Production Company

Academy Films

<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;

United Kingdom

Alysha Patel

Kash Powell

Rory Clarke

Oliver Whitworth

Aga Dziedzic

Tyrus

Bertin Avdiu

Mouthpiece

Kim Jarrett

Ken Liew

Cassius Kane

Sarah Jaffe

Heza Jalloh

Katya Chatwell

Max Tuite

Ruby Yu

Lucy Grinham

Samuel Maton

Slink Post

Danyal Kadir

Electric Theatre Collective

Island Records

Dance

Electronic

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]

Sasha Hilton

Claudia Celeste

Anastasia Gutnyk

Iris Luz

Aisha Kemp

Isabella Culver

Goncalo Soares

Benjo Leggett

Jennifer Byrne

Colum Ewart

Emily-jane Sheppard

Janina Zais

Fleming Mason

Fraser Twitchett

Okaystudio

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]

Ash Halliburton

Adam Reid

Ella Hill

Mike Coley

Kamran Rajput

Candice Lo

Kirstin Cruickshank

Vini Curtis

Jaime Ackroyd

Medb Riordan

Elsa Grace

Dan Huntley

Barney Batchelor

Fredricka Lathbridge

Jay Revell

Tomi Roppongi

Michelle Dacillo

Amy Dang

Avenues

Myles Bevan

Studio RM

Warner Records Uk

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]

Jackson Lee Forsythe

George Telfer

DIVINE

Celine Roubaud

Alexandra Funada

Rob Rogan

Annie Maguire

Andre Wooz

Ali Copeland

Jeff Bierman

Mike Hannides

Gary Kent

Cinemotion

Arri Rental

Vis Sopjani

Leo Olesker

Mui-Hai Chu

Yaz XL

Tilda Mace

Jade Adeyemi

Mesh Henry

Alex Morrison

Church Edit

Connor Coolbear

Bradley Cocksedge

George Blomiley

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]

Shaylyn Gilheaney

BLACKWALL

Manoela Chiabai

Joseph Dunn

Nathan M. Legger

Klim Jurevicius

Evangeline Perkins

Blane Pearson

Alex Gregory

Brent Patterson

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

Leona Johnson

Amy Taylor

John Angus Stewart

Chandler Yvanna Guzmán

1888 Productions

Simon Cho

Christopher Blauvelt

Stephen Fitzgibbon

Corrine Dye

Ivy Lindsey

Eric Mutz

Mike Blauvelt

Peter Parson

Brennan Barsell

Alt.vfx

Rock

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]

South Korea

Henry Scholfield

Mauro Chiarello

Nik Kohler

Sean Bankhead

Georgia Pendlebury

Black Kite Studios

Camille Yorrick

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]

Olwyn Fagan

Steve Overs

Steve Shaw

Trim Editing

Polly Kemp

Louis Jones

Oliver Munks

Matthew Bohun

Andreas Pepe

Kate Housh

Luz Giraldo

Jay Doan

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;

Zuzanna Skurtys

Samuel Parry

Federica Somma

Ellie Walker

Talia Beale

Cara Mills

John Moule

Jed Clist

Carl Matthews

Laura Clayton

Marnz Brown

Francois Earp

Hugo Lai

Alice Howlett

Ollie Thompson

1920vfx

Clouds Hill Recordings

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

Elena Argiros

Jack Meredith

Diego Rosenblatt

Jeff Vine

Matt Bohun

Paulina Rzeszowska

Final Cut

Ella Marafini

Ryan Beck

Olivia Jessop

Jason Wallis

Dan Millar

Sony Music

Road Casting

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