Commissioner

Tom Bird

Anders Rostad paints with light in The Ramona Flowers video for Run Like Lola.&nbsp;Using a combination of light trails, stop-motion, time-lapse and performance clips, Rostad makes a gorgeous visual accompaniment to the track here as we follow an ethereal figure running through the city at night.The light dances around the screen in a huge scope of colour, turning the dull industrial cityscapes into incredible spectacles.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Anders Rostad

Lauren Solie

Hound

Isaac Rice

Anna Dale - Meunier

Lee Peterkin

Matt Brush

Christopher Allwine

Marisa Garner Associates

Pop, Indie Rock

The Ramona Flowers 'Run Like Lola' by Anders Rostad

The-Ramona-Flowers-'Run-Like-Lola'-by-Anders-Rostad

The Ramona Flowers send people into a state of sleepy euphoria in this clip by FX Goby.The clip, which takes three mundane scenes -&nbsp;a bus ride home, a man alone at a bar, and three people sat on a couch in a blank looking room - and makes them spectacular through the literally transformative power of dance. A wonderful mashup of choreography, costume and effects help to develop the concept into unexpectedly glittering realms as the video progresses.

FX Goby

Nexus Productions

Beccy McCray

Luke Youngman

Caroline Milsom

Beniamino Barrese

Saul Nash

Natasha Lawes

Jack Singer

Jack McGinity

Alice Aires

The Ramona Flowers 'Skies Turn Gold' by FX Goby

The Ramona Flowers - Skies Turn Gold

Vincent Haycock has directed this understated yet quietly powerful short film for the U2 track Song For Someone, starring Woody Harrelson as a prisoner who is being released from the relative security of jail after years of incarceration,&nbsp;back into the&nbsp;outside world.With camerawork by Steve Annis, the core of the video is a single shot of&nbsp;the increasingly emotional Harrelson leaving the confines of prison, passing through the gate and meeting the person who&#39;s there to take him away - his daughter (played by the actor&#39;s real-life daughter, Zoe Harrelson), who greets him with an awkward handshake, and monosyllibic responses to his tentative comments.&nbsp;&nbsp;It&#39;s subtly played, and fully believable. Premiered on <a href="http://www.sundance.tv/series/rectify/blog/2015/07/watch-the-full-short-film-song-for-someone-featuring-music-by-u2-starring-woody-harrelson" target="_blank">Sundance TV</a>,&nbsp;Vince Haycock&#39;s film thematically links to RECTIFY, SundanceTV&rsquo;s Peabody award-winning series that follows the story of Daniel Holden and his family as they struggle to move forward after Daniel&rsquo;s release from 19 years on death row.&nbsp;

Vincent Haycock

Alex Fisch

Pete Vitale

Steve Annis

Steve Wong

Terry Wolcott

Brian Freesh

Ryan McGuire

Rick Lange

Cue Chatley

Jay Hougaard

Nic Kelley

Perry Pascual

Natasha Newman-Thomas

Brenna Bash

Richard Mento

Chris Gutierrez

Chris Lennon

Arnold Ramm

Natalia Maus

Island Records

Park Pictures

Mainline

Jackie Kelman Bisbee

Mary Ann Marino

Paul McKee

Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK

Rock

U2 'Song For Someone' by Vincent Haycock

U2 - Song For Someone

The Ramona Flowers are getting a reputation for making ambitious, dramatic videos and this one directed by Patrick Killingbeck for Vultures is no exception. Patrick goes cinematic big time. Mixing models and hitmen (and a scary-looking boss), the scene unfolds as two men dispose of a human-size trunk.The focus of the promo centres around a femme fatale who strikes to save her female friend...

