Elliott Gonzo and Justin Du Pre co-direct an eerie dystopian promo for Vintage Culture & MAGNUS.The video for Nothing Ever Changes explores a futuristic universe dominated by AI, predicting a Brave New World of human-tech hybrids.Infused with haunting representations of the world we live in, mixed with liquid 3D textures and uncanny transformations, the video is an enigmatic fusing of technology and society. Ending on a mysterious note, it's a powerful visual that really packs a punch.“In my latest project, I explore a dystopian future where young adults are ensnared by a world increasingly dominated by technology, their city transforming into liquid metal - a potent symbol for AI's unchecked proliferation, akin to opening Pandora's box," explains Gonzo. "The story culminates as each character is inexorably coated in liquid silver, illustrating the inevitable assimilation with the technology they sought to escape."This piece was made with extensive CGI work and no AI was involved in the filmmaking process. Massive love to the incredible team for pulling this one out of the bag!”

Hugh Mulhern directs a feverish hyper-pop fantasy for the return of Porter Robinson with his big new track Cheerleader, exploring the intense and unusual bond between the artist and his fans in a wonderfully off-kilter multi-media blockbuster. As with Mulhern's acclaimed videos for Hak Baker last year for Telephones 4 Eyes and Doolally, this is a captivating combination of formats - live action, AI animation, CGI and stop motion - in the telling of a supercharged narrative involving Porter's engagement with excitable superfans who take many different forms, but all share the same anime-style features of Porter's 'cheerleader'. From the moment of Porter's apparent creation of the song in a studio environment, to appearing on a TV screen, to that becoming the basis of a karaoke session, Mulhern esablishes a constant, breahtless intperly webether the artist and his cheerleaders - particularly the one masked girl who may be Potter's ultimate puppetmaster.Or maybe its the other way around? Porter becomes a Kong-like monster who destroys other versions of his greatest fan - including the cute stop motion puppet - as the action accelerates ever faster as it hops through different forms of animation, losing all basis in reality. "I wanted to make something that looked at extreme fandom and narcissism," explains Mulhern. "As we fall through different layers of reality I wanted the viewer to ask 'are we in the fantasies of the fans or in Porter’s own interpretation of their fantasies?'"While it’s specific to Porter’s experience as an artist it is as much about contemporary society's relationship with extreme individualism. If everyone is having their 15 minutes of fame does thatmean everyone has also become a super fan?"It's a masterclass in maximalism and also closely follows the subject of the song - effectively that symbiotic relationship between artist and fan. Mulhern has tapped into the hyperactive aesthetic of the subgenre, and created something that feels polished, elevated and unforgettable.

Canadian animation director Jordan Clarke dives into Unreal Engine to unleash a highly imaginative virtual performance video for singer-songwriter Shawn Hook. In the video for Bigger Than The Night Shawn Hook's avatar follows two characters getting on a subway, taking them on an adventure that is truly 'bigger than the night.'The video was based upon a motion capture shoot day with two dancers and the artist, that were then re-created in CG using the Metahuman and Unreal Engine programs. Clarke animated and created the scenes himself in roughly four weeks. He also did some of the facial performances for the dancers using an iPhone with motion captrue software.

Rok Predin at Trunk Animation has created a brillliant music video for Conor O'Brien's project Villagers following the journey of a moth on its instinctive journey towards a source of light. But this is no ordinary moth - nor an ordinary light, for that matter.From near darkness at the start, there comes the first evidence a creature; the stirring into life of a moth, with glistening, gold markings. Over the course of the next few minutes, the moth makes its way from the darkness of a cornfield at night to the porch of a farmhouse - illuminated by the flame of a gas lamp. It is an extraordinary sequence, which achieves and celebrates visual beauty while slowly ratcheting up an increasing sense of peril - all of which reflects the poigant nature of the song. O'Brien's song ponders humanity's obsession with technology and tendency to trap itself in the digital bubble, drawn to the promise of more stuff, just out of reach. O'Brien outlined the feel of the video and idea of 'algorithm blues', a line from the track, in his brief. From that, Rok Predin made the connection between the lure of technology to the draw of a moth to the flame.His approach was inspired by another piece of art: ultra-slow motion footage of a Dark Marathyssa moth - a species found mainly in North America - shot by Dr Adrian Smith of North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Filmed at 6000fps, the footage captured the delicate nature, strength and agility of the insect - and the golden shimmering scales and flecks that adorn the Dark Marathyssa body and wings. That gave Predin and producer Richard Barnett the platform to emphasise the beauty and fragility of the moth - as a representation of humanity's own frail relationship with self control.The Trunk team studied the composition and texture of the moth in order to recreate it in Cinema 4D. There is a touch of poetic license in the video, the scale of the moth is a touch bigger than reality - it is actually only about 1.5cm in length and has a wingspan of around 2.5cm - but as well as the 3D model, having licensed Dr Smith's footage they dropped a couple of the live action shots in too. Then in the final sections of the video, as the moth nears the flame, it takes a more abstract turn. Trunk did a SFX shoot in Norfolk to capture the mesmeric particle systems." I didn’t want anything too digital," says Rok Predin. "I wanted to embrace the organic randomness, so shooting at 240fps in 4K gave us some great options!"Richard Barnett adds that the work was also a real collaboration with Conor O'Brien, where artist and production team were talking on a regular basis to discuss ideas. "Too often walls are put up between creatives rather than allowing them to chat," he says. "But once again our old friends at Domino showed trust, and alongside commissioner John Moule steering the ship, it was a really great process."The result is so good, its worth minimizing external light, to embrace what happens on screen, from the initial darkness onwards - to fully immerse yourself in the experience.