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We spoke to Joe Connor about how he came to work with Japanese superstar Hikaru Utada, how they bonded over their&nbsp;shared love of the works of Carl Jung - and why he flooded the music video shoot for Bad Mode.Joe Connor has worked with numerous big artists - The Rolling Stones, Rag 'N Bone Man, Biffy Clyro, Mumford &amp; Sons, to name a few. But it still came as something as a surprise that Connor's latest video is for a Japanese pop legend.Hikaru Utada certainly has that status, the American-Japanese singer-songwriter being a huge star in Japan since the Nineties. But she indeed turned to Connor to help launch her latest album Bad Mode with the video for the album's title track. The result is a sumptuous performance video&nbsp;with a surprising twist.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In one of several performance set-ups, a&nbsp;reflective Hikaru contemplates a new love affair while she sits&nbsp;waiting&nbsp;in a taxi rank&nbsp;- which is then flooded, and transformed into a pool, seemingly when the fishtank in the office overflows.[vidtoken data:0]With cinematography by Alex Jamin, and production design by Luke Moran-Morris, the look of the video is as glamourous&nbsp;as befits an artist of this stature. But Moran-Morris's production design&nbsp;is also ingenious: he built the main set on stilts above an underwater tank, then lowered the set into the water tank at a studio in Basildon during the shoot.So we spoke to Joe Connor about the project, and how he ended up in Essex with a Japanese pop queen...&nbsp;How did the project start? Were you surprised to be asked to write a treatment for a top Japanese artist?This particular&nbsp;project came about in a very strange and unusual way. I was contacted almost out of the blue by a representative for Hikaru who wanted to know more about my process, how I work with an artist. We struck up a really good relationship and before you know it, half of Tokyo was flying out to an underwater tank in Basildon.[imgtoken data:1]Even though I hadn't worked with Hikaru before I knew she had worked with Rina [Yang, the DoP] and I'd actually randomly recommended a friend of mine to Rina, to be a lighting designer of Hikaru's tour a few years ago. So&nbsp;there were some strange connections. It must be fate.&nbsp;<blockquote>I wrote the idea thinking the room was purgatory - an inner space where the main character is stuck.&nbsp;</blockquote>How did you come up with your idea? And how does it relate to the song, Bad Mode? What sort of references did you include in your treatment?This is the first time I've written&nbsp;an idea for a track without knowing the meaning of the lyrics. I'm a lyric-focused director, not in the sense of replicating the exact meaning, but in looking behind them and finding the emotional state of the artist writing them. It was almost impossible to do that process on this, as the translation into English doesn't quite work. There are Japanese slang terms that are only really understood by those that know.[imgtoken data:2]That being said, I got a very deep feeling of someone caught in limbo, held in a space unable to move or progress forward. That feeling formed the basis of the idea; waiting for a taxi that never comes, and waiting so long the room floods. I wrote the idea thinking the room was purgatory - an inner space where the main character is stuck.When I pitched it to Hikaru I thought she'd laugh me out the room.&nbsp;But it turns out we both have the same Jung books on our respective bedside table. Once you know someone is a fan of Jung you can move ideas into a dream space without fear that it'll be too 'out there'.Hikaru is an amazingly perceptive person and we resonated really well. My interpretation of the track captured how she felt when she was writing it, and once we had that understanding it all just fell into place.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:3] Was there much communication with the artist ahead of the shoot? Did they have requests or requirements about how they wanted to video to look and how they wanted to be filmed?I had a lot of chats with Hikaru but they were more focussed around how the video needed to feel, rather then specifics regarding looks or filming style. I knew I wanted to push this video and be a bit looser with the operation then I'm used too.I love focussed and composed photography but it felt like this one was crying out for Dutch framing, handheld camerawork, and a bit more looseness. It was unusual territory for me&nbsp;but my DoP Alex Jamin, brought so much to the party that it kept me from wanting to nail everything down. It was a very free and alive project in that sense.[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>Luke Moran Morris... really brought some A-grade execution to this project.</blockquote>Where (and when) did you shoot the video? Flooding a set is always going to be a tricky business - how did you achieve it?I knew I wanted to build the set on a water tank. I've shot at Basildon for The Maccabees and more recently with Biffy Clyro, so I know the limitations of that facility. Writing ideas for specfifc&nbsp;locations is always helpful - it allows me to know what I can achieve and still surprise people with a bit of a creative twist.I must say that working out the set, how to build it on stilts, how to light it, how to lower it was all down to the genius of Luke Moran Morris and his team. He really brought some A-grade execution to this project.&nbsp;&nbsp;[imgtoken data:5]We then shot the&nbsp;dry section&nbsp;of the video before lunch, then lowered the set over lunch and while we were shooting the other set-ups (they were partly in there to give me that buffer while the set was sunk, allowing me to keep shooting without losing time) and then once the set was submerged we shot the second half of the video.The main challenge was containing the potential for chaos. A project like this can easily spiral as water starts to flood the set. So my main consideration was keeping the focus, keeping it fun and getting what we needed in the time we had.&nbsp;• Joe Connor is based at <a href="https://www.roguefilms.co.uk/" target="_blank">Rogue Films</a>, and represented by Alexa Haywood at <a href="https://www.freeagent.uk.com/" target="_blank">Free Agent UK</a> for music videos.&nbsp;More work <a href="https://www.roguefilms.co.uk/directors-roster/joe-connor" target="_blank">here</a>.

