Director

Matthew Walker

Matthew Walker&#39;s longtime collaboration with Skepta resumes with their most ambitious outing yet for Greaze Mode, from Skepta&#39;s new album Ignorance Is Bliss. It&#39;s a big bank job.Skepta, decked out as a very superfly bank robber, never misses a line as he and accomplice Nafe Smallz breeze into a bank, armed and dangerous, and proceed to cause some havoc.Matt Walker has channelled a bit of Tarantino as well as the 70s&nbsp;Blaxploitation-era with the well-choreographed mayhem, threat of&nbsp;violence, fastmoving action - and comedy - which quickly moves from the initial heist to the standoff with the police, and a hostage situation.And the twist is that Skepta is less&nbsp;interested in the cash&nbsp;stored in the bank vaults, than a set of photos...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Antoine Dixon Bellot

Kem Ekundayo

Steven Eniraiyetan

Stefan Yap

Philip Heron

Jack Plumbridge

Mark Stewart

Ash Halliburton

Leah Johnston

James Catalano

Jade Stewart

Lewis Crossfield

Time Based Arts

Boy Better Know

Grime

Skepta ft Nafe Smallz 'Greaze Mode' by Matthew Walker

Skepta-Ft-Nafe-Smallz-'Greaze-Mode'-by-Matthew-Walker

Skepta&#39;s latest video marks a sea-change from the gritty urban authenticity of his recent videos,&nbsp;and also a new configuration of his longtime relationship with director Matt Walker. The pair co-directed&nbsp;the No Security video, which takes a highly&nbsp;conceptual approach to&nbsp;Skepta&#39;s verbal virtuosity.A series of carefully constructed scenes which interpret Skepta&#39;s lyrics in ways that reference classic movies - sometime more obvious than others &ndash; it&#39;s a radical and ambitious step for the grime video genre. So we quizzed Matt Walker about how it happened, and how his partnership with Skepta works.&nbsp;On-set photography by Somayeh Jafari.[vidtoken data:0]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Promonews: How did the directorial collaboration come about? And how did you develop the concept for the video?Matt Walker: Skepta and I have been working together since 2009. Literally my first full director&rsquo;s credit was for one of his videos. Since then our creative relationship just grew year on year. He was asked to direct a Wiley video once, so he called me to help him execute, so there&rsquo;s always been a synergy between us.He&rsquo;s always had a strong vision for his music, so when he came to me with his base ideas, it was kind of left to me to figure out how to interpret this into a music video. I went away with the broad strokes and started creating mood boards, researching references.[imgtoken data:1]<blockquote>&quot;Skepta and I have been working together since 2009...&nbsp;There&#39;s always been a synergy between us.&quot;</blockquote>How did the partnership work? Was the experience of co-directing challenging?There was definitely a lot of back and forth between us as I came to him with different approaches for each set up, figuring out the style/mood framing and camera movement in each scene. More often than not, we were on the same page with things, so that made it easy. He trusted me to be the filmmaker during this process.The video seems to have cinematic references dotted throughout (Taxi Driver, Natural Born Killers, Singin&rsquo; in the Rain) as well as referencing the lyrics of the track. How did you decide on which films to reference?I think that something we both wanted to achieve, was to bring something more cinematic to the &lsquo;grime&rsquo; music video genre. It is seldom seen, so it was definitely important to pay homage to some really iconic and timeless moments in cinema.[imgtoken data:2]<blockquote>&quot;Everything was so tight because each set up was so lyrically specific... The edit wasn&rsquo;t going to save us.&quot;</blockquote>What were the biggest challenges on the shoot day? Were there any additional scenes you wished to shoot but couldn&rsquo;t?The biggest challenge was doing 9 set-ups in one day! There is only so much you can plan, and you never really end up sticking to your shot list. Everything was so tight because each set up was so lyrically specific, we really had to nail everything. The edit wasn&rsquo;t going to save us.How did you achieve the Viewmaster-like effect to change from one scene to the next?I thought that shooting with a 4:3 aspect ratio was the best way to execute this effect. It was important because it dictated how we built the sets. I have a background in VFX so it was just a case of me doing some research and creating some very crude viewmaster animations for the team at Coffee &amp; TV to try and interpret. Ollie Ramsey did a great job with that, his attention to detail really made the difference.The video&rsquo;s final shot, a 30-second unbroken take with Skepta standing there whilst the set is dismantled, is a great moment. What made you decide to end on a moment so intentionally anticlimactic?That was all Skepta. I think the video is really trippy and that moment really snaps you back to reality, it&rsquo;s just another thing you don&rsquo;t really expect, so it really plays with your perceptions regarding what this whole thing was really about.[imgtoken data:3]<blockquote>&quot;It was important to pay homage to some really iconic and timeless moments in cinema.&quot;&nbsp;</blockquote>Apparently the video went live on YouTube literally 10 minutes after the final edit was delivered, which is a massive shock to fans, and any director who&rsquo;s had to wait weeks or months before their work was unveiled. Was the turnaround always meant to be so quick?Skepta is a very &lsquo;immediate&rsquo; person. I&rsquo;ve literally shot/edited/graded a video for him in one Sunday. So this is definitely a normal process for us.&nbsp;

