Trim Editing

Editor

Joseph Taylor

Gabriel Moses&nbsp;delves into a surreal and chaotic vision of Houston, Texas&nbsp;in a whirlwind of breathtaking&nbsp;images&nbsp;for Travis Scott.The video for 4X4&nbsp;captures intense and wild scenes: oversized car chases on Houston’s highways, an electrifying rodeo, and Travis dominating a WWE ring.&nbsp;the city of Houston becomes a character in itself, captivating yet disorienting, perfectly in tune with the energy of the track.According to Moses, he approached the video as an action film, plunging into the madness of the city. Through spectacular shots, he transports us into a universe where chaos and spectacle intertwine, with Travis Scott at the helm.&nbsp;4X4, the first solo single since Utopia in 2023,&nbsp;has also been chosen as the official theme song for Raw by WWE, further cementing his cultural icon status. In parallel, Travis Scott launched an exclusive 4X4 collection on his website, with all proceeds going to the Direct Relief California Fire Relief Fund, combining his music with a vital humanitarian cause.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2][imgtoken data:3]

United States

Peter Blanford

Copelan Cash

Nick Royal

Peri Rosenzweig

Gabriel Moses

Cactus Jack

DIVISION

Ulysse Branchereau

Luan Agostinho

Jake Gabbay

Jules de Chateleux

Alice Wills

Kenton Cummings

Liz Kilgore

John Lowe

Ophélie Thibault

Jordan Le Galeze

1080P

Chris Faure

Genesis Duran

Hip Hop

Travis Scott '4X4' by Gabriel Moses

Travis-Scott-'4x4'-by-Gabriel-Moses

As their long-awaited new album ROMANCE is released, comes another&nbsp;remarkable Fontaines D.C. video - and another tour de force by Luna Carmoon.The director who made her music video debut with&nbsp;the intense drama of <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2024/08/08/fontaines-dc-heres-thing-luna-carmoon/87678" target="_blank">Here's The Thing</a> (after her acclaimed feature debut Hoard) quickly returns to duties with the Fontaines with an extraordinary piece of work for In A Modern World: a surreal comedy-drama, featuring an incredible central performance&nbsp;from Ewan Mitchell (House of the Dragon, Saltburn) - as a character engaged in the netherworld of a very niche, indeed bizarre and&nbsp;dangerous sport.&nbsp;It's car-jitsu - jiu-jitsu, within the interior&nbsp;of a car. Invented <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1f7r0cfaXc" target="_blank">just a couple of years ago, in Chicago</a>, Mitchell's character is the protagonist through which Carmoon explores an absurd yet compelling experience. At first, its just the raw, explosive physicality involved of clashing bodies within a ridiculously small space - which is surprising and hugely intense&nbsp;in itself.Then the director adds another dimension to the&nbsp;brutal clash of bodies - what is happening outside the car, the voyeuristic relationship of passers-by who become the audience to Mitchell and a succession of combatants, a kind of sexual frisson that is created through the intensity of the action. The parallels with another in-car activity is undeniable.&nbsp;It's&nbsp;Fight Club&nbsp;crossed&nbsp;with dogging.&nbsp;Horrible, painful to watch yet hilarous, it's mesmerizing stuff, a fever dream. And it's hard to undersell how good Mitchell is in this. Or how impressive it is in terms of the vision and world creation by Carmoon. Just great.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;

