Videos

video Yorkshire Tea 'The Tea Song' by Fred Rowson

Fred Rowson combines the advertising and music video worlds in this comedic hybrid for Yorkshire Tea. Giving an eccentric, tea-driven spin to the traditional 'holiday' video, we see a young character (played by George Kent) packing his bags for Ibiza, choosing to take 10kg of Yorkshire Tea with him, in place of everyday essentials. Packed full of slick transitions, graphic effects and greenscreen hilarity, it's a big change of tone for the brand, and Rowson does a brilliant job in ushering in this new style, in collaboration with ad agency Lucky Generals.“My favourite ads are the ones that get really, really specific about some small detail of life, and blow it up into something epic - and the creatives at Lucky Generals absolutely nailed that in this spot," says Rowson."From the client to the creatives to my HoDs and cast, we were all on the same page about how good this could be. So this has been one of the most fun experiences I've had in commercials.” So does it qualify as a proper music video - and does that even matter?"I'm just glad to see that the language of the music video has an enduring half-life," adds Rowson. "We will never escape the radiation."

Rob Ulitski - 13th July 2023

video Kano 'A Blessed Place' by Aneil Karia

After the intense dramatisations of life for black Londoners in their powerful films for Trouble and Teardrops, Kano and Aneil Karia offer a complete change of pace, and setting, with A Blessed Place.It's a short film about Kano's inspiration behind the new Duppy White rum he has created following him on a return ot Jamaica. As he tours the island, from countryside to downtown, it reveals another side of the London rapper - the strength of bond to his Jamaican roots and love for the island.And with Karia's unobtrusive observational direction, this is a brand film that could hardly feel more like a documetary - which also features some wonderful music.

Promonews - 17th Dec 2021

video Vistas 'Stuck In Your Head' by Callum Lloyd-James

Edinburgh indie band Vistas get into Mad Men-era advertising, shooting numerous early TVCs on a frantic day in the studio, in Callum Lloyd-James's splendidly goofy video for Stuck In Your Head.Things start smoothly enough as Vistas' Prentice, Dylan and Jamie appear on camera selling cola cans, face cream and breakfast cereal.But then things start going horribly wrong, and the already anxious director (James Corrigan) starts blowing a fuse.Directors... what are they like?

David Knight - 26th May 2021

video Eels 'Earth To Dora' by Isabel Garratt

Isabel Garratt directs a delightful stop motion animated video for Eels' Earth To Dora - the title track of band's new album. It's Garratt's first project since joining the directors' roster at Prettybird in London, and released the day before Earth Day.The music video finds Dora living on the moon, surrounded by otherworldly sadness and surreal depictions of misery - and a very large snake. It's up to E (Mark Oliver Everett, the band's frontman) to convince Dora it's time to come back down to Earth. E and Dora's story of interplanetary friendship plays out with the deft combination of two different animation techniques - puppetry and painting on glass. The Welsh director - who's previous work includes the award-winning short film Listen To Me Sing - undertook the stop motion aspect of the production, mixed with paintings by animators David McShane and Renee Zhan.Garrett is an alumna of the National Film and Television School and artist-in-residence at Alexander McQueen’s Sarabande Foundation, where she created the video. She now joins Prettybird's global roster of multidisciplinary directors working across branded entertainment. “I’m so happy that Isabel has joined the PRETTYBIRD UK director roster," says Juliette Larthe, co-founder and executive producer of Prettybird UK. "Isabel’s unique stop-motion animation technique, mixed with painterly elements and an ethereal sensibility, her innate humour and magical way she expresses emotion with her character stole my heart when I saw her work, and I’m delighted we are now working together.”

Promonews - 22nd Apr 2021

New Director

video AC/DC 'Demon Fire' by Ben Ib

An enigmatic protagonist tries to traverse a nightmarish hellscape, in Ben Ib's return to music videos for iconic rock outfit AC/DC. A versatile director of videos in the Noughties (and creator of the satirical Secret Diary Of A Music Video Director comic strip in PROMO magazine) Ben Ib is now working in animation, well known for his CG work for artists such as Kylie and Calvin Harris. Now this video for Demon Fire captures the incendiary energy of the legendary Aussie rockers in every frame, with the aesthetic landing somewhere between the Doom video game franchise and Queen Of The Stone Age's Go With The Flow. The world Ib has created is breathtaking, drawing on the band's iconography, with plumes of fire crashing underfoot, futuristic neon HGVs and an army of pissed-off bikers circling around the high-speed chase scenes. The videogame style perfectly suits the typically aggressive track, allowing Ib the opportunity to pull from a variety of references with abandon, and mould them into something exciting, engaging and rip-roaringly fun.

Rob Ulitski - 22nd Dec 2020

video Georgia Twinn 'You Shouldn’t Have F****d With Me' by Vasilisa Forbes

Georgia Twinn embraces chaos in Vasilisa Forbes' destructive promo for You Shouldn't Have F****d With Me. Paying homage to iconic TV ads and MTV-era music videos, the concept follows Twinn as she wanders around an enclosed white set, destroying any obstacle in her path. Flickering with black strobes and overwhelmingly vibrant red lights, the aesthetic is bold, highlighting the same features in the artist's performance. If I were you, I wouldn't f**k with Georgia Twinn either.

