Videos

video Jessie Ware 'Ride' by Thomas James

Jessie Ware channels her inner horsewoman - with leading actor James Norton as her willing steed - in Thomas James' steamy and atmospheric video for Ride.Featuring an interpolation of the main theme from classic spaghetti western The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, the song certainly lends itself to having a cowboy-based video. But under James's direction, this takes an untypical turn, and certainly puts Jessie in control: Norton rides into Jessie's life, on white horse Caravan, but she asserts a majestic presence, and he becomes her submissive plaything.With a moody cinematic monochrome palette shot by Natasha Duursma, this sees Jessie the disco diva making a leftfield move into an aesthetic that Thomas James has perfected working for hellraising rock-based acts and iconoclastic rappers like Kneecap. And it pays off, in adding another dimension to her mystique. "The video is fully about Jessie and James - and their pretty stellar performances," says Thomas James. "Twisting perhaps, expectations of the handsome alpha cowboy."They approached the project really wanting to push perceptions. We had a lot of rehearsal, and the guys were very keen to improvise..."It was quite a liberating shoot, just rolling with the spontaneity. I think their on-screen chemistry, and there trust in each other, is what makes it what it is."

David Knight - 20 days ago

Director's notes

video The Blessed Madonna & Kylie Minogue 'Edge Of Saturday Night' by Sophie Muller

Kylie's latest banger, her irresistible collab with The Blessed Madonna, comes with another genius video from Sophie Muller, to further cement her iconic status.In fact, the video for Edge Of Saturday Night suggests that Kylie might actually be immortal. As if shot on the fly during her progress on a wild night out in Ibiza - it was filmed at the legendary Pikes Hotel on the island - starting side-by-side with Blessed Madonna before she proceeds to nightclub, playground, tennis court and finally, fully-clothed dip in a swimming pool, Kylie is a glowing glamourous goddess in every scene and in every format. Not just ageless, Kylie appears to be getting younger...She is certainly revelling in her musical renaissance, and that's the platform for Kylie and her longtime collaborator Muller to do their magic in the video. And it could be hardly described as anything other than magic.By going for the run-and-gun-style approach in its shooting - with sterling work from DoP joel Honeywell - Muller stamps authority through an edit that grabs the viewer from the first seconds. It's a brilliant job, an object lesson in the power of music video editing - like a character in this video of itself.So that's two people cementing their iconic status. And it's certainly the best music video shot at Pikes since Club Tropicana...

David Knight - 30th Aug 2024

video Tsatsamis 'Faith' by Ruby Harris

Set within the four walls of a locker room, Ruby Harris’s latest promo for singer-songwriter-producer Tsatsamis curves seductively around the classic 'locker room' clichés, and practically radiates post-workout endorphins.This undeniably confident and punchy second collaboration between Harris and Tsatsamis for disco banger Faith - which follows their first, for Everybody Wants A Piece Of You last year - is a sending up of the joy in movement, physicality and eroticism. Between the lockers and the jockstraps, Tsatsamis grooves playfully, surrounded by sporty dancers. And with an impeccably dressed set as its sole location, Harris manages to make this finite, daylit space feel as intimate as a dark club dancefloor. A burst of impeccably synchronised choreography amidst flashes of bodies stretching, dancing and moving brings a moment of satisfying focus to the video as the cast engage in a communal worshipping with their movements.“Faith came from an image Pete (Tsatsamis) described of sweaty people in a changing room with post-match energy, and a light shining down on him in the centre,” says Ruby Harris. “We cast a mixture of dancers, movers and friends, and I was so lucky to be able to collaborate with choreographer Caterina Danzico to find movements that everyone felt comfortable doing. It has always been a dream to shoot group choreography and it exceeded expectations.” The director's embodied visual style includes some casually suggestive shots that leave little room for misinterpretation for those in the know. The photography by DoP Warren Rodricks, the lighting, and the grade by Andi Chu at Electric Theatre Collective, together take on a celestial quality, seeming to bathe the cast in light as much as Tsatsamis seems to be emitting it throughout the video.“My aim was to give the video this energy," adds Harris. "To show that God is shining on them and they are shining back at God.”

Ndella Longley - 15th Mar 2024

Director's notes

video Purple Disco Machine ft ÁsdÍs 'Beat Of Your Heart' by NDVD

NDVD directs a vibrant homage to disco in this hypnotic promo for Purple Disco Machine. The video for Beat Of Your Heart takes place in a nightclub like no other, where our protagonists get to access their fantasies. In this unique and magical place, the boundary between reality and imagination becomes blurred, as we witness the characters' deepest desires and illusions.Dripping with retrofuturistic vibes and a sense of wild abandon, it's a dazzling video anchored by otherworldly vignettes and slick visual effects, with plenty of standout moments. A top-notch concept and execution for a top-notch track.

