Production Company

Academy Films

Iris Luz directs a dazzling promo for&nbsp;Dexter in the Newsagent - aka South London-based R&amp;B singer Charmaine Ayoku.The video for Fantasy finds Dexter&nbsp;in a gameshow 'money booth', with cash flying around whilst she performs in slo-mo, and onlookers pressing up against the glass to get a peek.&nbsp;Stripped-back and conceptual, the video transitions between shots of the booth and Y2K graphic backdrops, creating an anachronistic, dreamlike vibe. Lovely work.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Iris Luz

Alternative Pop

Electronic

Dexter in the Newsagent 'Fantasy' by Iris Luz

Dexter-In-The-Newsagent-'Fantasy'-by-Iris-Luz

Talia Beale directs an oddball feast of stop motion animation and live action in her second video for Dublin experimental&nbsp;hip-hop/neo-soul band&nbsp;band Bricknasty.In the video for the pulsating Honey Bee, Beale puts band frontman Fatboy inside the head of a gremlin-esque creature lurking on street corners, while beetle-like insects gather to celebrate a birthday party.Animated by Gavin Avenue, Luc Amaden and Ryan Vautier, it's great to see these old-school animation techniques employed for a music video. And this&nbsp;unexpected visual representation for the song also projects a message about the band: Bricknasty are doing things a bit differently from everyone else.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Talia Beale

Bricknasty 'Honey Bee' by Talia Beale

Bricknasty-'Honey-Bee'-by-Talia-Beale

Blackpink's Jisoo finds romance&nbsp;in Joseph Kahn's spectacular promo for Click.&nbsp;In the video, viewers are transported to an abandoned theme park&nbsp;where Jisoo and a cast of animatronic characters reignite the old rides and attractions.&nbsp;Boasting spectacular VFX work - with five months of daily work on it, according to Kahn's socials - it's a true feat of a video, echoing back to his work with megastars like Britney and Taylor Swift, and the character-focused worlds he builds with these artists.&nbsp;A rousing comeback for Jisoo, and an exciting step into a new era.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

South Korea

Joseph Khan

Chris Murdoch

Jisoo 'Click' by Joseph Khan

Jisoo-'Click'-by-Joseph-Khan

Jackson Lee Forsythe directs an atmospheric, violent&nbsp;noir&nbsp;for boundary-blurring Tokyo-based outfit Gliiico.For Don't Eat Don't Sleep, Forsythe creates a neon-drenched world where the main protagonist - one of the de Torres brothers that comprise Gliiico - goes on a murderous rampage. The narrative serves a&nbsp;track than&nbsp;moves between urgency and unease, with its repeated warnings of 'don’t sleep'&nbsp;and 'don’t freak'. It's relentless - and so is he, crossing&nbsp;the city to dispatch numerous unfortunate victims. It is not for the fainthearted.With the fast-moving narrative through Tokyo's seedy underbelly, sense of existential nihilism and grisly violence&nbsp;based around a psychopathic killer, there are echoes of <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2012/03/12/shoes-time-dance-daniel-wolfe/12198" target="_blank">Daniel Wolfe's classic for Shoes' Time To Dance</a> here. But Forsythe has also created a distinctive vision of the Toyko underworld, a harsh yet alluring underworld.The track comes from Gliiico's newly released album The Veil, out now via Cantora Records.[imgtoken data:1]

Japan

Jackson Lee Forsythe

Mouthpiece

Alternative

Gliiico 'Don't Eat Don't Sleep' by Jackson Lee Forsythe

Gliiico-'Don't-Eat-Don't-Sleep'-by-Jackson-Lee-Forsythe

Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor’s second video for The Rolling Stones turns the smouldering chemistry between Anya Taylor-Joy and Charles Melton into an intense, abstract dance routine.Barrett and Taylor - the longtime directing partnership previously known collectively as Us, now working under their own names - are back with The Stones following their 2020 video for Scarlet. That was fronted by Paul Mescal, dancing with himself in an empty hotel.&nbsp;Now for Jealous Lover they have created a riveting neo-noir dance piece, shot by Larkin Sieple and choreographed by Wynne Holmes and starring two more A-list actors - who are dancing against each other.&nbsp;In this new Stones song (from album Foreign Tongues) Mick Jagger rekindles the spirit of Some Girls-era Stones in his vocals. And in true Jagger fashion, the lyrics are basically a warning to a partner who asks too many questions. This becomes the jumping off point for the to-and-fro between Taylor-Joy and Melton, whose simmering conflict begins as they arrive at an LA motel. then explodes through the building and forecourt.It's a ferocious and passionate&nbsp;pas de deux - with the actors literally bouncing off each other - which then expands as Taylor-Joy 'splits' into several people, represented by four similarly blonde-haired dancers. That's the additional twist that takes the video to the next level.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]"We had the idea very early on," say&nbsp;Barrett and Taylor.&nbsp;"We responded pretty directly to the lyrics and to what Mick had briefed. We loved the idea of creating a very abstract dance that almost felt like a fight. There was no dialogue, just pure expression through movement."This fit with the ethos of the campaign for the new album, as Emily Jeffery, the project's creative director, explains. "The Foreign Tongues campaign has been creatively centred on the universal language of movement, music and expression. For Jealous Lover, the band were clear that dance should be at its heart, built around an incredible lead couple," she says."The challenge was then where does it go after that, how do we connect to the track. We spoke a lot about the complexities of a relationship. Capturing a universal feeling of suddenly not recognising your partner during a disagreement, the different parts of a person you love all the same. Framed through a Pina Bausch-inspired choreography…the guys totally nailed it.“[imgtoken data:2]Barrett&nbsp;and Taylor&nbsp;reveal that their&nbsp;biggest challenge was the lack of time we had with their&nbsp;Taylor-Joy and Melton ahead of the shoot."In a way, it helped that we weren’t creating a traditional piece of choreography," they comment. "We wanted something that felt much more instinctive and emotional. Even so, we still needed to develop the movement beforehand because we only had the two of them together for a single day. "We really lucked out finding Wynn Holmes, our choreographer. Her experience and calm nature made the whole process feel effortless. We knew Anya had a background in dance, so she picked things up incredibly quickly. Charles just has this infectious enthusiasm and such a natural physicality.[imgtoken data:3]"Honestly, the two of them were a dream team. They had such great chemistry that, on a very tight shooting schedule, they made our job a whole lot easier."Kirsten Cruickshank, director of creative production on the Jealous Lover video, adds: "The particular detail that struck me when Chris and Luke took us through their idea for the first time, that gave me that adrenaline rush of knowing 'this is it', was a line from the lyrics pulled out and placed centre page: 'You're clinging like ivy, You're choking a tree' over a motion background of movement and bodies that lucidly represented exactly what we were hoping to achieve.&nbsp;"The whole team at Academy were incredible. Medb, Lexi, Lola and Luke spent a bit longer away from home than they'd originally anticipated but the sense of team never waivered. Chris and Luke were an absolute dream to go on this journey with. Can't thank them enough."&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chris Barrett & Luke Taylor

Vid Price

Trim Editing

Rock

The Rolling Stones 'Jealous Lover' by Chris Barrett & Luke Taylor

The Rolling Stones - Jealous Lover (Official Video)

Nia Archives is on the run in Iris Luz's exuberant video for the London singer's new&nbsp;Britpop-influenced banger.Relentless forward motion is the name of the game in the promo for Boys In Blue. Playing off the theme of the track - a former lover who 'snitches' on her to the police - Nia is&nbsp;running through the streets of Hackney and the nearby wide open spaces of Hackney Marshes.But keeping things as upbeat as the track, Nia is also relaxed and carefree in Luz's lens. She manages intimacy with the camera while running, framed within quick cuts of her running through different places and timelapse footage of London's homebound commuter traffic, in a vibrant cut by editor Geri Docherty.&nbsp;iris Luz has also shot the photography for Nia Archives' new album and she says:&nbsp;“Working with Nia is a joy as the song has such a rhythmic aspect to it, I&nbsp;wanted to emphasize that in movement.”&nbsp;

