Director

Tomás Whitmore

Tomás Whitmore&rsquo;s latest for Rae Sremmurd is a mind-bending party that plays with our perception of everything.The use of intricate set designs and forced-perspective photography in Whitmore&#39;s video for Perplexing Pegasus add to the all-round trippy setting that we find ourselves in, creating a video that is, well, perplexing to watch.

United States

Kimberly Stuckwisch

Diktator

Ian Blair

Nick Richardson

Drew Bienemann

Paolo Arriola

Matt Vieira

Chris Tonkovich

Spencer Graves

Fatima B

Darine Sengseevong

Mel Daniel

Nick Sanders

Ntropic

Andres Jaramillo

Chimney

OB Management

Mark Bridges

Interscope

Michelle Laine

Hip Hop

Rae Sremmurd 'Perplexing Pegasus' by Tomás Whitmore

Rae-Sremmurd-'Perplexing-Pegasus'-by-Tomás-Whitmore

Tomás Whitmore is no stranger to big ideas. Whether it&rsquo;s getting Mø to float supernaturally in a rocky desert, or constructing some dizzying and seemingly impossible long takes with Snakehips, his aesthetic flair is one of assured cinematic sensibility.His video for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2017/06/29/hamilton-mixtape-knaan-ft-snow-tha-product-riz-ahmed-residente-immigrants-we-get" target="_blank">The Hamilton Mixtape&#39;s Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)</a>&nbsp;performed by K&#39;Naan and featuring&nbsp;Residente, Riz MC &amp; Snow Tha Product &ndash; which came out in June,&nbsp;was nominated at the recent UKMVAs and an award-winner at this year&#39;s MTV Video Music Awards &ndash;&nbsp;&nbsp;is no exception. But in this case, Whitmore&nbsp;combined his love of strong visual motifs with wonderfully measured political discourse.What begins as a train&nbsp;carrying tired and anxious refugees on a journey with an unknown destination becomes the setting for a series of busy workplaces where these travellers become crucial cogs in the American economic machine - garment workers, butchers and fruit pickers, hospital staff, and so on. Then on a subway train &#39;illegals&#39; gain identity-concealing black bands on their eyes, symbolically removed by Riz Ahmed. Later the train becomes a warzone, and then raided by the police, turning into a place of incarceration - a metaphor for the immigrants journey, hopes, fears, reality and nightmare.&nbsp;&nbsp;[vidtoken data:0]We wanted to know a little bit more about how the Immigrants video came into being, so we tracked down Tomás. He told us all about incorporating ideas from Robert Rodriguez into his own work, finding a production designer&rsquo;s dream location, and how a short scene from a 1931 movie featuring screen legend Joan Crawford inspired the video in the first place.LB: How did you come to be involved in the project?TW: As soon as I heard the track I got involved. It was impossible not to. The lovely Doug Klinger, who had just come on board as my US rep at Reprobates sent the project over, so a hat tip to him. The brief was an open-ended invitation for directors to listen to the song and see what it elicited. I appreciated the label&#39;s decision to let the music speak for itself.I only had a night to work out my idea, so I decided the best thing to do was to make a video treatment cut to the music. Lin [-Manuel Miranda, composer, writer and lead actor of the musical Hamilton] was extremely busy at the time making a movie, so the elevator pitch paid dividends in the long run. The immediate response from everyone it was positive, but sadly the excitement I felt from the pitch waned as the project fell into silence.[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>&quot;As I began to work out&nbsp;the details, the idea really started to click, the medium became the message. Here we are,&nbsp;on this age-old train of movement and migration.&quot;&nbsp;- Tomás Whitmore (above left, with producer&nbsp;Melora Donoghue)&nbsp;</blockquote>Then, nearly two months later, I got a phone call explaining that the project had disappeared because Robert Rodriguez&nbsp;and Lin had been talking about making the video together. Robert had a whole idea he had put together, but was unable to make it work with his schedule. So now our idea was the front runner, but the only caveat was that we needed to incorporate elements of Robert&#39;s idea into our concept. How could you say no to that offer?&nbsp;Thus, the integration of censorship bars in the NY Subway scene came to be. It was a beautiful scenario of melding concepts, and creating a stronger finished product. Seeing Riz rip that bar off his face and emerge from the shadows is one of my favorite moments in the film!With Hamilton itself being a phenomenon in musical theatre, were you at all worried about employing a more cinematic sensibility?I wasn&#39;t worried, but I was extremely sensitive to the matter. The story is important and it deserves a cinematic approach. The whole ethos of the project is to honour the heart and soul of the immigrant experience, so it had to carry weight. That was the word I kept coming back to in my conversations with my DP Drew Bienemann. In the end we agreed to root the visuals in shadows, a simple, yet strong representation of the immigrant experience.[imgtoken data:2]<blockquote>&quot;The first big win came when our producers found an incredible train yard that had over 50 trains in it.