Sofia Sacomani

Lewis Walker

Coralie Rose

Luna Carmoon

Chris Murdoch

ProdCo

Scott Wright

Jack Hamilton

Theo Hue Williams

Callum Anderson

Jack Meredith

Ellen Amann Johns

Lucy James

Charles Stanley

Natasha Lawes

Andi Chu

Electric Theatre Collective

Ewan Mitchell

XL Recordings

Fontaines D.C. 'In The Modern World' by Luna Carmoon

Fontaines-D.c.-'In-The-Modern-World-'-by-Luna-Carmoon

Filmmaker Luna Carmoon, the director of well-received feature debut Hoard, now&nbsp;unveils her debut music video for Fontaines D.C. - where she brings a modern twist to cult classics The Craft and The Lost Boys.In the Here's The Thing video, Grace Collender plays a girl ostracized by her peers during a community dance competition. After a humiliating fall on stage, she finds herself entangled with a group of outsider girls who begin to infiltrate her life and dreams. The narrative unfolds with elements of supernatural intrigue, as these enigmatic girls lead our protagonist into a world of chaos and rebellion.With rich cinematography from Antoine Cormier, Carmoon creates an unsettling, gripping atmosphere. The haunting, smog-filled settings evoke the suspense of 80s Giallo films, while the characters’ distinctive, alt-inspired wardrobes draw from grunge and goth aesthetics. And the&nbsp;influence of films like The Craft and The Lost Boys is evident in the way Carmoon portrays the bond between the outsider girls, with the lead character’s transformation from outcast to a powerful, defiant force driving the story forward.It all leads to an explosive climax, dovetailing with another banging Fontaines track from their forthcoming album Romance.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]

United Kingdom

Antoine Cormier

Oscar Stewart

Noreen Khan

Hermes Contreras

Tom Nowell

Echo Seireeni

Max Cookward

Road Casting

Grace Collender

Rock

Fontaines D.C. 'Here's The Thing' by Luna Carmoon

Fontaines D.C. - Here's The Thing (Official Video)

Gabriel Moses directs a mesmerising, dizzying promo for Travis Scott's Fe!n,&nbsp;featuring a montage of perpetually rotating portraits.A child on horseback, a stripper, three women in their Sunday best, a choir of Asian girls, a man with a shotgun, monks in prayer...&nbsp;these figures and others are&nbsp;captured against a black void,&nbsp;and interwoven with cutaways and conceptual vignettes.&nbsp;Photographer and director Moses used an array of 96 cameras to circle the characters and blend each one into the next - and it opens with&nbsp;Travis Scott in the black void, the camera rotating around him as he performs;&nbsp;His body contorts, morphs into a multitude of different characters. And when Playboi Carti appears, the two rappers begin morphing into one another.&nbsp;A bold and unwavering visual that makes a real statement.[imgtoken data:1]

Brielle Hubert

Esprit Casting

Sam Lecca

Tate Mccurdy

Xiaolong Liu

Jacob Perry

Sophie Harbo

Paul Maccaffrey

Remy Monti

Charlie Nazmjou

Travis Scott ft Playboy Carti 'Fe!n' by Gabriel Moses

Travis-Scott-'Fe!n'-by-Gabriel-Moses

Hugh Mulhern directs a feverish hyper-pop fantasy for the return of Porter Robinson with his big new track Cheerleader,&nbsp;exploring the intense and unusual&nbsp;bond between the artist and his fans in a wonderfully off-kilter&nbsp;multi-media blockbuster.&nbsp;As with Mulhern's acclaimed videos for Hak Baker last year for Telephones 4 Eyes&nbsp;and <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2023/06/07/hak-baker-doolally-hugh-mulhern/81887" target="_blank">Doolally</a>,&nbsp;this is&nbsp;a captivating combination of&nbsp;formats - live action, AI animation, CGI&nbsp;and stop motion - in the telling of a supercharged narrative involving Porter's engagement with excitable superfans who take many different forms, but all share the same anime-style features of Porter's 'cheerleader'.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]From the moment of Porter's apparent creation of the song in a studio environment, to appearing on a TV screen, to that becoming the basis of a karaoke session, Mulhern esablishes a constant, breahtless intperly webether the artist and his cheerleaders - particularly the one masked girl who may be Potter's ultimate puppetmaster.Or maybe its the other way around? Porter becomes a Kong-like monster who&nbsp;destroys other versions of his greatest fan - including the cute stop motion puppet - as the action accelerates ever faster as it hops through different forms of animation, losing all basis in reality.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]"I wanted to make something that looked at extreme fandom and narcissism," explains Mulhern.&nbsp;"As we fall through different layers of reality I wanted the viewer to ask 'are we in the fantasies of the fans or in Porter’s own interpretation of their fantasies?'"While it’s specific to Porter’s experience as an artist it is as much about contemporary society's relationship with extreme individualism. If everyone is having their 15 minutes of fame does that mean everyone has also become a super fan?"[imgtoken data:3]It's a masterclass in maximalism and also closely follows the subject of the song - effectively that symbiotic relationship between&nbsp;artist and fan.&nbsp;Mulhern has tapped into the hyperactive aesthetic of the subgenre, and created something that feels polished, elevated and unforgettable.[imgtoken data:4]