Studio Island

The Quarry

Alt-Pop

Nia Archives 'Boys In Blue' by Iris Luz

Nia Archives - Boys In Blue (Official Video)

<h3>Under the creative direction of Jonathan Glazer, a unique and powerful document of the lives of children living in the midst of war has been created for the new War Child album HELP(2) - by handing cameras to the children themselves.</h3>Children from&nbsp;several conflict zones - Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen and Sudan - were given small cameras by local War Child representatives to record their everyday lives, and show us the world from their perspective. The results has become a very moving and thought-provoking document of the lives of these and other children living in these conditions - of which <a href="https://www.warchild.org.uk/" target="_blank">War Child</a> now estimate could be 20% of the global population of children.&nbsp;Directed by Billy Boyd Cape and edited by Thomas Grove Carter, the footage has been organised into a visual accompaniment to Olivia Rodrigo's contribution to <a href="https://warchildrecs.ffm.to/help2" target="_blank">HELP(2)</a>, her cover of The Magnetic Fields'&nbsp;The Book Of Love.<blockquote>What they did with the cameras was up to them.</blockquote>The album is a sequel to the original&nbsp;HELP&nbsp;album, recorded in support of War Child on a single day in 1995, under the auspices of Brian Eno; thirty years later,&nbsp;HELP(2)&nbsp;was&nbsp;brought to life through a close collaboration with Abbey Road Studios, recorded predominantly across one week in November 2025 under the stewardship of producer James Ford.As with&nbsp;the original, HELP(2) features a stellar cast of musicians. And in addition, this project is creative directed by renowned filmmaker and Academy Award winner Jonathan Glazer, working with Academy Films, overseeing the filming and art direction for the project.[imgtoken data:1]Working with his regular collaborator Mica Levi, Glazer came up with the concept&nbsp;“By Children, For Children”. And in addition to The Book Of Love video, children were invited into the&nbsp;sessions at Abbey Road Studios to film the recording of the album without restrictions.&nbsp;“We handed cameras to kids so we could see what they see - the world through their eyes," Glazer has commented.&nbsp;"We wanted to remove the adult hand and the adult world around them - the conflict, the injury and the war."What they did with the cameras was up to them, we just encouraged them to play. What we got back was the purest form of their energy, joy and truth. It gives us a chance to not only witness, but experience their innocence, joy and resilience.”<blockquote>We built complex briefs, then progressively simplified them... children filming children. No adults in sight. No conflict. Only play.&nbsp;</blockquote>Billy Bod Cape adds: "So much of our industry is about defining the final product in the first meeting. But this was one of those rare creative endeavours where none of us knew exactly what we were making until it was finished."The aim of the project was to bridge the gap between the HELP(2) album and the children War Child works to support every day. It began with Glazer having one clear idea: let’s change the perspective - from observing the children to the children showing us what they observe. Flip the idea of a charity film on its head, and remove the adult hand in the process.[imgtoken data:2]"As we followed that thread, the video evolved with each conversation. We worked closely with War Child, and then with different fixers and production companies in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Yemen - each working under the most difficult circumstances imaginable."We built complex briefs, then progressively simplified them until we found the very core of the idea: Children filming children. No adults in sight. No conflict. Only play. A journey from home, out to a place where they can feel safe and free.[imgtoken data:3]"We began work on the project long before any of the album had been recorded, so we didn’t know which track the video would use. But upon hearing Olivia Rodrigo’s beautiful rendition of The Book of Love&nbsp;in the studio, it became clear it was the right choice for us."As we walked into the editing room, we had to begin the filmmaking process again - a new process of writing, discovery and refinement. Moving through hours and hours of footage to find the core of the childhood experience, and the connective tissue between these children’s lives that captures their innocence, purity, joy and resilience."<blockquote>It felt as though they were a single group of children.</blockquote>Editor Thomas Grove Carter adds that receiving the rushes felt like a privilege."The children filmed unguided by adults, and what they sent us was rough, precious and delicate footage," he says. "We didn’t want to force a narrative or a point of view onto the edit. Instead, we tried to observe what they had given us and do justice to their naivety and joy."Their shots were meandering, curious and playful. Watching them, it felt as though they were a single group of children, separated only by an accident of birth.&nbsp;That became the guiding idea for the edit. To find moments of connection and build the shots into a shared, childlike point of view. A camera move that begins in Ukraine and ends in Gaza. A giggle in Sudan becoming a squeal in Yemen.[imgtoken data:4]"We began to think of Olivia’s gentle song almost like a score for the film. It gave the images space to breathe, allowing the children’s rhythm to guide the pacing of the edit. Eventually building into a shared moment of playful transcendence."Billy Boyd Cape concludes that the purpose of the film is to&nbsp;reveal the reality of these childrens' lives in a way that&nbsp;engages viewers - so that they want to help.&nbsp;&nbsp;"So much footage of war makes us cover our eyes - it forces us to look away," he says.&nbsp;"The hope with this film is the opposite - that we look, and cannot look away. Finding so much to love, cherish and protect. No child should ever be part of war. Ever."

Billy Boyd Cape

Scott Wright

Olivia Rodrigo 'The Book Of Love' by Billy Boyd Cape | 'The hope with this film is that we cannot look away.'

Chloe Qisha is out to get her a man - but she's going to have some fun with her girls first - in Iris Luz's effervescent video for YDH.Luz gives the concept of&nbsp;medieval courtly love a thoroughly modern makeover, as Chloe and fellow maidens in costume go out for the night to to find some knights. And when they do, head back to the hotel.In fact, in terms of steaminess and innuendo, the song does the heavy lifting. The video largely focusses on the fun - and on Chloe's star quality. And it makes that case very well.[imgtoken data:1]