Rob Ulitski - 16th Feb 2024

New Director

video Romy 'She's On My Mind' by Vic Lentaigne

Vic Lentaigne combines a supercool nightclub scenario with heartwarming romance starring Maisie Williams, for Romy's fabulous She's On My Mind. The video begins with Romy performing the track among the throng on a crowded dancefloor, as a group of partygoers enter the club - and then flashes back in time to the build-up to this big night out, and how Maisie's character falls for another girl in the group, and their tentative moves to connect. It all builds to a moment and big emotional rush as the pair finally get together on the dancefloor. Vic Lentaigne, Romy's wife and creative director, weaves a sweet and believable falling-in-love narrative into a neon-hued disco aesthetic with a super-hip cast of clubbers.Great work from all the cast, as well as Maisie Williams - and that means that all Romy does is perform this absolute banger of a track.

Rob Ulitski - 14th Dec 2023

video Home Counties 'Bethnal Green' by Michael Upson

Michael Upson directs a delightfully quirky promo for the indie band called Home Counties, for a song called Bethnal Green. The studio-based video for Bethnal Green opens with an elderly woman sitting in front of a textural backdrop, placing a pair of headphones on her head. From there, the music quite literally comes to life, as the band appears on the other side of the studio, performing in a series of dazzling vignettes - in which the impassive headphones-wearing lady also becomes involved Experimenting with playful camerawork and edit effects, the video feels as eccentric as the track (about gentrification in the dead trendy East End, of course) - packing in choreography, performance and even a mini disco into a short runtime. And it's bloody brilliant.

Rob Ulitski - 19th Sept 2023

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video Jessie Ware ft Róisín Murphy 'Freak Me Now' by Sophie Muller & Theo Adams

Following the glamorous promo for Pearls, Sophie Muller and Theo Adams reunite with Jessie Ware, this time with Róisín Murphy along for the ride, for the Freak Me Now video - and it's a hoot. Featuring a feverish blend of disco aesthetics and hypnotic editing, the video sees the two artists in their element, bringing a sense of theatrical splendour to the performance vignettes. And by the sounds of it, as they talk about their collab below, Jessie and Róisín had lots of fun on the shoot.It's a vibrant mash-up of colour and patterns - bringing the vid for Deee-Lite's classic Groove Is In The Heart to mind - with an unabashed sense of fun and playfulness to boot.We had mad fun dressing up on the day of the video. It was fashion chaos!!“It is a huge honour to have the queen of disco, Róisín Murphy on Freak Me Now," Jessie Ware has commented. "I messaged her hoping she may think about doing a collab with me and before I knew it, she’d gone straight into the studio and recorded all her vocals for the track and sent them over to us. I have admired her work for so many years and respect her so much. To have her on one of the most fun tracks on That! Feels Good! Is amazing."I still can’t quite believe we are on a track together and have done a bonkers video together. She is graceful, she is generous, she is pioneering, she is Róisín Murphy and she is on Freak Me Now!”And Róisín Murphy has added: “Jessie is just brilliant, a super talented songwriter and an amazing singer. She’s truly beautiful but she’s also very funny and never takes herself too seriously. We’ve been talking about working together for a while. When she sent me ‘Freak Me Now’ I just adored it and felt it was perfectly right for me to be on the song."We had mad fun dressing up on the day of the video. It was fashion chaos!! Like a high class jumble sale, behind the scenes. We laughed at our ridiculousness and we were very silly all day! Just love her and loved everything about working with her.“

Rob Ulitski - 3rd Aug 2023

video LF System 'Afraid To Feel' by Emmanuelle Soffé

Emmanuelle Soffé takes us back to disco’s roots, in her video for Scottish DJ duo LF System. The video for Afraid To Feel plays on the song’s disco heritage, dropping us into the middle of a 70's-inspired dancefloor, full of nods to the Hispanic, Latinx and Black Queer communities that first brought disco to the fore, with particular influence from ballroom dancing and voguing.The atmospheric cinematography, flamboyant performances and chromatic styling elevate the feel-good concept, ending on a celebratory, proud note.

Rob Ulitski - 12th July 2022

video Josh Caffé 'Do You Want To Take Me Home' by Robert Fox

Robert Fox directs up-and-coming disco icon Josh Caffé in a beautifully-realised visual for Do You Want To Take Me Home.Shot in and around iconic East London venue The Glory, Fox creates a thrilling atmosphere from a combination of close-up performance and him running through empty streets at night - wonderfully captured in DoP Peter Garajszki's cinematography.This builds tension around the brooding disco-house banger - which Fox occasionally diffuses with welcome touches of humour. "Josh Caffe has been a staple of London nightlife scene for years as a DJ, and gis soon-to-be-released album marks his debut as a solo artist and performer," explains Fox. "As the second single release from the album and the leading music video this song and visual spearheads his introduction."I've known Josh for years from the nightlife scene and we melded on this project to something out of pure love with team of family who are all very enthused to see Josh fly. We shot the video at The Glory, a prominent nightlife spot that the both of us frequent, thus creating a very familiar feeling for us both, both directing and for Josh to perform."