Patrick Killingbeck

Yasha Malekzad

Artist Preserve

Yasmin Akhavan

Robin Van Calcar

Aaron Reid

Justine Masters

Natasha Laws

Thomas Goldser

Toby Tomkins

OB Management

Distiller Records

Indie Rock

The Ramona Flowers 'Vultures' (Director's Cut) by Patrick Killingbeck

The Ramona Flowers - Vultures - Directors Cut

The Ramona Flowers&#39; Tokyo has given Bouha Kazmi the chance to explore his fascination with Japanese culture - and particularly the phenomenon&nbsp;of the Geisha.&nbsp;Initially Bouha introduces an intriguing relationship between a masked woman and a boy, which is revealed to be an unusual double-act. In a very grand space - Syon House &ndash; the boy&#39;s harp-playing accompanies the woman&#39;s geisha-dance performed to audience of&nbsp;fearsome matriarchs. And then, the geisha unleashes an extraordinary power...&nbsp;So PROMO talked to Bouha about his Ramona Flowers video - and his geisha obsession...&bull; How did the project start &ndash; what was the brief? And how did you come up with the idea of your intriguing double-act and their explosive performance?My idea stemmed from the desire to reveal the true beauty beneath one&rsquo;s mask. I&rsquo;ve always been intrigued by the Confucian values and customs of Geishas, and Japanese culture. I find something bewildering about their temperament. Their physical appearance is extraordinary when explored in its most traditional form. People are constantly consuming them with their eyes, yearning for their youth, and the exquisite command of their allure.I&rsquo;d spent time holidaying in Japan over the years, picking different regions, spending a month at a time exploring every facet of a province. On one occasion, I remember seeing a geisha hand-in-hand with a very young boy who looked like he had just finished his school day.Later, I started distorting the sight of these two unsuspecting people. Where could they have been going? Why was he with her? What&rsquo;s she carrying in that case? What if she really were a prostitute? This image stayed with me all of these years. As soon as the word &ldquo;geisha&rdquo; came up in discussion with Tom Bird and the band, I knew exactly where I wanted to take it.&nbsp;&bull; The Japanese dancer clearly relates to the song title. Is this some kind of traditional form of Japanese performance?There was always a very clear intention to take on the world of the geisha and then exaggerate it all in appearance, movement, make-up, and disposition. Taking a number of disparate influences from very divergent origins, I wanted to create an amalgamation of something formative and unique.The style of dance was no different. I&rsquo;d suggested taking inspiration from the traditional form of geisha dances whilst injecting some ballet and alternative movement. The geisha is about body control and is very rigid in its form. We then added a graceful evolution, shifting it more towards ballet for the lower part of the body. We finally created the dynamism and flux through movement art, a style that has a lot more freeform in its appearance but should definitely not be mistaken for improvisation. Her dance is the result of trying endless blends of styles and solutions to what would eventually work as a whole, vis-à-vis the outward appearance, the styling, the make-up, and the lighting.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&bull; Why the &lsquo;eyes without a face&rsquo; mask in the first part of the video?The idea was always to treat the film like extracted scenes from a narrative with a strong focus on fashion subculture. I wanted there to be an undertone of stage and theatricality to the piece. Dipping into the Asian theatre of Noh for the mask is something that served to build the tension between the two characters and the world. The mask is there to stimulate, startle and toy with the imagination. It brings a heightened premise to the beginning of the story, conveying mystery around this woman and consequently the boy. We&rsquo;re not sure whether to fear for the boy&rsquo;s safety or whether he&rsquo;s complicit. The mask gives the situation tenacity and the virtue of making something feel slightly less personal. This discomfort is clearly present during the dinner scene between the two and it helps create a certain connection between them, which is absolutely integral to the tone of the video.&nbsp;&bull;&nbsp; Looks like an interesting location. Where did you shoot the video? And are those old master paintings for real?The property was Syon House, essentially the Duke of Northumberland&rsquo;s family residence. We started our search with a stately home and ended up with an English Heritage castle with the interior designed by Robert Adam in the 1760s. The property itself dates back to the 1550s.Everything in Syon House is original, most of it over 300 years old, so we weren&rsquo;t allowed to lay a finger on anything. Even the carpets were worth millions and completely out of bounds. The painting featured in the entrance scene is the only infant painting of Edward VI in existence [by Henry VIII&#39;s court artist&nbsp;Hans Holbein], and we just immortalized it in an indie rock music video. There&rsquo;s something humbling about that detail. We had to be really creative and resourceful with how we lit certain spaces so that no paintings or historical artifacts were affected.&bull; That&rsquo;s a fearsome bunch of old ladies too. And shades of Come To Daddy with the blown-face look. Did you have trouble with your ladies achieving that effect?I can&rsquo;t begin to describe how much fun they were to work with starting from the casting process. Some of these women are accomplished actors. At one point, they were all sat in one large circle across a table with their cups of tea whilst they were waiting to get styled and made-up. They were exchanging wonderful stories from their long-established careers.In amongst the jowls, the amplified distorted skin, and the constant splatter of saliva that was boomeranging and hitting us in the face, I could only hear but two things being blared and constantly repeated over the music to no end: &ldquo;Darling, bugger it all, it&rsquo;s for the love of the art. Hit me again!&rdquo;&bull; The band don&rsquo;t feature, of course. Were they involved in the creative process, or pretty much leave you to your own devices?The band and I instantly connected - same wavelength and same page on every aspect of the video from the movement to the styling, to the casting, to exploring a bespoke piece of music for the intro. The more I talked about what lay ahead in extreme levels of detail, the more everyone got excited about hitting the ground running. I had one of the best commissioners any director could ask for. Tom (Bird) maintained clarity across all parties and ensured that my vision for the video was preserved. Everything in the video is pretty much how I&rsquo;d imagined and scripted it.

