Niko B is the paperboy on a special mission, and bringing colourful vibes to the neighbourhood, in LAUZZA's effervescent, Noughties-inspired video for Why's This Dealer? Channeling the golden age of MySpace aesthetics, LAUZZA brings the past to life through bold graphics and animation, exaggerated edits, and a very playful sense of humour.The video follows Niko B as a paperboy on his round, slipping in CDs of his upcoming album with the local rag through his neighbourhood, capturing the raw, DIY spirit of an era that celebrated quirky self-promotion and creative expression.It's delightfully vibrant and authentic, with a heavy dose of LAUZZA experimentation and characteristic wit, with a wide range of entertaining scenes and ideas all working for the premise for the video.

Kims Mihailovs blurs reality, refining the use of AI to create a subtly magical visual for Paul White.Mihailovs' video for Surreal follows the similarly AI-generated promo for Glory In Stories for the electronic artist. Again it creates a dreamlike space around a female protagonist, and the craft is such that the combination of 'real' and surreal is smoothly realised, with any drift into the uncanny reduced to fine margins.Mihailovs explains the process began with an experiment to embrace the deformations and irregularities of AI models, and then working to erase the 'AI-ness' of the resulting imagery. "The initial concept was to depict a person's fragmented memories, with the distorted imagery symbolising how details fade over time," says Mihailovs. "However, the resulting visuals ended up looking more like the generic AI-generated content often seen on social media. To avoid this, I took a different approach, focusing on quick cuts and simple shots to reduce the AI's presence."The final concept evolved into a play between the environment and the woman featured in the video, blurring the line between reality and illusion. Is it the creases in the duvet or her body? A flock of birds or her dance? A grapefruit or her lips? The video leaves these questions open, exploring the fluid boundary between past and present."Creating a fully AI-generated video was a new and tedious process. Unlike traditional creative processes, where you can get lost in the act of creation, working with AI involves a lot of waiting. You generate images, wait, select the best ones, run them through video AI, and wait again. This interrupts the creative flow, though the technology's speed and results are rapidly improving."While generating images for each shot, I noticed a stop-motion effect when scrolling through similar images. Intrigued, I produced hundreds of images which resulted in the creation of the effect featured during the song's chorus."

Warren Fu helms a dazzling pinball-themed promo for Megan Thee Stallion, featuring a mix of neon-drenched live action and anime sequences - where Megan is joined by K Pop star RM. The video for Neva Play finds Megan at a vibrant arcade, playing a custom pinball machine. Through the combination of images, graphics and following the speeding ball on the pinball machine, Fu takes into an alternative animated world - directed by Carl Jones - where the rapper meets up with her fellow icon Breathlessly slick from start to finish, with an electric neon colour palette and intense action segments, it is a another stirring addition to the canon of Megan Thee Stallion videos and a great example of Warren Fu imposing his stamp upon a VFX-heavy music video, so its both accessible, commercial and super-cool. Top notch stuff - and RM's animated presence is the cherry on top.

Alice Bibette has created a charming animated video for UK afro-Jazz nine-piece band band Nubiyan Twist's collaboration with Nile Rodgers, championing the classic techniques of hand-drawn (and painted) animation.The narrative in Bibette's video for Lights Out follows the split reality of a hostile versus a playful world, where the protagonist navigates their journey to true freedom.It's a symbolic journey, rendered in movement and colour, showing the beauty in the little things, the power of hope, and the growth we experience despite hostility.