David Knight - 4th May 2022

video Kylie Minogue & Gloria Gaynor 'Can't Stop Writing Songs About You' by Sophie Muller

Hold on to your horses as two disco divas unite on the dancefloor - via the magic of music video - as Kylie gets together with none other than Gloria Gaynor, of I Will Survive fame, in Sophie Muller's dazzling video for Can't Stop Writing Songs About You. On a glittering runway, it's vintage disco vibes as we see Kylie and her crew strut their stuff under scintillating lights, with a lo-fi aesthetic that looks ripped straight from the clubkid era. Gaynor appears in a separate performance vignette, backdropped by the night sky and overlaid with hypnotising effects and soft pastel silhouettes - which feels reminiscent of another iconic Muller video, for No Doubt's Simple Kind Of Life. And its art directed by her longtime collaborator, production designer Alison Dominitz. Once again Sophie has also teamed with Theo Adams, whose company of performers provides Kylie's world with that extra pinch of pizzazz, and the result is a powerhouse visual for an irresistable track, pairing very nicely with previous Muller-Minogue videos for her other collabs on the new version of her Disco album - with Olly of Years & Years on A Second To Midnight, and with Jessie Ware on the telenovela-style Kiss Of Life.

Rob Ulitski - 4th Apr 2022

video Marengo 'Puente De Esperanza' by Denise Moreno

A fun affair begins at a funfair in this charming video for Spanish '80s disco-boogie nugget, Marengo's Puente De Esperanza, featuring dancers Anna Engerström and Wing Yue Leung.Directed by Denise Moreno, it's an engaging dance film, choreographed by Engerström and wonderfully shot by Jan Vrhovnik on 16mm. The pair find each other by the crowded merry-go-round, and their romance plays out in movement as the now-deserted funfair becomes their personal playground.Their only company comes from the distracted occupant of the ticket booth - watching a video from the '80s on his portable TV. That's a nod to the era when the track was originally released - in 1986 - and Marengo's Puente De Esperanza is now the debut single from Soundway Records' classy compilation, Ritmo Fantasía: Balearic Spanish Synth-Pop, Boogie and House (1982-1992).

Promonews - 6th Dec 2021

New Director

video Arun Blair-Mangat 'Diving Back In' by Omar Blair-Mangat

Omar Blair-Mangat directs a hypnotic performance promo for Arun Blair-Mangat. A upcoming star of musical theatre in London's West End, Arun developed and played the groundbreaking gender non-conforming role of May in Max Martin’s hit musical & Juliet, and followed in his mentor Billy Porter’s footsteps in Kinky Boots.Diving Back In is Arun’s breakout song as a pop artist; pulling inspiration from the disco titans of the 70s, it captures his cheeky, bubbly, fluid energy, and puts it in a bottle for whenever you need a sip (or two!). The studio-based video spans several colourful vignettes, with minimalist art direction adding an extra flair to the concept.

Rob Ulitski - 20th Oct 2021

video Part.ymamma 'Superstar' by Darius Chan

Darius Chan directs a retro-inspired promo for disco matriarch Part.ymamma. Incorporating the guitar riff from J J Cale's 1975 track Cocaine, the stripped-back visual is infused with elements of disco and funk, with retro titling and fun choreography.

Rob Ulitski - 14th Sept 2021

video Elton John & Dua Lipa 'Cold Heart' (PNAU remix) by Raman Djafari

Raman Djafari brings his signature 3D stop-motion like 3D animation style into the big time world of pop for the remix of Elton John's Cold Heart by PNAU, featuring Dua Lipa.In this case, Djari also adds anime-influenced 2D elements to create a world full of celebration, dance and joy - including Studio-Ghibli-inspired renditions of Elton and Dua.We follow the journey of four disco-dancing friends - reflecting the era that Elton enjoyed first time around, and Dua references in her hit album Future Nostalgia - of identical portly stature, as they move through galaxies that are increasingly dense with colour and nature.Along the way, they make friends with all the spectacular life they find; spreading joy as they go. They end their journey dancing with Elton and Dua at the best garden party this side of the Milky Way.Created in the isolation of the pandemic and inspired by the collaboration of two British icons, legendary and new, this video encapsulates a post-lockdown feeling to get back to a place where we can once again enjoy and feel music together, 2021-style.

Promonews - 20th Aug 2021

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