&quot;</blockquote>Speaking of cinematic sensibility - can you go into some detail about some of the films that influenced the work? In my article at the time the video was released I compared it to Bong Joon-ho&rsquo;s Snowpiercer - was I right, or way off?To make a film and have it compared to any of Bong Joon-ho&#39;s work is a huge compliment, but surprisingly Snowpiercer didn&#39;t cross my mind during the pitching processes. The influence came from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JLsE4Gfibs" target="_blank">the train scene in Possessed</a>. I love that scene. It captures so much about life, and it inspired the development of Immigrants immensely.As I began to work out the details, the idea really started to click, the medium became the message. Here we are, on this age-old train of movement/migration. Suddenly the film became a history of humanity, the movement of people, this never-ending journey. That was the idea that motivated the end shot of a world covered in trains. &nbsp; Talk me through the production design on this video. It feels like it takes place almost in an endlessly transforming tunnel, and I wondered what the logistics of shooting that were like.The logistics were wild: four artists, three shoot days, two cities, 10 sets, and a 40-plus cast. The first big win came when our producers, Kimberley Stuckwisch and Melora Donoghue, found an incredible train yard that had over 50 trains in it. From a production design standpoint we had already struck gold. We had trains from every era, in different states of despair, with the kind of texture that only comes from years of use.[imgtoken data:3]<blockquote>&quot;The whole ethos of the project is to honour the heart and soul of the immigrant experience, so it had to carry weight.&quot;</blockquote>Once we knew where we were filming, the only mandate was to infuse authenticity into every decision. To keep us rooted in our decision making we spent a lot of time revisiting news stories and pouring over the work of photojournalists. Spencer Graves [the production designer) and his team did an incredible job at building the worlds, allowing us to be in the spaces while we weren&#39;t shooting, to walk around them, to sit and imagine what the movement in them would feel like.When the clip first came out, you mentioned that the video was a transformative experience - can you talk a little bit about your experience telling these migrant stories and why it meant so much to you?Arriving on set and seeing every single person on the crew working with so much intention was a special feeling. It was so clear in everyone&rsquo;s demeanour that they were there for a reason, that they were passionate about the project. Everyone approached their work with such care and honour. It meant a lot because a large part of our cast were immigrants, because my family has its own struggles with immigration, and because there are people going through hell at this moment, all in search of a better life.[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>&quot;Arriving on set and seeing every single person on the crew working with so much intention&nbsp;was a special feeling.&quot;</blockquote>The most rewarding part of this process has been the response it&rsquo;s gotten. When we screened the film for the cast and crew, there were countless stories shared that night of personal experience. Stories of people screening the film for their families who had immigrated. To hear people say that the project filled them with pride has been the greatest compliment.Were there any scenes from the shoot that you&rsquo;d like to revisit, now that you&rsquo;ve had a few months to reflect on the finished product?In terms of what&#39;s in the final edit, there&#39;s nothing I would change. There is however one scene that got cut that I&#39;m still a bit perplexed by. The scene takes place at an anti-immigration rally, in which the Syrian father, holding his son tightly, has reached the end of his journey towards a better life only to be greeted by hatred. The problem with the scene was that we portrayed the anti-immigrant rally via caricatures rather than fully formed characters. If I could go back I would redirect the scene to reflect America&#39;s racism/xenophobia&nbsp;how it actually permeates; bubbling just beneath the surface.In the end we decided the film was a celebration of the migrant story, and that to include the anti-immigrant sentiment as we had portrayed it would give outlets like FOX the license to write slanderous headlines about the project. And who knows, even if the scene had been directed differently, it could&#39;ve still been destined for the trash bin.[imgtoken data:5]<blockquote>&quot;The most rewarding part of this process has been the response. To hear people say that the project filled them with pride has been the greatest compliment.&quot; - Whitmore (front, with cast and crew on set of Immigrants)</blockquote>What was it like to have Robert Rodriguez and Lin-Manuel Miranda as executive producers on this one? How involved were they?Surreal and surprisingly easy. We didn&#39;t communicate prior to the shoot, which I took as a strong vote of confidence on their ends, but the two got involved once post began. The biggest note discussed was the aforementioned anti-immigrant rally scene, and it was fascinating to hear Lin, who&#39;s obviously no stranger to scrutiny and news headlines, rationalize the decision to cut it.It was reassuring to have their collective expertise and experience in our corner, but also a big boost in confidence to hear how little they felt needed to change.