Chloe Qisha 'YDH' by Iris Luz

Chloe-Qisha-'Ydh'-by-Iris-Luz

<h3>The documentary maker opens event to mark the publication of book celebrating Academy’s work over four decades – and shows how music videos mirror society in ways that journalism and other media cannot. Report by Albie Fay.</h3>On Tuesday, 18th November, the ICA in London was the venue for an event that brought together filmmakers across generations to reflect on the evolution of the music video.Organised in tandem with the publication of <a href="https://mackbooks.co.uk/products/short-form-40-years-of-music-videos-ads-and-the-art-of-moving-images" target="_blank">Short Form: 40 Years of Music Videos, Ads, and the Art of Moving Images</a> – a book recently published by MACK Books devoted to work produced by leading London production company Academy Films over the past four decades – it brought together two of the company’s most eminent directors, Jonathan Glazer and Walter Stern, with emerging directing talent Iris Luz, on stage for a discussion that focussed largely upon the importance of music videos in their careers.The evening began with the documentary maker Adam Curtis - renowned for his iconoclastic docs including The Power Of Nightmares, Hypernormalisation and Shifty – offering his own views on the medium. He did so in the characteristic personalised style of his films, giving an illustrated lecture that moved through a selection of videos from early iterations of K-Pop (then called dance pop), to Eminem’s Stan and early 2000s MTV.[imgtoken data:1]Above: Adam Curtis (left) with panel moderator Simran Hans at&nbsp;Short Form: 40 Years of Music Videos, Ads, and the Art of Moving Images event at the ICA on 18th November.&nbsp;&nbsp;Curtis’s theme was how music videos uniquely capture the “underlying mood of a society” in ways journalism – or any other medium, for that matter – cannot. He argued that the form transmits across a language of “light, feeling, and emotion” that allows it to act as a more immediate social and political barometer. To illustrate this, he highlighted videos like Walter Stern’s work for Audiobully’s with We Don’t Care, to show how the form captured the "dislocation and confusion" of the early Noughties.Later, he connected the emergence of early K-Pop videos to the complex political and economic dilemmas in South Korea at the time, arguing that their visual output channeled a desire for solidarity that formal political systems had failed to provide.Following Curtis’ talk, film critic Simran Hans led a panel of Glazer, Stern and Luz, through a discussion that spanned the highs of MTV through to today’s more DIY and digital filmmaking.Both Glazer and Stern reflected on the 1990s shift from label-controlled performance clips to directors starting to create miniature films of their own, like Stern’s direction of the Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony, or Glazer’s video for Radiohead’s Karma Police.[imgtoken data:2]Above: Walter Stern (left) and Jonathan Glazer on the panel at the Short Form event at the ICA.&nbsp;Jonathan Glazer spoke about the DVD boom era, in the late Nineties, where readily available and obscure films were influencing the creativity of music videos. He added he can still see “the influence that the music videos have had” on his feature films – a &nbsp;subtle reminder that the medium’s experimentation itself bleeds into wider visual culture.Walter Stern explained that for him, the artistic process is about “finding one image that holds the emotional weight of a track and following that image wherever it leads”.<blockquote>Curtis&nbsp;argued music videos transmit across a language of 'light, feeling, and emotion'&nbsp;that allows it to act as a more immediate social and political barometer.&nbsp;</blockquote>He also noted that music videos offered a unique form of experimentation. “You can do something in a music video that you can’t do in a feature or a commercial, where formats are more rigid,” said Stern, adding: “It helps that the videos are only three and a half minutes long. They don’t demand as much from the audience either.”Iris Luz brought a more contemporary perspective than the two Academy Films veterans. She spoke about smaller crews, iPhone footage, and the importance of intimacy, where immediacy is a way of enforcing a togetherness between artist and audience.[imgtoken data:3]Above: Iris Luz (right) with panel moderator Simran Hans&nbsp;Referencing the DIY approaches of new wave artists like Fred Again and FakeMink, Luz described how reality and low-tech aesthetics now shape the emotion of music videos, and therefore their reception, something increasingly filtered through YouTube algorithms and clips on TikTok. "The main trait that I see in their visual output is an immediacy which tries to enforce a feeling of intimacy with the music that they're putting out," she said.However, all four speakers were in alignment in their shared view that the music video sits at the centre of our visual culture, not at its edges, due to the fact that the form reacts quickly to shifts in technology and taste, recording the underlying political and emotional feelings of its moment.Jonathan Glazer closed the discussion with the observation that the algorithm may influence what we see, “but it doesn’t change how we view the work”, and he declared that the role of the director has remained unchanged through the decades.“To make powerful work, radical work, no matter the reach,” he said.• Academy Films’ new book, Short Form: 40 Years of Music Videos, Ads, and the Art of Moving Images (MACK Books), is on sale now at <a href="https://mackbooks.co.uk/products/short-form-40-years-of-music-videos-ads-and-the-art-of-moving-images" target="_blank">the MACK website</a> and good bookshops.&nbsp;

Academy Films at the ICA: Jonathan Glazer, Walter Stern and Iris Luz reflect on music videos – and Adam Curtis widens the frame

Tyrus directs a coruscating, atmospheric promo for dance&nbsp;producer Sub Focus, featuring Fireboy DML and Irah.&nbsp;The video for Original Don is a quick-cut black and white promo, with enigmatic performance setups and feverish dance moves taking centre stage.&nbsp;Keeping things slick and simple, everything takes place in a large industrial space, with strobing lights and projections blurring together in frantic harmony.&nbsp;A rousing visual to get you off your seat.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

Tyrus

Dance

Sub Focus Ft. Fireboy DML And Irah 'Original Don' by Tyrus

Sub-Focus-Ft.-Fireboy-Dml-And-Irah-'Original-Don'-by-Tyrus

Victoria (De Angelis)&nbsp;of Måneskin brings her rock 'n roll lifestyle - not to mention pole-dancing and hostage-taking - to sleepy suburbia in Iris Luz's raunchy and riotous video for T-Shirt.Featuring Canadian rapper Tommy Genesis and not-appropriately-named Miss Bashful &nbsp;- shot in a chintzy suburban villa with a pole fitted in the living room. It's unashamedly sexy, naughty, silly - shot largely on GoPro -style cameras - and highly watchable.When PC Plod arrives at the front door, following complaints about the noise, he doesn't stand a chance...[imgtoken data:1]

Victoria ft Tommy Genesis & Miss Bashful 'T-Shirt' by Iris Luz

Victoria, Tommy Genesis, Miss Bashful - T-Shirt (Official Video)

Candice Lo directs an impassioned performance by Griff, taking its inspirational cue from the songtitle. And things are going to get messy.The video for Last Night's Mascara begins with Griff in white, in an all-white space. But the first smudge of black indicates what is coming, as Lo orchestrates the addition of streaks of 'last night's mascara' through the pop singer's choreographed performance.&nbsp;She mars the white space and her own clothing with handprints and stains, as the&nbsp;ever-flowing mascara acts as a cathartic release, leading to an artistic portrayal of grief. A captivating concept anchored by the artist's commitment to the performance, and Lo's inspired direction.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]

Candice Lo

Avenues

Studio RM

Griff 'Last Night's Mascara' by Candice Lo

Griff - last night's mascara (Official Music Video)

Jackson Lee Forsythe creates a thrillingly unorthodox dystopian vision for Nigerian rapper and singer Rema’s anthemic track&nbsp;Ozeba.Drawing from&nbsp;the concept of ‘Ozeba’ - meaning ‘problem’ in the Edo language - Forsythe&nbsp;creates a tense undercurrent as we're thrown into the midst of a group of Mad Max-style characters, lost in a forest, and confronted by an unearthly army of mask-wearing forest dwellers.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]This is a realm of chilly spookiness that we rarely associate with&nbsp;Afrobeat&nbsp;artists, but within this ominous scenario Forsythe captures&nbsp;Rema’s energetic performance with thrilling transitions that contribute to the forceful vision of the piece, by virtue of a myriad of camera techniques including motion control..It stacks up to be a major statement from both the artist and director, for a track at the heart of the much acclaimed album Heis - which is Grammy-nominated for Best Global Music Album, and described by Rolling Stone as 'the strongest contender for the best Afrobeats album of the year'.[imgtoken data:2]“It’s a privilege to be able to direct the video for such an iconic track," says Jackson Lee Forsythe."It was an incredible experience working with Rema, along with his team, who were all willing to take risks with the creative. Big love to the whole team who helped craft this universe.”<blockquote>"Rema and his team were all willing to take&nbsp;risks with the creative."</blockquote>[imgtoken data:3]

Afrobeat

Rema 'Ozeba' by Jackson Lee Forsythe

Rema - OZEBA (Official Music Video)

Directing duo BLACKWALL take a focussed, minimalist approach to their&nbsp;promo for&nbsp;Michael Kiwanuka.The video for Lowdown is deceptively simple at a macro level&nbsp;- a young man&nbsp;riding a bike, executing wheelies and other tricks, on a deserted airstrip as night falls.&nbsp;But within the five-minute runtime, there is a slight sense of a narrative, and a beautiful attention to detail that unfolds in tandem with the lilting track.&nbsp;Following their video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2024/08/08/jeshi-ft-fredwave-louis-culture-and-j-caesar-disconnect-blackwall/87668" target="_blank">Jeshi's Disconnect!</a>, it's another&nbsp;standout concept from the director duo.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]

BLACKWALL

Michael Kiwanuka 'Lowdown (parts i & ii)' by BLACKWALL

Michael-Kiwanuka-'Lowdown'-by-Blackwall

Melbourne's finest punk rock outfit Amyl &amp; The Sniffers team up once more with iconoclastic filmmaker John Angus Stewart to create a gritty monochromatic promo for Chewing Gum.&nbsp;Stewart's visual blends several larger-than-life vignettes, playing out like moving portraits of charismatic Amyl frontwoman Amy Taylor and her band and friends. Then some unexpected wirework moments elevate the visual - quite literally - to a new level, and the brash, confrontational attitude is a perfect match to the punchy track.&nbsp;Melbourne's finest also happen to be one of the&nbsp;most exciting rock bands anywhere in the world right now, and this is a superb vehicle for their distinctive brand of rock'n roll attitude. Absolutely captivating.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;&nbsp;

Australia

John Angus Stewart

Punk

Amyl & The Sniffers 'Chewing Gum' by John Angus Stewart

Amyl and The Sniffers "Chewing Gum" (Official Music Video)