Bouha Kazmi

Luti Media

Luti Fagbenle

Kimberly Hitchins

Chance Wilson

John Holloway

David Hawkins

Richard J Lewis

Ed Tucker

Dom Aronin

Jenny Svantesson

Sangeet Prabhaker

Miles Roberts

Andrew Potter

Sarah Tognazzi

Stefano Moses

Portobello Post

Duncan Russell

Glassworks

Steve Waugh

Chris Chard

Coffee & TV

Ben Fordesman

The Ramona Flowers 'Tokyo' by Bouha Kazmi

THE RAMONA FLOWERS | Tokyo

Pixie Lott is back - just as photogenic and rather less girl-next-door than before - in this very slick and sexy video for What Do You Take Me For, directed by Declan Whitebloom.Shot over here - by the legend that is Tat Radcliffe - Declan took it back to LA to edit himself. Nice work - but in the promised new era of tighter UK TV regulation, is this post-watershed sexy or okay-for-the-kids sexy...

Declan Whitebloom

Black Dog Films

Helen Potter

Matt Lawson

Tat Radcliffe

Caroline Story

Marshall Plante

Ntropic

Pixie Lott feat Pusha T 'What Do You Take Me For' by Declan Whitebloom

Watch: <a href="http://www.flynnproductions.com/music/director/alex_hemming/1367/full/">here</a>

Alex Hemming

Hannah Chandler

Sarah Ascroft

Ben Canny

Lucy Manning

Alison Butler

Spandau Ballet’s Once More by Alex Hemming

James Nesbitt takes a trip through what appears to be an ordinary day, only to discover later that everything&#39;s not quite what it seems in this excellent bitter-sweet short film for Just Jack. Helmed by Ben and Joe Dempsey, the film was shot on the streets of East London.

Ben And Joe Dempsey

Knucklehead

Ben Sullivan

Robbie Ryan

Colette McWilliams

Art Jones

Simone Grattarola

Work Editorial

Rushes

Just Jack’s The Day I Died by Ben And Joe Dempsey

A spectacular, beautifully-engineered unveiling of the timeless Moroccan city of Fez (it&#39;s the largest medieval city in the world, apparently) in Alex Courtes latest video for Bono and co.Veteran UK art direction/sfx team Einstein&#39;s Octopus and Paris post house Mikros Image supervised the unveiling in U2&#39;s second Moorish-themed video, following Stephane Sednaoui&#39;s belly-dancing, wobbly-vision vid for <a href="https://vimeo.com/42347030" target="_blank">Mysterious Ways</a>&nbsp;all those years ago. The result is uplifting.

Partizan

Alex Courtès

Malachy McAnenny

Omer Ganai

Delphine de Casanove

Tom Lindsey

Mikros Image, Paris

Jean

Sharon Blankson

U2’s Magnificent by Alex Courtes

U2 - Magnificent

Will Bex, the hardest working man in videos, provides the ideal ambience. But Nick doesn't forget his AE roots either, as Jack's confusion gets the better of him. Most entertaining - and arguably Nick's best video yet.