Matt Walker on making Skepta's 'No Security' video: "We had to nail everything"

Skepta - No Security

Skepta 'No Security' by Matt Walker & Skepta

Matthew Walker has directed a documentary which follows Skepta as he prepares for his Alexandra Palace show, as well as documenting his meteoric rise to success.Presented by his sister, Beats 1 DJ Julie Adenuga, and features interviews with his mother Ify Adenuga, JME and Pharrell, the short film is now showing on Apple Music.&nbsp;

Tom Knight

Aaron Reid

Skepta 'Greatness Only' by Matthew Walker

They have collaborated on numerous videos together, including the intensely minimal video for&nbsp;<a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/06/01/wretch-32-antwi-matthew-walker" target="_blank">Antwi</a>&nbsp;recently. Now&nbsp;Matthew Walker has partnered once again with Wretch 32 for a different type of video. It&#39;s&nbsp;an album sampler, featuring clips from Wretch&#39;s upcoming LP,&nbsp;that has us trailing the artist as he develops&nbsp;from a little boy into a grown man.&nbsp;From playing football with his mates, being chased by the police, to seducing a new girl after getting another one pregnant, we cycle through some defining moments in Wretch&#39;s life - before reaching the studio. This is&nbsp;where, as a grown man, he stands in front of a mic to tell the story from his perspective.&nbsp;

Afzal Robbani

Gary Long

Camille Liberto

Bernicia Boateng

Electric Theatre Collective

Hip Hop

Wretch 32 'Growing Over Life' (album sampler) by Matthew Walker

Wretch-32-'Growing-Over-Life-(album-Sampler)'-by-Matthew-Walker

Wretch 32 delivers a riveting lip-sync perfect performance in what looks like a single take, while longtime collaborator Matthew Walker adds some judicious weather effects in this minimal but effective video for Antwi.

Antoine Dixon-Bellot

Omar Madar

Tom O'Keefe

Jono Farr

Lee Parfitt

Bianca Simone

Dan Moran

Coffee & TV

Hanan Cher

East London Studios

Hip hop, Grime, Urban

Wretch 32 'Antwi' by Matthew Walker

Wretch-32-'Antwi'-by-Matthew-Walker

Matthew Walker, rap and hip-hop video specialist who has previously directed videos for the likes of George The Poet, Fekky and&nbsp;Dizzy Rascal, has delivered this dynamic performance video for London rapper Lethal Bizzle.&quot;Lethal Bizzle is all about the energy, so it was important to set the stage for him to do what he does best,&quot; says Walker.&nbsp;&quot;We kept it simple and crisp yet dynamic with the lighting to compliment his performance.&quot;

Daniel Kolditz

Lloyd Cook

Camil Liberto

Nadia Khan

Lee Lighting Services

Lethal Bizzle ft. Stormzy 'Dude' by Matthew Walker 

Lethal-Bizzle-Ft.-Stormzy-'Dude'-by-Matthew-Walker-

The British general election might be over, but the campaign goes on for George The Poet, in Matthew Walker&#39;s video for Search Party. The song is a politically-charged ode to his home town of Harlesden, highlighting the injustice and need for change, while the video shows George spreading his message in all sorts of surroundings.&quot;We wanted to capture George in his element, whether that be in the corporate setting or in more intimate chats with friends and family,&quot; says Matthew Walker, who also directed George&#39;s previous video for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2015/03/06/george-poet-cat-d-matthew-walker" target="_blank">Cat D</a>. And the leader of the Search Party looks like he might be pretty good leading one of the other parties who are now looking for a new one...

Niall Coffey

Ozlem Akturk

Miles Roberts

Joseph Bicknell

Ailsa Robertson

Island /universal

George The Poet 'Search Party' by Matthew Walker 

George-The-Poet-'Search-Party'-by-Matthew-Walker-

Matthew Walker brings to life George The Poet&#39;s analogy that &#39;people are like cars&#39; with this uber-slick car ad-style promo with some exquisite photography from DP&nbsp;Stefan Yap.