Rob Ulitski - 26th Nov 2020

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video Leifur James 'Wurlitzer' by Balázs Simon

After crash landing on a barren planet an external force sets irrevocable changes in motion in Balázs Simon's breathtaking CG-animated video for British producer/composer Leifur James.As the black orb that lands on the planet starts to create a physical reaction in the land around it, then it becomes an extraordinary vision of creation arising from destruction, a phenomenal clash of sci-fi fantasy and hyper-real visuals.This is really awesome work by the Budapest-based director/animator Simon, who's previous work includes his extraordinary four-part video for EDM producer Leon Lour released last year. This is a combination of real visionary purpose and amazing execution, photorealistic animated fantasy of the highest order.

David Knight - 24th Apr 2019

video Years & Years 'Shine' (interactive ad/video) by Fred Rowson

Years & Years and director Fred Rowson have created a bit of history with their interactive three-sided video for Shine, which took over a complete ad break of primetime TV on Channel 4, and has become the TV network's most interacted-with ad ever. Devised by Colonel Blimp, Polydor Records and Channel 4 to advertise the launch of Years & Years' debut album Communion, this innovative, interactive TV ad-turned-video took over an entire four-minute break during C4s big-ratings panel show 8 out of 10 Cats at 21.50 on Friday July 10th, and then allowed viewers to direct what they were seeing on their TV screens via a live Twitter vote.By tweeting #ChooseLight, #ChooseDark or #ChooseShadow every 30 seconds the audience determined which one of three eye-catching videos would appear on screen in the next 30 second section, placing control of the break into the viewer’s hands. Voters Twitter names were also displayed on screen as the advert ran.The event was a broadcasting first, and a huge success. Close to 14K tweets were received during the 'live' broadcast of the video - and the ad break pulled in more viewers than the show itself. One of the voting hashtags #ChooseShine trended in the UK during this time. Consequently, this has been Channel 4's most interacted with ever - more than the Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Prometheus and Honda interactive adverts that they have previously run.It was a sensational result after a very demanding process in which Fred Rowson had to create three complete performance videos within an 8am-10pm shooting day. But in addition to the three videos Fred was also able to direct the live ad break in the control room at Channel 4.

Cat Velez - 20th July 2015

video FKA Twigs '#throughglass' by FKA Twigs

Two of the most influential and creative figures working in music video in the past year have been an artist and a choreographer. And now FKA Twigs and Ryan Heffington have collaborated for the first time, on this 'concept video' for Google Glass.Directed by Twigs herself, and produced out of Academy Plus, the film features Video Girl from her Mercury-nominated album, and unreleased track Glass of Patron, as Twigs searches for dance moves via Glass, and creates several alter-egos in the process. And, not surprisingly, the dancing is sexy, weird - and often spectacular.

David Knight - 22nd Oct 2014

video Jamie N Commons, X Ambassadors, Various Artists 'The Game Before The Game' by Marcus Lundin & Isaac Tomiczek

Commissioned by headphones manufacturers Beats to be aired before the World Cup quarter final clash between France and Germany, Marcus Lundin and Isaac Asha Tomiczek deliver a new promo to Jamie N Commons and X Ambassadors' track Jungle. The lively and colourful 90 second video/TV advert was shot in Paris and Berlin at differing locations such as a barber shop, a recording studio, a graffiti store and the rooftop of Universal Music, with a pair of headphones as the central star...

Jimmy Brown - 7th July 2014

video Bipolar Sunshine 'Deckchairs' Music Fashion Video by Matilda Finn

Matilda Finn delivers a cool fashion shoot for UK dance bible Mixmag focusing on three models shot largely in slo-mo - Sydney Lima at The Anti-Agency, Jonothan Bellini at D1 Models, Kai Devenish at Nevs - soundtracked by Harry Fraud's mix of Bipolar Sunshine's Deckchairs.

Jimmy Brown - 23rd June 2014

video B-Classic 'Dvorak' by Raf Reyntjens

A mere 120 years after its composition, Caviar director Raf Reyntjens (responsible for some very popular videos for French artist Stromae) translates Belgian music festival group B-Classic's vision of bringing the Youtube generation closer to classical music with this promo soundtracked by Dvorak's 9th Symphony.Produced in conjunction with Belgian advertising agency DDB Brussels, Raf's promo centres on an eye-popping performance by South Korean girl-dance troupe Waveya, twerking and gyrating along to the 9th Symphony.And funnily enough, it really does bring you closer to classical music...

Jimmy Brown - 30th Apr 2014

video Adidas 'Super' by TJ O'Grady-Peyton

Half of director duo Pondr, TJ O'Grady-Peyton has gone it alone produce this rather lovely piece that's only gone and gotten him shotlisted for the prestigious 2013 Cannes Young Directors Award.Presented as a test promo for sportwear brand Adidas, we're initially presented a biog of an up and coming young Irish boxer. Then something starts to twig and you realise that we're not in Kansas anymore - It's a subtle and well presented superhero story.TJ used only actors from the filming area and felt he "wanted to make a piece that felt grounded in Irishness, but also had an international feel that could be understood by anyone in the world despite what language you spoke. I wanted the ad to feel edgy, fresh and cool. It was important for me to cast real boxers (young and old) who had great charisma and confidence on screen."

Sam Hill - 27th June 2013

video Hoss 'Make Your Own Rhythm' ft Florrie by Christian Larson

Christian Larson directs this killer new ad/music video hybrid for Hoss featuring a Florrie super band. By which we mean that the model known as Florrie is the girl performing all parts of this electro percussion mashup written by Christian himself. Christian also edited and shot the stills for this Hoss 'Make Your Own Rhythm' campaign.

David Knight - 22nd Mar 2012

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