Q&A: Tomás Whitmore on making his Hamilton Mixtape's Immigrants video 

The-Hamilton-Mixtape---'k'naan-Ft.-Snow-Tha-Product,-Riz-Ahmed-&-Residente'--'Immigrants-(we-Get-The-Job-Done)'-by-Tomás-Whitmore-

The Hamilton Mixtape 'Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)' by Tomás Whitmore 

A couple of undercover cops ruin a rave in Tomás Whitmore&#39;s clip for Dillon Francis.Starring Luke Hemsworth (!), as a take-no-shit undercover cop, a performance video within a&nbsp;rave becomes a cop brawl in the blink of an eye. With some great physical comedy, over the top fight scenes and a candid bit of dialogue to close out the video, Whitmore manages to make something that&#39;s as funny as it is cool.

Melora Donoghue

Madia Hill Scott

Andrew Janes

Christina Ortiz

Tim Unger

Eric Fahy

John Carchietta

Michelle Thompson

Jenny Osborne

Dillon Francis ft. G-Eazy 'Say Less' by Tomás Whitmore

Dillon-Francis-Ft.-G-eazy-'Say-Less'-by-Tomás-Whitmore

Tomás Whitmore helms a creative tour de force in this timely video for The Hamilton Mixtape, featuring performances by K&#39;naan, Snow Tha Product, Riz Ahmed and&nbsp;Residente.Set entirely in train cars, this cinematic performance video uses the locations as a visual metaphor for the immigrant experience. Cramped living spaces, manual labour, border crossings and constant movement all factor heavily in this video. Traveling seamlessly through these socially conscious vignettes is akin to the dystopian futuristic film&nbsp;Snowpiercer&nbsp;except that this harrowing struggle is very much real and not just confined to the realms of Hollywood high concept.That may not be an accidental comparison either, being that Hamilton star Daveed Diggs (who makes an appearance at the end of this video) is slated to star in the TV adaptation of Snowpiercer. An incredible effort from a team that packs consistent punches both in front of and behind the camera.

Lin-manuel Miranda, Robert Rodriguez, Kimberly Stuckwisch, Ian Blair

Roland Berry

Kenneth Arnold Taylor

Geoff Taylor

Christina Flannery

Tomás Whitmore, Alexander Aquino

Ricky Gausis

MPC LA

Meghan Lang Bice, Rebecca Sue Boorsma, Elyse Robinson

Giant Propeller

Phil Botti

Atlantic Records Usa

John Mayer and Mister Whitmore get all &#39;Aesthetic with a capital A&#39;&nbsp;in this colourful, playful clip.Picture the Crazy 88 scene from Quentin Tarantino&#39;s,Kill Bill Vol. 1. Now imagine it occupying, as we now do, an era which historians will come to call &#39;Post-Hotline Bling&#39;. Oh, also there are dancing Pandas. It&#39;s hyper-colourful, it&#39;s carefree and breezy and it&#39;s more theatrical than it is cinematic. But it wears this vibe on its sleeve (or kimono, or whatever). Works a treat.