Just released&nbsp;and already breaking the internet, LISA from K-Pop titans BLACKPINK&nbsp;launches her first solo project in three years with a breathtaking video directed by Henry Scholfield - clocking over 20 million views on YouTube in the first 12 hours of release.The key focus for Lisa was to celebrate her Thai roots, represented in the choice of locations, captured in the fashion of a blockbuster action movie, bullet time shots and all, plus astonishing choreo and VFX, by Black Kite Studios in London. &nbsp;"We shot in Bangkok, shooting in iconic locations like Chinatown," says Medb Riordan, Academy Films MD and the video's producer. "Henry and Lisa wanted to really bring out Thai sub-cultures in the casting (LGBTQ+ representation was really important for her), and all cast, including dancers, were Thai."With choreo from MV legend Sean Bankhead, main styling by Paris-based Georgia Pendlebury, cinematography by DoP Mauro Chiarello and edited by Nik Kohler - and the commissioner/producer was industry legend Camille Yorrick, EVP of Creative Content at RCA.And the characteristic&nbsp;attention to detail on every frame by Henry Schofield makes this a pleasure to watch repeatedly. So not surprising that it's broken the internet.[imgtoken data:1]

Henry Scholfield

Lisa 'Rockstar' by Henry Scholfield

LISA - ROCKSTAR (Official Music Video)

Jackson Forsythe captures the joyful, feisty&nbsp;energy of&nbsp;Sasha Keable in a vivacious video for Hold Up.&nbsp;Forsyth combines performance vignettes with touches of narrative and humour in a charismatic, high-energy affair that's a terrific showcase for the talents of Sasha Keable and her authentic identity as a contemporary&nbsp;Londoner.&nbsp;Playful cinematography by Jaime Ackroyd helps Forsyth's vision to make the video feel fresh and unique, perfectly matching the elevated soundscapes in the track.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]

Sasha Keable 'Hold Up' by Jackson Forsythe 

Sasha Keable - Hold Up (Official Video)

Talia Beale directs an&nbsp;off-the-wall promo for indie-pop outfit Friedberg - with vocalist&nbsp;Anna&nbsp;Friedberg stuck inside the wall&nbsp;of her room, observing a variety of uncanny situations.In the&nbsp;video for Hello, a series of strange events unfold in front of Anna, who has become part of the furniture, melted into the structure of her 70s-inspired home - then occasionally breaking free for moments of performance with the band. Beale achieves a trippy and whimsical atmosphere within this setting where ideas of romance are explored, according the eccentric, offbeat&nbsp;logic of the 'Friedberg room.'"The song is written from a POV of spending the night living in someone’s head," says Beale. "So the visual somewhat reflects the motion of all our passing thoughts: they can overwhelm, be nonsensical, feel detached, comforting, erratic, tempting yet disorientating. All the while making so much sense."This project's been a dream to work on! Anna’s an artist who takes the risk of thinking outside of the box and pushing creative boundaries. It’s provided a playground to explore our most surreal ideas, the ones maybe we often try to dull down by attaching too much rational thought to in the name of commercialism."[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;

Friedberg 'Hello' by Talia Beale

Friedberg-'Hello'-by-Talia-Beale

Eugen Merher directs an emotional promo for Rudimental's latest release, featuring&nbsp;Charlotte Plank and Vibe Chemistry.&nbsp;We are introduced to an everyday family, consisting of a brother and sister who live with their alcoholic father. After he ends up&nbsp;in hospital with alcohol poisoning, the kids are left to their own devices, and we get to see the rollercoaster of ups and downs that ensues.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]Exploring family dynamics and the generational cycle of addiction - and how this threatens to impact the lives of the characters we follow - the video ends up on a much more optimistic track, as they cook, play and spend time together, becoming each other's protectors at the same time.&nbsp;DoP&nbsp;Diego Rosenblatt's naturalistic, gritty cinematography is intimate yet cinematic, and the focus on character anchors the visual in the real-world, whilst offering a glimpse of fantasy and what the future of these characters could look like.Beautiful work.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]

Eugen Merher

Final Cut

Rudimental, Charlotte Plank, Vibe Chemistry 'Dancing is Healing' by Eugen Merher 

Rudimental, Charlotte Plank, Vibe Chemistry - Dancing is Healing (Official Video)

Teenage love fails to run smoothly in Ethan &amp; Tom's excellent take on a high school musical for Tendai.A frosty moment between Tendai and his girlfriend - played by&nbsp;Sephora Parish - is played out in the halls of a London school, in a series of well-crafted sequences that involve a sizeable supporting cast.It's of a piece with the directing duo's facility with experimental camera techniques, with a constantly moving camera, which ends up rotating around the couple.But this is also arguably Ethan &amp; Tom's most sophisticated video so far in terms of execution, with an element of dramatic tension and a proper pop video feel in terms of scale and look. A real step-up for the talented directing duo.

Ethan & Tom

Kodak

Tendai ‘Ughh… Parent’s Evening’ by Ethan & Tom

tendai - Ughh Parents Evening

Candice Lo creates a joyous moment of freedom with Olivia Dean, for the singer's delightful Dive.There's a charming simplicity about this video which strikes a chord with the mood of the song - and makes the most of Olivia Dean as a person and performer. And it looks like it was achieved in just two shots.Firstly, Olivia emerges from a village coffee shop, and conveys her blissful mood directly to the camera as she walks. Then it changes to a wide-open deserted beach. The camera flies free but still engages with Olivia, who now in full pelt, running towards the waves. You sense the joy is real, and that means everything.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Soul

