Critical Mass ‘Generation Vex’

There aren’t many videos that turn out so close to one’s initial mental image. For that reason, and for the craziness of it, I love this video. We had an excellent compact team for the 2 day shoot and Sola did a top notch job with his head.

I’m proud to add that the video won the Independent Music Awards ‘Short Form Video’ category in 2015.

Role: Director, DoP, Editor SFX

Molotov Jukebox ‘Tick Tock’

My second video for Molotov Jukebox, filmed in Andalusia, Spain. The mountain scenes were shot around Orgiva near a friend’s beautiful farm. We co-opted their flock of sheep for a shot, but failed to get the bloody creatures to obey our herding. The graveyard scenes were filmed in Casares, with the very kind permission of the mayor. Natalia and the band got a lot of strange looks from people paying their respects, but everyone seemed to enjoy the oddity of it all.

Role: Director, DoP, Editor

The Kooks ‘The Sofa Song’

My second video for the Kooks, made just as they were becoming household names in the UK.

The original idea was to make a video based on David Hockney’s beautiful photo collages. Luke Pritchard, lead singer of the Kooks, was enthusiastic about the concept but, as one might expect, the management/promotional team wanted something less avant garde and more accessible. It was a bit of a tug of war and I think the final result strikes a decent balance between the two poles.

Role: Director, SFX

The Fireman (aka Paul McCartney & Youth) ‘Sing the Changes’

My second music video for Paul McCartney, this one under his ‘The Fireman’ alias. We filmed him on the top floor of his MPL offices. It took a few takes as he’d forgotten the words to his own song when we started filming! I guess that happens when you’re that prolific…

The idea for the video was inspired by Magritte’s collection of paintings showing night and day juxtaposed, one within the silhouette of a dove and the other without.

Role: Director, Editor, SFX

Molotov Jukebox ‘Something for the Weekend’

My third video for Molotov Jukebox. For a few years, I’d had this idea of an infinite zoom out from a series of reflective surfaces. Each shot was filmed with 3 cameras at different levels of zoom, which were then compiled into a giant image in After Effects. It was an ambitious idea done on a shoestring budget, so the video is a bit rough around the edges but retains a certain charm for it. And, of course, there’s the mankini…

Role: Director, DoP, SFX