Lado Kvataniya directs a VFX-fired blockbuster for Muse in which a young woman encounters the mysterious 'soundwave ring' that symbolises the rock outfit's new album The Wow! Signal - with spectacular results. The video for Nightshift Superstar leans into The Wow! Signal's themes of cosmic mystery and the possibility of contact with something greater than ourselves. Opening in the middle of a desert landscape, the woman is caught in the beam of the scarlet-particle energy of the ring.Then she brings the energy to a populated bar, and passes that onto the crowd in an extended dance sequence, while band frontman Matthew Bellamy is an ethereal presence, also defined in scarlet particles.Shot in Kazakhstan, Georgian director Kvataniya creates a widescreen sci-fi adventure, where in classic Muse fashion each scene is more outlandish and kinetic than the last, leading to an apocalyptic climax involving the soundwave ring - which originally appeared in the first Wow! Signal video, for Cryogen.It's another utterly over-the-top and highly entertaining visual in this notable visual campaign - supervised by commissioner Mike O'Keefe - for Muse's critically-acclaimed tenth studio album.

Singer-songwriter Peter Beatty's song Tell Me Where To Go has become the jumping-off point for a charming stop motion promo about an epic boat journey created by Beatty himself and Joseph Boyle. This hand-crafted spectacle is fascinating to watch - Beatty and Boyle have crafted something moving and magical, which really draws the viewer into this world.Captivating down to the most minor detail, and one of the best animated videos to be released this year so far. It is also an award winner, winning Best Music Video at the London Independent Film Awards."The song itself was inspired by a boat trip, and is a tribute to adventure, self discovery and chasing love," says Beatty. "And it was made into an animation about an epic boat voyage, which was all made on a boat - also the boat where I live as it happens - over an 18-month period. It’s ended up quite 'boat meta' I suppose.The length of the project was determined by Beatty's decision to opt for a traditional animation method. "I wanted to employ a more old school and lo-fi approach that felt out of the present," he says. "I decided to build a multiplane camera and set up a home animation studio, and committed myself to making a stop motion animation with traditional techniques. Once I'd developed the approach, the story/aesthetic and the studio was set up, I invited a friend Joseph Boyle to work on the video with me and co direct the shoot."What’s brilliant is that both the song and video have been receiving some amazing recognition at film festivals around the world, which is wonderful, and it has screenings planned in various places over the coming months. Recognition includes nominations for Best Music Video at the Cannes World Film Awards and the Los Angeles International Music Video Awards, and winner of Best Music Video at the London. "I’ll be putting out more animations and have also created a bespoke collection of 12 illustrations (one for each of the songs on the album) which I’ll be selling as prints. Adding these visual projects has lengthened the whole process and I can't wait to get the record out. But I believe the value in having visual work to promote an album these days is only on the rise."