Olivia Dean 'Dive' by Candice Lo

Olivia-Dean--'Dive'-by-Candice-Lo

<h3>In the latest of our new series asking British music video-makers about their experiences last year and thoughts on the coming year, we talk to Elena Argiros - Head of Music at Academy Films.</h3>Elena reflects upon 2022, the year when she crossed over from label side with Sony Music to production with Academy - and her hopes for 2023, including more concepts, comedy - and a yearning to see more video briefs for classic songs.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2022How would you describe last year in a few words?&nbsp;Lots of change, lots of fun!&nbsp;What was your favourite project or projects you worked on last year?&nbsp;I’ve loved working with Ethan &amp; Tom. Their live film ‘Bad Day At The Office’ for Jeshi was a really special project to be a part of.&nbsp;We had a screening for it’s release in the Everyman Cinema - a real rare treat for a video.[vidtoken data:0]Above: Jeshi's Bad Day At The Office, directed by Ethan &amp; TomAny other project you enjoyed that deserved more attention, or went under the radar?&nbsp;It's a person rather than a project: one of our new directors at Academy, Candice Lo. Her short film called&nbsp;The Tinted Bloom&nbsp;(below) is a beautiful, brave piece of work. I highly recommend watching it.What were the best aspects of the job last year?&nbsp;The people! At Sony the creative team are like family, so working with them was unbelievably fun.&nbsp;And now over at Academy the team here have been a dream, especially the MV producer Cara Mills.<blockquote>&nbsp;I miss the concept-driven dance videos of the past.</blockquote>What were the most challenging aspects of the job last year?&nbsp;I’d have to say budgets unfortunately. I’m sure we’re not alone in that! It’s the classic main music video issue.&nbsp;Ever-changing shoot dates can be tough too!Best or favourite video or videos last year or so that you weren’t involved with?&nbsp;I love Ebenezer Blanche’s work. His video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/09/10/little-simz-ft-obongjayar-point-and-kill-ebeneza-blanche/72741" target="_blank">Little Simz's Point &amp; Kill</a> is amazing. Valentin Petit’s for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2022/02/06/rosal%C3%ADa-saoko-valentin-petit/79831" target="_blank">Rosalia's Saoko</a>&nbsp;was brilliant too. And Fa &amp; Fon are really talented – I especially like <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2022/01/31/m%C3%B8-new-moon-fa-fon/74746" target="_blank">their videos with Mø</a>.[vidtoken data:1]&nbsp;Above: The Tinted Bloom, directed by Candice LoWhat were the trends (creative or otherwise) that you thought were most striking last year?&nbsp;It certainly feels as though we’re seeing a lot of performance videos and less narrative/concept driven ideas. I do enjoy a well-made performance vid but it’d be great to see more variety. I miss the concept-driven dance videos of the past!What was&nbsp;other cultural highlight (or highlights) of the year?&nbsp;I got really into Taylor Swift this year, when Midnights came out, which was a little unexpected.&nbsp;What a good album.&nbsp;&nbsp;Any other personal experience that defines 2022 for you?&nbsp;Moving from Sony over to Academy!<blockquote>I’m hoping for a more creative year than 2022 and a&nbsp;hunger for comedy again!&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote>2023What are you looking forward to in 2023 – both for work and for other parts of your life?&nbsp;I plan to do a&nbsp;boat tour in the Everglades to see an alligator. Not for work&nbsp;though!Have you set work objectives for this year and if so, what are they?To keep making videos for&nbsp;strong&nbsp;tracks! I’m very keen to not only work&nbsp;with the music video directors, but maybe get some of the established filmmakers over here like Seb Edwards to dip their toes into promo world again.Who are the up-and-coming talents that you think will break through this year – or at least deserve to be successful?&nbsp;&nbsp;Ethan &amp; Tom.&nbsp;We’re very proud of their recent MVA win with <a href="https://www.academyfilms.com/portfolio/wu-lu-ten" target="_blank">WuLu's Ten</a>. Candice Lo, our recent signing&nbsp;is really talented.&nbsp;And photographer-turned-director&nbsp;Katie Burdon’s short film Blue Tits is&nbsp;doing brilliantly. So more videos with all of them this year would be great.[vidtoken data:2]Above: Trailer for 'Blue Tits', directed Katie BurdonWhat is your prediction for the direction of the industry in 2023? And what will be the big trends for the year&nbsp;ahead?It already feels like a busy start which is brilliant. I’m hoping for a more creative year than 2022 and a little more hunger for comedy again!Any other comments about the current environment for music video production and music video creativity? What are the issues that we should be most concerned with?&nbsp;I’d love&nbsp;to see more creative risk-taking!&nbsp;We’ve had quite a safe couple of years in the industry – lots of traditional performance videos. I’m always keen to see a bit more humour, pushing the boundaries a bit. I loved AntsLive’s recent Number One Candidate&nbsp;video.I’m a little concerned that there’s a move towards quantity over quality with artists content, including official videos. But this is the current climate. So rather than fight against that, we need to keep pushing for quality and interesting ideas where possible! Great creative massively helps artists' campaigns. So I hope that is considered more;&nbsp;quality, not quantity!<blockquote>I’ve always felt that open-brief dance tracks can be brilliant opportunities.</blockquote>If you could ‘make a wish’, and reform or change the environment in which you work in one way, what would you wish for?&nbsp;I reeeeaally want to make some new videos for old catalogue tracks. I’ve seen that happen a little bit -&nbsp;Academy director Savanah Leaf made a great video for What’s Going On&nbsp;by Marvin Gaye (below) - and I’d LOVE for it to take off even more. &nbsp;Another wish would be a little more budget and lead time given to projects. We’re in quite a reactive period where if a track’s doing well - Tiktok can often drive this - suddenly the label need a video for it fast. Which is understandable. It would be great to have longer lead times on the development artists projects. But some labels are great at that already to be fair!&nbsp;[vidtoken data:3]Above: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, directed by Savanah LeafWhere are the opportunities in the current environment?&nbsp;I’ve always felt that open-brief dance tracks can be brilliant opportunities! The 90’s was an incredible time for that. The good thing about the current industry is there’s a lot being made. Budgets are generally smaller but there are opportunities there for directors to make work if they’re hungry.Have you made any personal New Year resolutions? And if so, how’s it going?I have made some yes and I’m pleased to stay I’ve actually stuck to them…so far.• Elena Argiros is Head of Music at <a href="https://www.academyfilms.com/" target="_blank">Academy Films</a>. The music video roster is represented by <a href="https://www.mouthpiecerep.me/" target="_blank">Mouthpiece</a>.&nbsp;

Elena Argiros

State of Play: Elena Argiros, Academy Films

Jeshi-'Bad-Day-At-The-Office-(live-Film)'-by-Ethan-+-Tom

THE TINTED BLOOM

Bluetits Documentary Trailer - Academy Films, directed by Katie Burdon

What's Going On - MARVIN GAYE

Candice Lo has joined the directors roster at Academy Films.Lo is a Taiwan-born, London-based director whose work is characterised by a strong visually poetic language. She draws inspiration from female empowerment, day-to-day experiences, and creative culture.Her ability to bring the audience on a journey of intimate connection within themselves is testament to her client list. She has worked with some of the world’s best known brands and artists including: Vogue, Victoria Beckham, Stella McCartney, Dua Lipa, HoYeon Jung, Millie Bobby Brown, Zara, Jo Malone and Adidas.She was selected by Showstudio’s founder Nick Knight as ‘Emerging Fashion Filmmaker of the Year’ in 2017.Academy Films say:&nbsp;"Candice draws inspiration from feminism, day to&nbsp;day experiences,&nbsp;creative culture combined with authentic storytelling. We couldn’t be happier to have her as part of our emerging roster."• Watch Candice Lo's work on the Academy Films website <a href="https://www.academyfilms.com/candice-lo#" target="_blank">here</a>

Candice Lo joins Academy Films

Ethan + Tom direct a terrific 25-minute live film for Jeshi.Encompassing several tracks from his new LP Universal Credit, the video sees the artist in an empty office block, performing alongside musicians&nbsp;Tagara, Eardbuds, Wonky Logic and Loner Muaka.The live performances are creatively and intricately staged, and the guest musicians are interwoven into the concept by appearing as office workers, replacing computers and keyboards with their instruments.&nbsp;

Jeshi 'Bad Day At The Office' (Live) by Ethan + Tom

Ethan + Tom direct an introspective promo for Tendai's&nbsp;Time In Our Lives, where we see a man editing&nbsp;film on an old Steenbeck, taking great care of the material as he watches back the negatives and cuts with trained precision.&nbsp;A sense of yearning nostalgia is created by touching upon&nbsp;the physical traditions of moving image production, whilst hinting at a love story gone astray in a tender performance vignette.&nbsp;The video is refreshingly multilayered and clever in its concept, visualising 'time gone by',&nbsp;not only in a single narrative&nbsp;but by offering snapshots of near-antiquated technology and the traditions that are gradually being lost to&nbsp;the passing of time itself.Great work from the director duo, who won at the UKMVAs&nbsp;this year for their video for Wu-Lu's&nbsp;Ten.&nbsp;

Tendai 'Time In Our Lives' by Ethan + Tom

Tendai--'Time-In-Our-Lives'-by-Ethan-+-Tom

London-based production company <a href="https://www.academyfilms.com/music-video-directors" target="_blank">Academy</a>&nbsp;has announced that Elena Argiros has joined&nbsp;to&nbsp;head its&nbsp;music video division, arriving from Sony Music where she was a senior music video commissioner.&nbsp;In her career as a commissioner at Sony, Argiros worked alongside some major artists to commission their music videos, including&nbsp;London Grammar, Headie One, Mimi Webb, Robbie Williams, Rita Ora and Beardyman - the latter on a video produced by Academy. She was recognised for her work with a Best Commissioner nomination at the UK Music Video Awards in 2021.&nbsp;Argiros's new role as Head of Music at Academy - a company with a rich history in music video production and behind some legendary music videos, from the 1990s onwards&nbsp;- will be to lead the division, acting as executive producer on projects, while&nbsp;unearthing young directors and finding new opportunities within the music video world.“We’re absolutely delighted Elena has decided to join our Academy team," says Academy’s joint owner Medb Riordan. "I first worked with her on a highly creative and ambitious video [for Beardyman], and I knew immediately she had the passion and drive to really push for a director’s vision. She will bring a fresh, creative energy to Academy’s Music department and champion both new and existing talent. I’m really excited to work with her.”On joining Academy, Elena Argiros adds: “Academy feels like both a logical next step and a career goal. Working at a company with such a history of iconic music videos from a roster bursting with talent and depth is just incredibly exciting to be a part of.”• Academy's music video directors' roster&nbsp;<a href="https://www.academyfilms.com/music-video-directors" target="_blank">here</a>