Joe Connor

Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK

Joe Connor on Hikaru Utada's Bad Mode: 'I had a feeling of someone caught in limbo.'

Hikaru-Utada-'Bad-Mode'-by-Joe-Connor

Hikaru Utada 'Bad Mode' by Joe Connor

It's eleven years since Sam Brown's first video for Adele. Finally, we have his second, and it was worth the wait.It was Brown's iconic video for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYEDA3JcQqw" target="_blank">Rolling In The Deep</a> that kickstarted Adele's ascent to superstardom, of course. Now for Oh My God he has supercharged the elements that made that video a slow-burning masterpiece.[imgtoken data:1]Once again, a performance by Adele - now mature, so much more self-confident - is framed within a series of vignettes that represent the elements of the song. But this time these individual parts of the vision are brought together, all appearing&nbsp;within&nbsp;a single extraordinary camera movement.With the beautifully choreographed flow of characters and objects, the repetition of individuals on screen - primarily&nbsp;Adele herself - Brown has employed motion control camerawork at a level of sophistication and complexity that has been rarely achieved.But if this video is driven by it's concept, it never loses sight of the primary purpose - display the star quality of Adele. This is a stunning, virtuoso combination of&nbsp;artist performance with filmmaking skill and invention.

United Kingdom

Sam Brown

Imperial Woodpecker

Nkem Egbuchiri

Bryan Younce

Polly Ruskin

Roman Vasyanov

Megan Lawson

Nu California

Jamie Mizrahi

Sami Knight

Anthony Nguyen

Natasha Newman-Thomas

Jenni Clark

Sam Ostrove

Cabin Edit

Electric Theatre Collective

Phil Lee

Untold Studios

Taylor James

Kimmie Kyees

Adele 'Oh My God' by Sam Brown

Adele - Oh My God (Official Video)

Joe Connor shares his powerful video for Celeste's Hear My Voice, the soundtrack of upcoming Netflix release The Trial of the Chicago 7.&nbsp;The video interweaves&nbsp;poignant moments from Aaron Sorkin's&nbsp;film - which centres upon countercultural protests in Chicago in 1968, and seven defendants accused of conspiracy by the federal government - and a handful of stunning performance vignettes.&nbsp;Celeste has tremendous&nbsp;presence on-screen, bringing a warmth and vulnerability to her performance as she traverses an empty courthouse. The use of lingering shots and crossfades allows viewers to reflect on the themes present in the concept, and strikes a perfect balance between snapshots of the film and shots of the artist.&nbsp;

MrMr

Kate Taylor

Alexa Haywood

Wayne Bentley

Aaron Reid

Brendan Harvey

Loren Filis

Damien Ansell

Semera Khan

Andrew Bainbridge

Alternative R&B

Soul

Celeste 'Hear My Voice' by Joe Connor

Celeste-'Hear-My-Voice'-by-Joe-Connor

Channel 4&#39;s work in challenging perceptions of&nbsp;disability, most notably with their coverage of the 2012&nbsp;Paralympics, reaches a new landmark with Born Risky - a new brand campaign dedicated on changing attitudes towards the disabled &ndash; and this trailblazing and spectacular video directed by Saam Farahmand.&nbsp;Step forward Viktoria Modesta, who has been billed as the world&#39;s first bionic pop artist in the brouhaha surrounding&nbsp;Saam&#39;s video for Prototype - previewed in a 40 second commercial in the final ad break of&nbsp;The&nbsp;X Factor Final&nbsp;last Sunday. And although it&#39;s likely&nbsp;the video cost much less to make than the cost of buying that super-premium ad slot&nbsp;(an estimated &pound;200K) Saam has propelled this unknown artist into a high end pop video worthy of Madonna or Lady Gaga.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In&nbsp;a Thirties-style dictatorship, Viktoria becomes the fulcrum of dissent, because of her talent and non-conformism - of which her disability symbolises. Her lower left leg is missing, so she wears a series of intriguing prosthetic limbs (designed by&nbsp;Sophie de Oliveria Barata) and radiates those elements of rebellion and sexuality&nbsp;that marks her out as a potential icon. And that&#39;s before a mesmerizing puppet-dance routine with her cone-shaped limb wielded like a super-stiletto.Arguably there is a paradox here &ndash; the artist&#39;s physical difference is celebrated at least as much as her talent - but there&#39;s&nbsp;no question Saam has now achieved what he has long threatened: made a really outstanding pure pop video.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Saam Farahmand