Elena Isolini

Veselina Georgieva

Veir

Hugh Mulhern

Precious Mahaga

Hands 

Riff Raff Films

Alexander Trenev

Nikita Popkov

Antony Tanev

Tsvetan Kostov

Vladislav Mateev

Momchil Tasev. Aleksandar Yanev

Kosta Karakashyan

Yesol Choi

Saskia Delius

Daniel Morris

Dafydd Upsdell

The Mill

Gabha Studios

Solent Films

Anders Mills

Dance

Porter Robinson 'Cheerleader' by Hugh Mulhern

Porter Robinson - Cheerleader (Official Music Video)

First there was Telephones 4 Eyes, one of the most imaginative videos of the year so far. But it turns out that was just for starters. Here is&nbsp;the main dish, as served up by East London troubadour and top geezer Hak Baker and Irish director Hugh Mulhern. It's the&nbsp;remarkable&nbsp;tour de force that is Doolally.As Baker delivers a blow-by-blow account of a very messy night out - seemingly channelling Mike Skinner in his Streets pomp&nbsp;- Mulhern takes the turbo-charged pace and mix of live action, VFX and AI animation, and up the ante as he interprets this fruity story.&nbsp;It all starts in Hak's tower block flat, where the weirdness soon kicks in with the appearance of his nemesis - a pudgy grass-covered gremlin. When his mates arrive, to get in the party mood, the action turns&nbsp;into a computer game as they speed through London streets to reach their party destination.[imgtoken data:1]Then the mayhem begins, as Mulhern transforms the track's&nbsp;house party into a heaving mass of people in a club, constantly transforming in a way that feels all of a piece with Baker's&nbsp;hallucinogenic state. AI animation takes over - 2D and 3D - in a way that goes further than Telephones but still controlled to meet the vision.&nbsp;Mulhern uses AI&nbsp;so it augments his creativity rather than replacing it.There is a real sense of visiting the recesses of a the human mind in an altered state - when it's gone a bit Doolally. So between the human and&nbsp;artificial intelligence, there is a brilliance at work here.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:2]“Doolally is a party anthem,"&nbsp;says Hugh Mulhern. "But within the context of Hak’s album and its wider themes, I think it’s also about escaping, disassociating and connection through disconnection. I wanted to use this as an excuse to see how far we could push all the techniques and visual language I established for Hak with our previous video for Telephones 4 Eyes."We mixed 3D animation, AI generative animation, props, and puppets at an active warehouse party. I wanted to make something that felt like you were falling through different layers of reality swept up in the momentum of a night out that lasts 36 hours.”