Elena Argiros joins Academy as Head of Music

Katie Burdon directs a contemplative promo for Bonnie Kemplay.&nbsp;Contained in the four walls of her bedroom, we see the artist contemplate life and past relationships, as she practices self-care and waters her houseplant.&nbsp;Watching memories back on an old TV, the anachronistic vibes perfectly suit the grungey alt-pop sound, and the climactic, neon-tinged ending adds an abstract vibe to the concept.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;

Katie Burdon

CHEAT

Bonnie Kemplay '19' by Katie Burdon

Bonnie-Kemplay-'19'-by-Katie-Burdon

Ethan &amp; Tom direct a fresh take on 90's nostalgia in their promo for tendai.&nbsp;Viewers of a certain vintage will remember the excitement and anticipation that came with the TV rolling into the classroom on a school day. Regardless of what was being played on-screen, the whole proceeding was an event, and the director duo have used this as their central concept in the video for Pressure.&nbsp;Shot in a white cyc studio, the understated action happens around this TV, which loops Ceefax-style graphics, revealing lyrics and thematical callbacks to the track.&nbsp;It has the multiformat, inventive trademark that the directors are known for, and achieves an awful lot on limited resources.&nbsp;

tendai 'Pressure' by Ethan & Tom

Tendai-'Pressure'-by-Ethan-&-Tom

Henry Scholfield directs a hypnotic, VFX-heavy extravaganza for Ed Sheeran featuring Lil Baby.&nbsp;The video for 2step shows Sheeran walking down an empty street in Kyiv, as the surrounding characters and environment&nbsp;start to vanish into thin air. This eventually builds&nbsp;to a sensational dance set-piece, and a mind-bending trip through warped cityscapes and slick choreography - which Sheeran enthusiastically dives into himself&nbsp;too, together with co-star Lil Baby.&nbsp;The project&nbsp;opens with a title card with a message from Ed Sheeran explaining that the video was shot in Kyiv before the Russian invasion&nbsp;of Ukraine two months ago, and that profits from the video streaming are going directly to DEC's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.&nbsp;

Singer-songwriter

Ed Sheeran ft Lil Baby '2step' by Henry Scholfield

Ed Sheeran - 2step (feat. Lil Baby) - [Official Video]

Ethan + Tom direct an introspective promo for up and coming London-based artist tendai.&nbsp;The video builds upon the director duo's trademark eclectic style, mashing together live action footage with stock imagery and vintage&nbsp;home video cutaways.&nbsp;The use of projection and bold colour in the cinematography elevates the visual, which is contained in its location but unrestrained in its aesthetic.&nbsp;

tendai 'Lately' by Ethan + Tom

tendai -  Lately, (official video)

Remi Laudat directs a visual extravaganza for Amaarae, with a little help from&nbsp;Kali Uchis and Moliy.The video for&nbsp;Sad Girlz Luv Money is a tongue-in-cheek celebration of women in control, inspired by&nbsp;Nineties pop videos.Inside the Sad Girlz Inc tower, the scammers and hustlers are out there living their best lives, making their mullah, swimming in cash, and making any unwelcome male visitor pay for their sins.With a hyperstylised neon aesthetic, the video blends retro-futurism with contemporary digital flair, and the assured performances of Amaarae, Kali Uchis and Moliy - captured in shoots in London,&nbsp;Los Angeles and New York - take the concept to the next level.[imgtoken data:1]

Remi Laudat

Black Kite Studios

Amaarae ft Kali Uchis & Moliy 'Sad Girlz Luv Money' by Remi Laudat

Amaarae - SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY Remix ft Kali Uchis & Moliy (Official Video)

Ethan + Tom direct a&nbsp;Tarkovsky-inspired video for singer-songwriter Ethan P. Flynn - a bold one-take of Flynn's performance in front of a raging inferno.&nbsp;Shot in&nbsp;Kazakhstan, the video sees the artist at first traversing a spectacular&nbsp;landscape: a lake, backdropped by mountainous plains and a dreamy red sky. Flynn is walking towards a light, which is revealed as a small wooden house, engulfed in flames.&nbsp;The video is an external representation of the inner turmoil of the lyrics of the song Father Of Nine, and as Flynn performs in front of the burning house, the camera smoothly drifts wider and then closer, to capture the intensity of the experience. And it's such a powerful&nbsp;image.[imgtoken data:1]

Ethan P. Flynn 'Father Of Nine' by Ethan + Tom

Ethan P. Flynn - Father of Nine

BWTV directs an evocative promo for Bonobo's Shadows, featuring Jordan Rakei, focusing on abstract imagery and graphics.&nbsp;Exploring the power of memory and everyday experience through patterns, shadow and light, the video transcends a traditional structure, instead focusing on repetitive sequences and brief, fleeting moments in time.[imgtoken data:1]"Shadows are reflections of ourselves, our movements, whims, wants and urges - like memories happening in the present; like scars that leave no mark," comment Liam Achaibou and Ryan Vernava - aka BWTV. "They are a creeping measure of passing moments: alive, immediate and fleeting. They stretch and bend to the world around them and they thicken and fade as the days roll on."We wanted to make a video that meditates on these ideas; using found captured and created material to investigate the patterns and visual metaphors that emerge as we experimented with the footage."Using the emotional language of the shadow we began to build sequences and patterns reminiscent of how one might compose a multitrack piece of music. Layers, lots of layers..." &nbsp;

BWTV

Carrie Sutton

Bonobo ft Jordan Rakei 'Shadows' by BWTV

Bonobo - 'Shadows (feat. Jordan Rakei)' (Official Video)

For their previously unreleased song Follow Me Around, Radiohead have a wonderful new video by directing&nbsp;duo Us -&nbsp;Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor - starring Guy Pearce. He plays the hapless victim of a particularly tenacious insect - and we, the viewer,&nbsp;are that pesky bug.&nbsp;A simple idea is transformed by Barrett and Taylor's brilliant employment of up-to-the-minute tech. And indeed, minute tech: the entire video is shot on a&nbsp;tiny drone&nbsp;that speeds through London streets, and through tiny spaces, and finds its way to Pearce's East London home - where the relentless attack&nbsp;by the bug begins. Everything we see comes from insect-POV, as we witness Pearce's increasing desperation and panic.[imgtoken data:1]Us were inspired to look through the mini-critter's eyes, having spent a summer combatting mosquitos. They were also inspired by&nbsp;footage of tiny drones that can go through anywhere at speed.&nbsp;With the brilliant casting of Pearce, Barrett and Taylor have also elevated the concept further, adding a level of ambiguity&nbsp;where surveillance, paranoia and the humble mosquito meet.&nbsp;The formatting of the camera was made to emulate both the period of the song, with its lo-fi 420p resolution, and also the idea of surveillance cameras, as well as the erratic and somewhat flailing camp of vision one imagines a mosquito’s to be. Married with Guy Pearce’s outstanding acting, the sparse visuals are meant to make the viewer feel as uncomfortable as the character on the screen.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]And why is Pearce being targetted?&nbsp;We really can only guess, as the one thing we cannot see is the attacker itself - is this actually an insect, or perhaps another form of Bug...It is of course perfect for the lovely song Follow Me Around, a live favourite which dates back to the era of OK Computer,&nbsp;that Radiohead are only now releasing, on the new Kid A/Amnesiac sessions project. This one goes direct to the pantheon of great Radiohead videos.&nbsp;&nbsp;

XL Recordings

Radiohead 'Follow Me Around' by Us

Radiohead-'Follow-Me-Around'-by-Us-(chris-Barrett-&-Luke-Taylor)