Kate Hitchings

Florian Hoffmeister

Tim Gibson

Joanna Hir

Jay Revell

David Stevens

The Assembly Rooms

Channel 4

Chris Bovill

Viktoria Modesta ‘Prototype’ by Saam Farahmand

Tom Haines&#39;s film for Jon Hopkins&#39; Collider has a hard act to follow, coming after&nbsp;the epic award-winning&nbsp;video for Hopkins&#39; Open Eye Signal.&nbsp;There&#39;s a similar focus on one individual, and photography once again by the redoubtable Steve Annis - who won the best cinematography award at the UKMVAs in October for his work on Open Eye Signal.&nbsp;Unlike that Aoife McArdle-directed video, this is a far more intense, internalised experience. But it&#39;s just as mesmerizing.A girl&#39;s extreme behaviour at a rave leads to her switching into an alternate reality, alone in an&nbsp;vast derelict industrial&nbsp;space. And in her increasingly frenzied state, this switches to being&nbsp;her main reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Tom Haines

Connor Hollman

Steve Annis

Dan Sherwen

Final Cut

Aubrey Woodiwiss

Hammond & Cox

Amanda Wass

John Moule

Domino

Dom Gomez

Electronica, Alternative

Jon Hopkins 'Collider' by Tom Haines

Jon Hopkins 'Collider'

Sam Brown marks his return to promo-making - it&#39;s his first since his iconic video for&nbsp;Adele&#39;s Rolling In The Deep - with this beautifully atmospheric promo&nbsp;for Strong by&nbsp;the critically-acclaimed London Grammar.Shot at the 6th Street Viaduct in Los Angeles, the video combines Sam&#39;s love of pyrotechnics set against an emotional tale about a father and his daughter and the &#39;strange and beautiful ritual that connects them together&#39;.

PJ Sodaski

Tom Farley

Charlie Crompton

Sue Yeon Ahn

Autumn Cheyenne Durald

Amanda James

Seamus O'Kane

The Mill

The Director's Bureau

Nash Edgerton

Savannah Young

Pyro Boy

Wally Glenn

OB Management

Ministry of Sound

Caroline Clayton

Indie

London Grammar 'Strong' by Sam Brown

London Grammar - 'Strong' - Directed by Sam Brown

Simple, strong, rude idea, ingeniously executed - Saam's promo video for <a href="http://www.2manydjs.com/radio/" target="_blank">Radio Soulwax</a> (Soulwax's 24hour music website-app) is fantastic. 
And, for one reason or another, couldn't help thinking about those <a href="http://kissmyblackads.blogspot.com/2008/11/ohio-players-album-art.html" target="_blank">Ohio Players album covers</a>...

James W

Andrew Daffy

Mikkel Hansen

Georgia Shelton

Leon Hoser

Abigail Alvarez

Shoreditch Studios

Radio Soulwax 'Machine' by Saam Farahmand

Radio-Soulwax-'Machine'-by-Saam-Farahmand

Ron Scalpello's dramatic and moving film for Mason &amp; Roisin Murphy's Boadicea portrays the tale of a young woman at the end of her tether due to the pressures of modern living. 
"Mason wanted to make a promo that conveyed all the spirit and resolve of a modern day Boadicea," says Ron. "We focussed on a single mother trying to bring up her family in tough times and how the pressures of everyday life can generate aggressive responses. We did not want to hold back and concern ourselves with the do's and don't of what a promo should do but try and make something genuinely affecting and surprising. 
"We cast two brilliant actors. Jennie Jacques (Shank, Desperate Romantics) took the lead role as she has an amazing power to convey deep world weary sadness and strong resolve. Jason Maza (Shifty) plays her wayward boyfriend struggling to cope. It works like a film as we follow our depressed heroine into her dark imagination.
"Shot in one day on the Alexa and Canon 5D in East London, with the new Olympic building over-looking us, we managed to tell a beautiful story with strong central performances. Somewhere between social realism and David Lynch fantasy, we hope the promo strikes a chord and surprises and shock as many people as possible."

Rogue Films

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