James Mclean

Rob Witt

Tyler Jensen

Lisa Eaton

Nicholas Martin

Alan Certeza

Nelson De Castro

Rosie Jane

Genevieve Garner

Trina Peterson

Andrew Scrivner

Ian Korenberg

Joey Paul

Nicholas Davidoff

Julian Cainghug

Bryan Younce

Columbia Records

John Mayer 'Still Feel Like Your Man' by Mister Whitmore

John Mayer - Still Feel Like Your Man

Victoria&#39;s Secret model Martha Hunt gets an unconventional panoramic view in Mister Whitmore&#39;s video for The Chainsmokers.A little bit like Pixar&#39;s Up &ndash;&nbsp;except with no balloons, no talking dog, and&nbsp;a lingerie model instead of a cantankerous old man (so basically there&#39;s just a flying house) &ndash; the video uses some great VFX to lift up Hunt above the clouds, before dropping her back to Earth with the gentlest of thuds.Intercut with a dramatic, windy performance from the Chainsmoking duo, the clip manages some dream-like visuals, and mercifully it never really falls into any of the visual trappings you might expect from a song called Paris.

Kourtney Gleason

Tommy Dingwall

Robert Thoren

Drew Bienenmann

Candace Higgins

Taylor Leach

Nelson DeCastro

Sienna Montesao

Andrew Fitzsimons

Kate Lingan

Nina Park

Derek Hansen

The Mill

Martha Hunt

The Chainsmokers 'Paris' by Mister Whitmore

The-Chainsmokers-'Paris'-by-Mister-Whitmore

He&#39;s been prolific recently, including his video for gravity-defying <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/06/15/m%C3%B8-final-song-mister-whitmore" target="_blank">MØ&#39;s Final Song</a>. Now Tomas (aka Mister) Whitmore has directed a corker&nbsp;for Dillon Francis&#39;s Candy. It&#39;s minimal and&nbsp;colourful, and most importantly it features a brilliant contemporary&nbsp;pas de deux by the dancers Ryan Spencer and Denna Thomsen.Choreographed by&nbsp;Nina McNeely, this stunning routine&nbsp;from Spencer and longtime Ryan Heffington associate Thomsen (her previous work includes&nbsp;partnering&nbsp;Shai LeBeouf in the video for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2012/06/19/sigur-ros-%E2%80%98fjogur-piano%E2%80%99-alma-har%E2%80%99el" target="_blank">Sigur Ros&#39;s Fjogur Piano</a>)&nbsp;is expressive, provocative, funny, and, well, quite weird.It&#39;s&nbsp;riveting, and climaxes with&nbsp;a kooky head-body&nbsp;swap, which sort of reflects Thomsen&#39;s dominance.&nbsp;And Mister Whitmore, excelling in a different visual style,&nbsp;shows he is versatile as well as prolific.

Jocelyn Webber

Erik "e-class" Mateo

Frank Mobilio

Erin Blinn

Jill Kaplan

Nina McNeely

Ryan Spencer

Denna Thomsen

Dillon Francis Ft. Snappy Jit 'Candy' by Mister Whitmore

Dillon-Francis-Ft.-Snappy-Jit-'Candy'-by-Mister-Whitmore

Singer Nonchalant Savant (&amp; also Miguel&#39;s brother) gives us this groovy warm song Mixed Signals, matched with an equally smooth summer night kickback video by Mister Whitmore.

Vertel Scott

Tom Taugher

Bryan Smaller

Alt Soul

Nonchalant Savant 'Mixed Signals' by Mister Whitmore

Nonchalant-Savant-'Mixed-Signals'-by-Mister-Whitmore

The ruggedly beautiful&nbsp;Trona Pinnacles and Mono Lake in the California Desert&nbsp;National Conservation Area&nbsp;provides a breathtaking backdrop for Mister Whitmore&#39;s video for&nbsp;MØ&#39;s Final Song.Then he takes&nbsp;MØ&#39;s charismatic performance to a higher plane, as she&nbsp;levitates above the rocks. An appropriate&nbsp;bit of magic for a spiritual place...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hugo Peers