Jordan Hemingway directs a mesmerising visual film for Wolf Alice's new album Blue Weekend.A night out in London - we’ve all had one of those. Trying to work through heartbreak and friendships made and lost, meeting characters good and bad, funny and tragic. A fight here, an embrace there. Singing in toilets, bidding farewell to a lover at a bus stop, before riding home with your mates singing at the top of your voice, until you’re alone again, but not lonely.[imgtoken data:1]You feel love, wrapped in the memories of the mad night that lays behind.Jordan Hemingway’s rendering of such a night, of course, takes twists and turns and exaggerates, making&nbsp;every mundane moment into something magically grotesque. Characters unhinged, colours bursting. Chaos reigns supreme as Wolf Alice’s visual album unfolds, with the music serving as a guide to the imagery, the emotional clock that ticks away to the early hours of the morning.[imgtoken data:2]The project is an absolute tour de force, interweaving Hemingway's hallucinatory&nbsp;vision and a series of breathtaking performances, delivered in grungy locations across the city.&nbsp;Unexpected, daring and vibrant, the abstract imagery and colour-drenched set pieces are elevated by DoP&nbsp;Molly Manning Walker's dazzling cinematography, and a true marriage of craft from every member of the production team.&nbsp;Watch the trailer for the film above, and of course, catch several of the individual videos on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/WolfAliceMusic/featured">Wolf Alice's YouTube channel.&nbsp;</a>[imgtoken data:3]

Jordan Hemingway

Wolf Alice 'Blue Weekend' by Jordan Hemingway

Wolf-Alice--'Blue-Weekend-'-by-Jordan-Hemingway

Fiona Godivier celebrates the joy in the everyday, in her hopeful promo for Paul Weller.&nbsp;Heading to the&nbsp;Mediterranean, Godivier presents a series of interconnected vignettes, offering snapshots of day to day life in various character's worlds.Exploring the small moments in life that make the&nbsp;difficult times worth it, the video explores&nbsp;connectedness, relationships and the beauty of crossing paths with strangers, projecting a feeling of optimism and hope.&nbsp;Godivier anchors each of the stories to a striking location, using her keen architectural eye to backdrop the narratives and create the feeling that in every one of these places, a million other special moments are unfolding.[imgtoken data:1]

Fiona Godivier

Singer songwriter

Paul Weller 'Shades Of Blue' by Fiona Godivier

Paul-Weller-'Shades-Of-Blue-'-by-Fiona-Godivier

Remi Laudat takes viewers on an electrifying&nbsp;journey,&nbsp;in the promo for&nbsp;Riton's Friday.&nbsp;The track - which heavily samples&nbsp;the&nbsp;MK&nbsp;remix of&nbsp;Nightcrawlers' Push The Feeling On from 1992 - is a bouncy number tailor-made for the summer, and this video matches those carefree vibes.&nbsp;A wild weekend is presented in POV, using punchy camera movement and a twist of wacky collage imagery interwoven throughout.Feel-good influencers&nbsp;Mufasa &amp; Hypeman make an appearance throughout the video, offering viewers a much needed escape with their uplifting attitude.&nbsp;

Homespun

Riton x Nightcrawlers 'Friday' by Remi Laudat

Riton-'Friday'-by-Remi-Laudat

This introductory short film to the new musical project Who We Are -&nbsp;directed by London-based Australian&nbsp;directing duo Novemba,&nbsp;making their&nbsp;music project debut - explores the everyday heartbreak of being a parent and the deep complex emotions lurking beneath the surface.A creative collaboration between music, film and dance, this is fully realized by two debut Who We Are songs as the short film’s soundtrack – Book At Bedtime&nbsp;and Daydream&nbsp;– as well as Novemba’s signature visual style and enthralling choreographed performances by Dickson Mbi.[imgtoken data:1]Taking place in intimate, familiar settings, the overarching focus of the short film is on the unique pieces of raw, emotional expression from two individual characters: a father who is grappling with the difficulties that come with being a newly single parent, separated from his infant child; and a mother who faces unbearable tension and hostility from her teenage daughter, played by Chloe Hearn.It's a powerful two-parter, with outstanding performances by the dancers, deftly directed by Novemba.

Novemba

Rob Ulitski

Who We Are 'Book At Bedtime/Daydream' by Novemba

Who-We-Are--'Book-At-Bedtime-/-Daydream'-by-Novemba

Andrea Mae Perez celebrates the healing power of love in her beautiful promo for Josie Man.&nbsp;Cuts &amp; Bruises explores the emotional damage we carry with us throughout life, and depicts a handful of couples who are making the most of love, life and each other's company.&nbsp;Through a fashion editorial aesthetic, the concept is presented through several intimate vignettes, each styled in a colourful, vibrant and unabashed way.&nbsp;DoP&nbsp;Beatriz Sastre matches the abstract style through the use of lo-fi DV cameras and hyperstylised lighting, creating a world in which love can exist in all forms.&nbsp;

Andrea Mae Perez

Josie Man 'Cuts & Bruises' by Andrea Mae Perez

Josie-Man-'Cuts-&-Bruises'-by-Andrea-Mae-Perez

Jordan Hemingway directs a very creepy short film for The Horrors' new single Lout.&nbsp;Starring <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/oct/27/makeup-artist-isamaya-ffrench-is-taking-beauty-to-new-levels-of-creativity" target="_blank">acclaimed makeup artist&nbsp;Isamaya Ffrench</a>, the short but sweet concept depicts Ffrench's transformation&nbsp;into a convulsing, undead state, reminiscent of zombie film 28 Days Later.&nbsp;Presented without any kind of narrative or structure, the video is a taste of what to expect from the upcoming EP, and a rather fascinating piece of standalone content.And there are echoes of Chris Cunningham's 2006&nbsp;video for the band's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqo3yR109wE" target="_blank">Sheena Is A Parasite</a>, featuring Samantha Morton undergoing a similarly terrifying transformation.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Horrors 'Lout' by Jordan Hemingway

The-Horrors--'Lout-'-by-Jordan-Hemingway

Ethan + Tom put Shrink under the spotlight in their second video for the London singer-songwriter&nbsp;fka producer Vasser, aka Sam Breathwick.While Ethan Barratt and Tom Gullum's video for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muqb8Dzmdxk&amp;feature=emb_title">Drowning</a> kept Shrink virtually&nbsp;anomymous, picking him out in thermal-cam, Cut You Loose is more intimate and tender, with moments of black comedy. And when the spotlight falls upon Shrink he is likely to befall a difficult moment - and painful pratfall.These metaphorical situations revolve around a sense of home, which is a place where Shrink is both comfortable but also close to surreal levels of danger. Riding a bicycle at night leads to a dramatic crash, and him becoming&nbsp;lost in memories leads to deeper&nbsp;water that&nbsp;threatens to overwhelm him.Shot on an iPhone, the directors' visual signature is expressed through the suspenseful&nbsp;concept and instinctively musical edit. When that spotlight starts bouncing around in time to the drums you know there's trouble coming.