Rory Mullen

Naomi Barling

Alexander Handschuh

Nadine Persaud

Joe Caple

Eoin McLoughlin

Laura Clayton

James Wicks

Joe Medlock

Ed Fay

Assembly Rooms

Andrew Francis

Awal Recordings

Digital Orchard

Alternative

Hak Baker 'Doolally' by Hugh Mulhern

Hak-Baker-'Doolally'-by-Hugh-Mulhern

Hugh Mulhern directs a visual assault on the senses&nbsp;for Hak Baker's fierce anti-tech anthem Telephones 4 Eyes.&nbsp;Mulhern's video is a mesmerising clash of live action, animation, stock footage and VFX, smashed together in a frantic, hypnotic fashion - with a little help from AI.&nbsp;In the song, Baker is lamenting&nbsp;the state of the society we live in today, and the video matches the lyrical content of the aggrieved track, and the deluge of visual iconography matches the neverending stream of content we consume on a day-to-day basis.And in a real change from his excellent back catalogue of music videos, the most you see of Hak Baker is his mouth appearing from a tear in a man's stomach. You won't not&nbsp;be looking at men's torsos in the same way in the near future.&nbsp;Taking advantage of trends whilst completely flipping them on their heads, Mulhern has created something singular and visionary, which not only brilliantly reflects the times we are living in, but also a project that is impossible to tear you eyes away from.&nbsp;"If I told you I had an initial rationale for everything in the video and it was all carefully figured out, I’d be lying," admits Mulhern. "In truth it was one of those ideas that came together almost instantaneously. I think that’s to do with how clear Hak’s ideas are in the song. Tetsuo the Iron Man was a key image, and I also think the inside of [the song’s producer] Dan Carey’s studio played a part in inspiring our phone thief’s lab. HR Giger meets Abe’s Odyssey circa this weird stop motion cartoon called Mr Bumpy."We spent hours figuring out what found footage felt right and was obscure enough to feed the sensation of over stimulation. We intentionally wanted to steer away from doing anything that felt too political or pointed when the song was carrying that message so effectively."Things went off the deep end in the final few days of the video. We sent some stuff over to Dom (infinite.vibes) to create AI sequences stylistically informed by the stop motion animation and what he sent back far exceeded my expectations. It’s my favourite thing I’ve made to date and all I wanna do now is expand on the techniques we experimented with.”&nbsp;

Lisa Foo

Jorge Higgins

Wolf Wasserman

The Assembly Rooms

Peter Opporsdorff

Jack Rolf

Indie

Hak Baker 'Telephones 4 Eyes' by Hugh Mulhern

Hak Baker - Telephones For Eyes (Official Video)

Gabriel Moses directs a powerful short film for Little Simz.&nbsp;The promo for No Thank You feature segments from five songs from the new album, and presents a powerful sequence of emotional vignettes, each tied to the lyrics of the track in an inventive, elevated way.&nbsp;The thematic landscape of the album centres on distrust in record labels, mental health and generational trauma, and these themes are weaved into the spectacular imagery across this ten-minute film.&nbsp;Switching between a heavily&nbsp;abstract, sometimes surreal style, and stripped back performance to camera, Simz is here to get her message across in a bold, unabashed way, and this surprise release is another example of her unmistakeable talent across music, visuals and music culture as a whole.&nbsp;

Lola Burelle

Clara Avazeri

Hugo Lebaillif

Kamil Tahiri

Anastasia Matouskoff

Thurot Frederic

Jerome Daudel

Lucie Ellis

Nibras

Amirah Haliyah

Studio Private

Little Simz 'No Thank You' by Gabriel Moses

NO THANK YOU

Stormzy reflects on the love of his life, in Edem Wornoo's evocative promo for Firebabe.&nbsp;The video opens on a rippling lake, tilting up to a luxury house where Stormzy sits, performing as he&nbsp;stares&nbsp;out at nature.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]The beauty of this video is in the tender closeups and intimate presentation of the artist. Away from any type of spectacle or VFX magic, the focus is on pure emotion and a relaxed energy, and showcases a side of the artist that many may not be familiar with.&nbsp;The drawn-out, fluid shots complement&nbsp;the naturalistic light and organic art direction, creating an aesthetic that feels as pure as the emotions the track evokes.&nbsp;