Sonny

Andrew Fernandez

Jimmy Ramirez

Niko Wiesnet

Matthew Borek

Renni Pollock

Michael Helenek

Danny Erb

Zoe Costello

Sami Knight

Amy Chance

Greg Reece

Andreas Jaramillo

Elizabeth Doonan

Sony Music

Kelli Kay

Ari Robbins

Dance, Pop

MØ 'Final Song' by Mister Whitmore

MØ - Final Song (Official Video)

Mister Whitmore has teamed up with&nbsp;Alex Metric&nbsp;for&nbsp;the video&nbsp;Drum Machine, where&nbsp;two suave lookin&#39; renegades cruise to the&nbsp;club in a&nbsp;pimped out ride, after saluting each other with a particularly elaborate handshake. Once they get to the club though, they quickly realise that the music needs to be kicked up a knotch, managing to remedy the situation by bringing the beat back with some bombastic dance moves.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Pulse Films

Sarah Park

Brandy Brazee

Travis Oberlander

Kai Saul

Troy Dickerson

Charles Alexander

Drew Moe

Justin Barco

Taylor Tompkins

Marco Santoyo Peralta

Caroline Clayton

OWSLA

Sonny London

David Shawl

Ray Basa

Dance, Electronica

Alex Metric 'Drum Machine' by Mister Whitmore

Alex-Metric-'Drum-Machine'-by-Mister-Whitmore

Mister Whitmore has delivered this wonderfully moody and atmospheric video for&nbsp;Snakehips, featuring a stunning performance&nbsp;by&nbsp;Tinashe,&nbsp;and some convincing drunk acting.With some prominent,&nbsp;and effortlessly cool lighting design, the piece gives off woozy, nighttime club&nbsp;vibes to match the track,&nbsp;including a scene where&nbsp;clubbers&nbsp;queue&nbsp;endlessly&nbsp;to no avail. We&#39;ve all been there.&nbsp;

Jon Brewer

Frank Schwab

Daniel Aspromonte

Ryan Carmody

Rich Hawkinson

Christina Roseann Ray

Kassey Rich

Courtney Colston

Victoria Payne

Michelle Chinnery

Dan Millar

Jordan Browning

Ran Holst

Jessica Burgess

Michael Belcher

Nick Sherman

Aaron Smith

Johnny Leeves

Electronic

PBR&B

Snakehips ft. Tinashe & Chance The Rapper 'All My Friends' by Mister Whitmore

Snakehips-Ft.-Tinashe-&-Chance-The-Rapper-'All-My-Friends'-by-Mister-Whitmore

Mister Whitmore returns to make some music video magic&nbsp;in the UK with this euphoric video for&nbsp;DJ SKT&#39;s&nbsp;Take Me Away featuring Rae, featuring electric, high energy performances by some quality dancers as they progress through the city at night - and encounter a wolf or ten.&nbsp;If this doesn&#39;t make you want to go out dancing out this weekend, you need to&nbsp;check your pulse.&nbsp;

Ray Blanco

Ran Rolst

Mel Anderson

Patrick Jones

Cody Fusina

Monique Vatine

Sean Fazende

Gianennio Salucci

Shadeh Smith

Atlantic

Anthem Films

Derek Dale

Dustin Heindl

Djay Brawner

Dance

DJ S.K.T. ft. Rae 'Take Me Away' by Mister Whitmore

Dillon Francis &amp; DJ Snake know exactly how to Get Low, dressed flamboyantly as Middle Eastern sheikhs whilst&nbsp;making it rain atop their various thrones.Mister Whitmore brings classic pop&nbsp;colours and post-production trickery to the show, as he shows us just how much fun these two DJs can have. Dance is the focus &ndash; with the now-mandatory twerking. But that&#39;s not the main event this time.&nbsp;It&#39;s the lean-back, get-low dance that really sets this promo apart.

Tomás Whitmore

Director

Interviews featuring Tomás Whitmore

Videos featuring Tomás Whitmore

2017 (5)

2016 (4)

2015 (2)

2014 (2)

2013 (1)

Popular content

Is this your profile?

Feedback

Latest Videos