Wash

Shrink 'Cut You Loose' by Ethan + Tom

Shrink-'Cut-You-Loose-'-by-Ethan-+-Tom

Edie Lawrence presents Sad Night Dynamite's headline set a summer festival... in plasticine.The video for Smoke Hole begins with Archie and Josh - aka SND - driving along country roads in their stretch limo to Shimewaza - a festival in their honour, populated by masses of devoted, unquestioning followers. And Lawrence has done a remarkable job in creating the festival vibe that you badly missed last summer - the hippies, the merch, the fairground attractions... and as night falls, a banging set by the SND boys to a crowd of thousands.This oddball dark comedy is a parallel reflection of the current state of the world - all achieved with plasticine animation, cardboard sets and greenscreen footage. Lawrence joins that small group of claymation animators who have made a memorable impact in music videos down the decades. She's a&nbsp;talent to watch for 2021.[imgtoken data:1]

Edie Lawrence

Sad Night Dynamite 'Smoke Hole' by Edie Lawrence

Sad-Night-Dynamite-'Smoke-Hole-'-by-Edie-Lawrence

Academy Films have announced the official signing of Ethan + Tom to their directing roster for music videos.The&nbsp;London-based directing duo's arrival at Academy&nbsp;has been confirmed following their impressive work for Flohio - including the UKMVA-nominated video for WAY2 - Greentea Peng, P-rallel, Nayana IZ, Berwyn and others. The announcement coincides with the release of their latest video for Shrink's Cut You Loose.Ethan and Tom have been working together since meeting at&nbsp;University of Westminster in 2017, where they were both studying a Film BA degree. They started making&nbsp;music videos for friends who were producing music, and began developing their&nbsp;distinctive style embracing in-camera experimentation and mixed media. Their video for&nbsp;budding band Badgirl$ caught the interest of Sony Music, which led to a series of music videos with the label while the pair were still at university.“We are incredibly excited to add the young duo to our music video roster," says Academy Film’s Head of Music Maurizio Von Trapp. "For the past year, we’ve been working closely together and have produced work we’re extremely proud of - it really feels like the possibilities are endless when it comes to these two. This duo of young filmmakers are a dream come true: full of ideas, excitement and wonder, and a relentlessness that drives it all forward, to a future we look forward to not only witnessing, but being a part of.”• Watch Ethan + Tom's showreel at Academy <a href="https://www.academyfilms.com/ethan-tom" target="_blank">here</a>

Ethan + Tom

Academy Films sign Ethan + Tom

Remi Laudat takes viewers on a journey through a Pan-African dancehall hangout, in his energetic promo for&nbsp;Amaarae featuring&nbsp;Kojey Radical &amp; Cruel Santino.&nbsp;The track deals with the conflicted emotions of leaving a partner for a new love interest, whilst the visuals are a no-holds-barred celebration of performance and movement.&nbsp;Inside the vibrant location, dancers stalk the hallways with unabashed energy, whilst each of the artists have their own moment of discovery in the maze of rooms and connecting corridors.&nbsp;It's an enigmatic, beautifully executed piece of work wrapped in a wonderfully nostalgic late 90's aesthetic.&nbsp;

Amaarae ft Kojey Radical & Cruel Santino 'Jumping Ship' by Remi Laudat

Amaarae-Ft-Kojey-Radical-&-Cruel-Santino-'Jumping-Ship'-by-Remi-Laudat

Berwyn takes a introspective saunter&nbsp;through late-night Peckham, in Ethan + Tom's video for Vinyl.Tapping into that quietly centred charisma that made his <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2020/07/27/berwyn-trap-phone-brock-neal-roberts/65800" target="_blank">UKMVA-winning video for Trap Phone</a> so special,&nbsp;Ethan Barrett and Tom Gullum&nbsp;have situated Berwyn's performance of this heartfelt track on an&nbsp;inner London high street that edges between reality and a dreamlike state.The up-and-coming directing duo have already made an impression with their visual inventiveness, but they keep the&nbsp;high-octane trickery of their videos for Flohio mostly in locker here. It's all about Berwyn's compelling performance, framed by excellent cinematography by Terrence Wilkins, and a constantly moving, occasionally rotating camera.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Berwyn 'Vinyl' by Ethan + Tom 

Berwyn--'Vinyl'-by-Ethan-+-Tom-

Henry Scholfield, multi-award winning&nbsp;director of acclaimed&nbsp;videos for Stormzy, Dua Lipa, Rosalía, Billie Eilish and many more, has joined Academy Films for representation in the&nbsp;UK and Amsterdam&nbsp;for music videos and commercials.Scholfield&nbsp;is one of the UK's leading music video directors, in demand with top artists around the world, for his distinctive, fast-moving&nbsp;directing style. He won the Best Director award, and his video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/04/29/stormzy-vossi-bop-henry-scholfield/58451" target="_blank">Stormzy's Vossi Bop</a> won Video Of The Year at the UK Music Video Awards last year, and he has been a multiple winner of prizes at the leading industry awards for music videos for more than a decade. He is shortlisted&nbsp;for Best Director at the UKMVAs once again this year, with his video for Dua Lipa's Break My Heart nominated in three&nbsp;categories.&nbsp;&nbsp;Scholfield's directing career began in earnest in the late Noughties, with his music videos on the UK grime scene for the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Professor Green and Wretch 32. He went on to direct videos for a wide range of artists, perhaps most notably a series of ingenious videos for Belgian pop star Stromae, before starting to work with Dua Lipa.&nbsp;The video for her song <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2017/07/10/dua-lipa-new-rules-henry-scholfield/48594" target="_blank">New Rules</a> won a D&amp;AD Pencil, Best Pop Video at the UKMVAs, and has broken viewing records on YouTube, with&nbsp;over&nbsp;2 billion views.&nbsp;Returning to grime, Scholfield directed the epic video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/interviews/behind-video-henry-scholfield-daniella-manca-john-hassay-and-james-rose-wileys-boasty/58073" target="_blank">Wiley's Boasty</a> early last year, before the all-conquering video for Stormzy's first no. 1 singer Vossi Bop. That was followed by the video for the grime star's <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/09/10/stormzy-sounds-skeng-henry-scholfield/60674" target="_blank">Sounds Of The Skeng</a>. In commercials he has&nbsp;echoed the pace and fluidity of his promo work, shooting for clients like Barclaycard, Budweiser, Gojek, Pepsi, Google, Converse, Stella Artois and many others. In 2018 he won a Cannes Lion for his powerful Red Cross film Rules of War."It’s a dream to be working with Henry," says Maurizio Von Trapp, Academy's' Head of Music.&nbsp;"His work has always stood out to me as the perfect marriage between art and commerce. I love the idea of making videos that get consumed by millions (billions even!) of people and yet retain both the technical expertise and artistic sensibility the industry so admires. There are not many directors that manage to tread the line so masterfully. We couldn’t be more excited to embark on this journey with Henry."• Henry Scholfield's showreel on Academy Films website <a href="https://www.academyfilms.com/henry-scholfield" target="_blank">here</a>

Henry Scholfield joins Academy Films

Travis Scott, White Trash Tyler and Jordan Hemingway join forces to direct&nbsp;the video for Franchise.&nbsp;Featuring M.I.A and Young Thug, the ambitious promo follows Travis Scott&nbsp;through Michael Jordan's LA mansion, with an array of&nbsp;Jodorowsky and Warhol-inspired imagery.&nbsp;With cameos from Michael Jordan himself and the Clermont twins, the visual is an homage to pop culture in all its glory - and of course the brilliance of Jordan, as documented in The Last Dance.&nbsp;Jordan Hemingway’s directing contribution&nbsp;comes in the shape of a thousand sheep surrounding a flower-adorned M.I.A. in an impossible scene of esoteric prowess. Never one to do things by halves, M.I.A is electrifying in her presence, effortlessly pulling off the Midsommar-inspired outfit whilst handling an unruly wave of farm animals.&nbsp;Stunningly bonkers and high concept, the visual is a testament to its many collaborators and creative minds - totally sporadic and spontaneous, but everyone contributing to the&nbsp;ultimate vision.&nbsp;

United States

Travis Scott

White Trash Tyler

Cinelab Film and Digital

Hip Hop

Travis Scott ft M.I.A. & Young Thug 'Franchise' by Travis Scott, White Trash Tyler & Jordan Hemingway

Travis-Scott-Ft-M.i.a.-&-Young-Thug-'Franchise'-by-Travis-Scott,-White-Trash-Tyler-&-Jordan-Hemingway

A young man struggles to deal with his&nbsp;heartache in Andrea Mae Perez's dreamy visual for Elderbrook.&nbsp;The main character in Back To My Bed - played by&nbsp;Sulian Rios - is plagued by insomnia, and when he finally falls asleep he tosses and turns, while in his dreams as he moves from place to place, performing jerky,&nbsp;angular dance moves, while the object of his affections appears before him as a hallucination, always just beyond reach.DoP&nbsp;Carla Stebbing uses an abundance of off-kilter angles and camera movement to visualise the concept, whilst Andrea Mae Perez's love for vibrant colour and character study shines through brilliantly.&nbsp;&nbsp;