dunes - but then mysteriously and cruelly&nbsp;subjected to a real mortar attack.

Brian Welsh

Good Company

George Nessis

Todd Banhazl

Sean Fazende

Cut+Run

Kevin Cannon

Prehistoric Digital

Lock It In

Indie

Smashing Pumpkins 'Drum & Fife' by Jimmy Ahlander & Robin Antiga

Smashing-Pumpkins-'Drum-&-Fife'-by-Jimmy-Ahlander,-Robin-Antiga

Chris Lenox Smith, member of animation team Mixtape Club, went solo with this great video for Primus's Lee Van Cleef. The song is all about the actor who was a legendary Western bad guy, and Clint Eastwood's nemesis in The Good The Bad &amp; The Ugly. And in Chris's video, LVC is back - from the dead - and he wants one more duel in the sun. 
Its in the distinctive style of Mixtape Club vids like My Morning Jacket's <a href="http://chrislenoxsmith.com/my-morning-jacket-touch-me-im-gonna-scream-part-2.html" target="_blank">Touch Me I'm Gonna Scream</a>, and you can check out the process how it was made <a href="http://primusleevancleef.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. "Animated zombie western, what's not to love Big ups to Les and ATO for letting me run wild with this one," says Chris.
This came out in May, and has now been added to the Official Selection of the Ottawa 2012 International Animation Festival.

Chris Lenox Smith

Mixtape Club

Bruce Moreau

Primus 'Lee Van Cleef' by Chris Lenox Smith

Primus-'Lee-Van-Cleef'-by-Chris-Lenox-Smith

Nick Peterson's hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners video for US rockers Five Finger Death Punch's Coming Down tackles the disturbing modern phenomenon of cyber-bullying and 'suicide blogs' - and has racked up over 350,000 hits on YouTube in just five days.
With strong performances from the teens who seal a suicide pact - played by Samantha Gill and Leland Montgomery - the video skilfully weaves the source of their despair with different potential scenarios, and also includes a brilliant animated sequence. Nick is an animator himself - his marvellous video for Tweak Bird's <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/2010/02/02/bug-17-tweak-bird%E2%80%99s-the-bones-by-nicholas-peterson/" target="_blank">The Bones</a> being a good example of his work - but the sequence here is by the prodigiously talented Anthony Scheppard, producing a no-holds barred depiction of the psychological cruelty they suffer. 

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=ptzzU7jFQwo
Nick Peterson on making the video for Five Finger Death Punch's Coming Down
"I did a lot of research into the stories and patterns of teen suicide because I wanted to make this video as authentic as possible and have it be a road map for both parents and teens going down this path of destruction. I also wanted to give an answer of hope, and show people that we can save lives if we just look out for these warning signs and do something about it before it's too late. 
"The violence in the beginning of the video was used, not only to shock people and hook them, but to also establish that this will happen to your son and daughter if action is not taken by the friends and family of the teen. These kids are depressed and feel there is no hope for them, and it's our job as family and friends to give them that hope and love.

"The animation was designed to get into the minds of the teen and show the level of the fear kids have when they are being bullied. The horror and graphic destruction of their bodies by the monsters is exaggerated to hit the audience in the gut hard to help them understand the mortal fear bullies can put into the victim.
"I was having a difficult time figuring out the ending of the video. I knew what I wanted but as unsure how to get there. While interviewing Samantha Gill the actress who played the teen girl, the answer fell right into my lap. She told me a story of how she almost killed herself. She was depressed. She was a cutter, (She showed me the deep scar on her body) and heavily into drugs/alcohol. She made a plan, deleted her myspace page, cleaned her room, bought herself a new dress, and planned to jump from the roof of her building. 
"I asked her what stopped her and she said, 'Out of the blue, my Grandma came to visit me, and I saw it as a sign that I should live.' Just that simple act of her grandmother coming to visit showed her that someone out there did love her and she decided to live. She never told her grandmother or her family about this any of this. She was 13 years old."

Gas&Electric

Producer

Chris Saul

CJ Miller

Yi London

Five Finger Death Punch 'Coming Down' by Nick Peterson

Five-Finger-Death-Punch-'Coming-Down'-by-Nick-Peterson

Helena Bonham-Carter shines as the lonesome librarian being left on the bookshelf in Phil Andelman's video for Rufus Wainwright's charming Out Of The Game.
But it's Rufus who gets to ham it up playing three characters who get up to all sorts of shenanigans in the reading room - the London Zoo library, no less... 

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=6KvTDeHlIfI

Phil Andelman

Partizan

Phil Tidy

Jeff Pantaleo

Brett Webb

Will Bex

Anna Rhodes

Emma Lamp

Carol Hemmings

Maxime Pozzi

Aubrey Woodiwiss

production

Rufus Wainwright 'Out Of The Game' by Phil Andelman

Rufus-Wainwright-'Out-Of-The-Game'-by-Phil-Andelman

Neon Trees get to star in their own movie at the local Drive-In in Paul Boyd's infectious and beautifully retro clip for the band's rousing new single Everybody Talks.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/X5G9tIe84lE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""/>

Randi Wilens

Executive Producer

1 interview featuring Randi Wilens

13 videos featuring Randi Wilens

2023 (1)

2022 (1)

2019 (1)

2018 (1)

2016 (3)

2015 (2)

2012 (4)

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