Staple House

Chance Wilson

Sadie Ama

Julian Zarzo

Yan Murawski

Georgina Day

Penny Crawford

Meg Witts

Mara Lubieniecki

Michael Douglas, Gemma Gurvitz, Charms Hayden

Joe Dyer

Virgin EMI

George The Poet 'Cat D' by Matthew Walker

George The Poet - Cat D

Matthew Walker unveils a no-nonsense black and white performance promo for Fekky&#39;s Dizzee Rascal-sampling Still Sittin&#39; Here.Fekky, Dizzee and their crew deliver a muscular&nbsp;throw-down performance to the&nbsp;hard-hitting soundtrack, along with a NSFW-ish naked lady and her very phallic snake...

HSI London

Dirtee Stank Recordings

John Moule

Fekky & Dizzee Rascal 'Still Sittin' Here' by Matthew Walker

Shot in and around Fournier Street and Brick Lane in East London, Matthew Walker shoots X Factor 2014 favourites Rough Copy, as they wander the city streets serenading a girl in his&nbsp;promo to their debut single&nbsp;Street Love.

Amalia Rosen-Rawlings

Javier Alejandro

Stephanie Zari

Doug Walshe

Naomi Harrison

Arayner McDonald

Sean Azeez

Neesha Sharma

Nadia Bell

Edwin

Framestore

Sony Music

Lisa Foo

Soul

Rough Copy 'Street Love' by Matthew Walker

Shot in an empty warehouse and featuring very effective yet minimal VFX, Matthew Walker and regular collaborator and artist Scorcher (and his mates Wretch 32, Mercston and Ari) have a whole heap of fun in this excellent performance piece for Scorcher&#39;s Work Get It.&nbsp;

Stefan Yapp

Simon Dewey

Slikk Media

Hip Hop, Urban

Scorcher ft Wretch 32, Mercston & Ari 'Work Get It' by Matthew Walker

Shot in an impressive mansion just outside London with his regular DP Aaron Reid, Matthew Walker delivers this stylish promo for K Koke&#39;s My Time with an exquisite performance from vocalist Bridget Kelly.&nbsp;&quot;I wanted to take K Koke away from the streets and focus on his elevation to the top of his game&quot; explains Matthew. &quot;But, being that authenticity is Koke&rsquo;s main appeal, it was important for me to include elements of his struggle in a creative way.&quot;

Beth Montague-Clyde

Chloe Brady

Lisa Laudat

K Koke ft Bridget Kelly 'My Time' by Matthew Walker

Matthew Walker charts the rise of the underground music scene (with an ever-expanding set) via his promo for Benga and Kano&#39;s Forefather, atmospherically shot by Aaron Reid.Starting in a pirate radio studio in 2003, Benga breaks out into an underground rave as the audience starts to grow. Then in 2013 it&#39;s the Main Stage...

Neesha

Luke Morrison

Benga ft Kano 'Forefather' by Matthew Walker

There&#39;s a lot of lighting-up in Matthew Walker&#39;s video for Skepta&#39;s Castles. Following a recent tradition of vids that concentrate heavily on the smoking of the weed, it looks like Matt might have struggled to maintain his focus &ndash; especially as he was lighting the video himself. &quot;I&rsquo;m happy with how the smoking scenes came out considering my lack of lighting experience &ndash;&nbsp;zero,&quot; he says. &quot;It was a different approach for Skepta who wanted to be more honest/authentic after his commercial stint. The smoke in the room was &lsquo;mostly&rsquo; a haze machine, luckily! We might not have finished otherwise...&quot;

Skepta 'Castles' by Matthew Walker

Matthew Walker&#39;s video for drum &amp; bass collective Matrix &amp; Futurebound&#39;s All I Know features vocalist Luke Bingham and the amazing breakdancing skills of Hakim Saber - well worth checking out.An effective, atmospheric promo - nicely shot by Aaron Reid - despite Matthew and his team only having a few days, and a small budget, with which to pull it together.http://www.youtube.com/watchv=o_ofHHlSdcU

Suzette Brissett

Matrix & Futurebound ft. Luke Bingham  'All I Know' by Matthew Walker

Matrix-&-Futurebound-ft.-Luke-Bingham--'All-I-Know'-by-Matthew-Walker

After Skepta&#39;s Hold On - where the grime star plays an athlete struggling to compete in an ultimately uplifting narrative - Matthew Walker&#39;s latest video for Skepta moves everything into full-on party mode.

Fred Todd and Alex Jason

Nathan Matthews

Catharine Brown

Simon Bysshe

Daisy Baldry

Felix Brady

Adam Parker

James Tillett

Skepta 'Make Peace Not War' by Matthew Walker

Skepta-'Make-Peace-Not-War'-by-Matthew-Walker

Matthew Walker&#39;s promo for Skepta&#39;s Hold On - following up his video for the UK rapper&#39;s So Alive (featuring N Dubz) earlier this year - oscillates between a performance and a story of Skepta as an athlete on the comeback trail - with legendary British sprinter Darren Campbell as his coach.