Christopher Melgram

Melissa Holdbrook-Akpose

Edem Wornoo

Mel Giles

Mouthpiece

Ground Work

Nicola Sheppard

James Leech

Jeremy Valender

Aaron Z. Willson

Anna Butler

Steve Wingrove

Vinnie Saunders

Mark Gee

Callum Reeves

Nigel Tadyanehondo

0207 Def Jam

Stormzy 'Firebabe' by Edem Wornoo

Stormzy-'Firebabe'-by-Edem-Wornoo

French-Cuban sister duo Ibeyi scale the desert with Jorja Smith, in&nbsp;Lucrecia Taormina's captivating promo for Lavender and Red Roses.&nbsp;We see the artists trek through the midst of a sandy landscape, following the line of a rope to a well in the middle of the desert. They pour a jug full of lavender and red rose petals into the well - where, at the bottom a&nbsp;mysterious masked man digs further downwards.&nbsp;Arguably this&nbsp;abstract narrative explores themes of femininity and divine energy, suggesting it is time to 'cut the cord', and stop relying on women to pull up men who are not actively helping themselves or looking for ways to improve their own situation. But&nbsp;the&nbsp;beauty of the visual, the magic of Taormina' concept,&nbsp;lies in the various ways in which to read the unfolding action.[imgtoken data:1]Taormina weaves this ambiguous and metaphorical&nbsp;tale in her characteristic&nbsp;hyperreal style - not in a real desert, we suspect, but a very convincing studio and VFX-created approximation of one. A certain episode of&nbsp;Squid Game&nbsp;may also springs to mind while watching this too.[imgtoken data:2]Once distracted by the petals, the man stops digging, and grabs the rope.&nbsp;Initially, the women&nbsp;pull with all their strength, to help&nbsp;him to climb up, but... then the rope is cut.[imgtoken data:3]

Francesca Di Mottola

Holly Shearn

Joshua Gochez

Oliver Whitworth

Holly Wood

Lucrecia

Joshua Noon

Luke Tierney

FRIEND

Aliyah Otchere

Krunal Saardrani

John Lynch

Danny Herman

Jack Green

Cassius McCabe

Jeffrey Vine

Max Lincoln

Luke Morrison

Electric Theatre Company

Michelle Kruger

Wicked Pixels

Carl Jeppe

Lane Casting

Ibeyi ft Jorja Smith 'Lavender And Red Roses' by Lucrecia Taormina

Ibeyi--'Lavender-And-Roses'-by-Lucrecia-Taormina

Barnstorming indie band Wet Leg are reimagined as bath-loving aliens beamed down from outer space, in Fred Rowson's loveably&nbsp;eccentric promo for Too Late Now.&nbsp;Wrapped in bath towels, the band venture out into Croydon to experience the Earthly delight of a good hot soak for the very first time, reflecting the lyrics, “I just need a bubble bath to set me on a higher path”.During their pursuit they encounter the addictions of bubble bath and the relaxing qualities of cucumbers - which involves a certain amount of suggestiveness, in the already characteristic Wet Leg style&nbsp;-&nbsp;eventually finding true nirvana in the form of a very pink hot tub, drawing a conclusion to the space-invaders’ pilgrimage.Filmed across two days in South-East London and on a rather muddy Kentish farm, DoP Rik Burnell worked closely with Rowson to achieve the ‘fly on the wall’ aesthetic, shot on a very very long lens with minimal lighting.[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>I was slightly stunned to shoot the first Wet Leg video that they didn’t direct themselves.</blockquote>"Wet Leg may be the coolest band of the year, but, surprisingly, they are also 2021’s year’s most innocent gang of outsiders," comments Rowson. "Tasked with documenting their first experience of exploring an urban centre outside of Ryde [on the Isle of Wight] I was shocked by their naivety, and nearly lost them on numerous occasions, not least when Rhian nearly went under a bus. Twice."Thankfully, no indie kids were harmed in the making of this movie, and the quintet instinctively found their way to the safety of a rural setting. Thank God. "Seriously though. I was slightly stunned when Hester and Rhian asked me to shoot the first Wet Leg video that they didn’t direct themselves. Pressure, considering that their previous two were, for me, the best of the year. But, from conception to shoot to edit, this was a mad, magical collaboration that’s up there with my favourite music video experiences."Thank you to Domino and John Moule for trusting us to get on with it, and thank you as always to the team of Terminators at Blink - Rosie, Seb, Laura: you gave up your lives and made this happen in less than a week. Thank you. Best in town."

Joseph Taylor

Editor

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