Nick Frew on making the video for Just Jack's Doctor Doctor
"We had a long succession of castings until we found Faye [who plays Trixy] and I'm really glad we held out because she looks amazing. She's a sweet, unassuming girl but she really knows how to turn it on for the camera.
"We didn't bother casting the security guard because when we met John (the security guard at the Wilkinson's in which we shot) we knew we'd found our man. His authentic bewildered expression fitted the bill perfectly and had the crew in hysterics.
Comedian Ed Weeks did us proud as the sleazy supermarket manager. He's a very funny man and kept the set alive with his humour. I want him on every shoot I do.
"It was great fun building things for Jack's severed head shots. We cut a hole in a supermarket trolley and attached a hammock-like contraption under it so we could wheel him about. The meat counter stuff was a bit of an ask. Jack was encased in a box surrounded by the cheapest, nastiest cuts of meat - they kept slipping down and touching his face but he took it very well.
"The flashing aisle was a bitch to build. We basically took apart a whole section of the supermarket and rebuilt it with a forced perspective. It took the best part of a day. Then Will Bex came in with his inspired lighting design and the results were fantastic.
"The footage was filled with great moments where Jack appears out of darkness as the lights chase past him and it was really rewarding cutting them back into the other, naturalistic aisle performance. I'd been looking forward to working with Will for ages and he really delivered. He moves bloody fast and we didn't drop a single shot.
"I knew I wanted the animated sequence to be a modern take on the Vertigo dream sequence set inside a supermarket checkout scanner but I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it. We shot some stuff on green and once the offline was approved with a big black hole in it I locked myself away for a few days and played.
"I really enjoy the creative freedom of being able to try things out, sleep on it, re-visit and re-work them. As a control freak, the post production process is like sanctuary because by that stage I'm only relying on my own wits. It's like my version of playing video games all night."

ordin

Nick Frew

Tristan Goligher

Will Bex

Henry Armand Smith

Jake Roberts

Just Jack’s Doctor Doctor by Nick Frew

You can hardly get a bigger subject than this - on a smaller scale.
Chris Boyle and the team at JJ Stereo have realised landmark events from the often bloody and grisly history of mankind in scale model form for the philosophical Just Jack. It's like a highly ambitious but rather less-explicit work by Jake and Dinos Chapman.


Chris Boyle and John Paveley on making the video for Just Jack's Embers
"The concept was basically to make the ultimate high school science project, showcasing the very human capacity for screwing up. So we built a 20 ft long diorama of the history of man.

"On the day, D.O.P. Nick Wood shot the model in one, so we could sync it to the track - every inch of the diorama corresponding to a second of the song.
"Then, after a quick green screen shoot and a couple of weeks manic post... the History of Man in three minutes thirty seconds!"

JJ Stereo

Chris Boyle

John Paveley

Nick Wood

Dan Curwin

Just Jack’s Embers by Chris Boyle

U2 are back with a top-notch collage-effect video by their old pal Alex Courtes.It is somewhat in the same ballpark as Alex &amp; Martin&#39;s genius <a href="http://www.partizan.com/partizan/v.php/alex_and_martin_white_stripes_seven_nation_army/">Seven Nation Army</a> promo for The White Stripes, but this is a fine piece of work in its own right. It&#39;s precision-engineered to do what&#39;s required: be endlessly watchable over several billion viewings.The song is even quite good in parts - although there is a point where His Holiness actually removes his shirt to show us his pecs. You have been warned.

J Maskrey

Dan Sherwen

U2’s Get On Your Boots by Alex Courtes

Black Kids star in their very own '80s cartoon, with fast car chases, spaceships, and a big dog playing bass guitar.
Basically Joe + Rollo have thrown the kitchen sink at this: lots of ideas, and it's impressively done.
"The promo is a trippy, nostalgic re-enactment of those emotionally charged 80s cartoon titles that occupy a special place in every young adult's heart," says Rollo. They filmed and animated the whole thing at INTRO.

INTRO

Joe + Rollo

Nikki Hildesley

Ed Wild

Black Kids’ Look At Me by Joe +Rollo

In their thoroughly impressive video for Dirty Pretty Things, INTRO's new directing team Joe White and Rollo Wenlock have hit upon a particular aspect of Englishness which strikes exactly the right post-Glastonbury note.
While the DPTs play (in Shoreditch Town Hall) the medieval hippies have come to cavort around the hot, mid-summer city - bringing their ribbons, and their burning wicker giant with them. Good work.
So in my post-Glasto euphoria (actually it ended in Yeovil District Hospital for me, it's a long story) it's all rather lovely.

Joe White + Rollo Wenlock

Marcus Domleo

Dirty Pretty Things’ Tired Of England by Joe + Rollo

BRS's Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell get under each other's skin in Tim Mattia's video for This Is Not For You.
"I've wanted to work with Laura-Mary and Steven for some time and knowing that they're constantly being asked if they're an 'item', I wanted to play with that relationship and replace the sexual tension with something darker and more sinister," says Tim, who's also recently been working with indie 'supergroup' Helsinki and Johnny Foreigner.
And this good-looking video was shot (on a Red cam) by Daniel Trapp.

Tom Bird

Commissioner

15 videos featuring Tom Bird

2016 (2)

2015 (1)

2014 (2)

2011 (1)

2009 (6)

2008 (3)

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