We talk to Eoin Glaister about the past ten years of directing music videos and making people laugh. Eoin’s credits include brilliant promos for Joji, Beirut, Glass Animals, Aquilo, Kele Okereke, Mentis, and his new one for La Priest - where a woman falls in love with a fatberg. We find out how he gravitated towards comedy, how he developed a knack for making trilogies - and why he thinks that a dog is a director’s best friend.   Useful links: Eoin...

The director of videos for Bree Runway, Dodie, Shaybo and Jorja Smith, Lucinda Chua and more, Tash Tung talks about bringing her intimate style to the pop video genre, exploring themes of identity and heritage, working with choreography, shooting live performance, and her ambitions for the future. Bree Runway - All Night https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2019/08/22/bree-runway-all-night-tash-tung/60400  Bree Runway ft Maliibu Miitch -...

One of the UK’s leading music video directors, Joe Connor, talks about his career to date working with the likes of The Maccabees, Coldplay, Elbow and The Rolling Stones, how he made the leap from experimental theatre to experimenting with film, his preference for beauty over grittiness, and venturing into state-of-the-art virtual production for his new Ellie Goulding video.   Useful links: Joe...

Director Charlie Di Placido and DoP Olly Wiggins have worked together on numerous projects including several of the long-running campaign of choreography-based videos for British neo-soul act Jungle. Charlie and Olly reveal some surprising secrets about Jungle videos for Heavy California, Casio and others - and also their work with Labrinth, Nines and Dreya Mac. Useful links: Jungle - Happy Man (Directors Cut) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRAjssFYXik Jungle – Heavy...

Our latest guest has been one of the busiest directors in UK music videos in 2022. Charlie Sarsfield has worked with numerous artists in the past year - including Mabel, George Ezra and Louis Tomlinson - sometimes on several occasions. We talk to him about his work, his zest for directing, and strategy for juggling between jobs - and continuing his career in the face of a devastating health emergency in 2020: the loss of his sight in one eye. Kojey Radical -...

Noel Paul is back. After a four year hiatus from directing music videos the Brooklyn-based director has been making up for lost time with his work for Ezra Furman, Eden, Let’s Eat Grandma and others. We talked to him about a career which began in the late Noughties, hanging with supercool Josh Tillman, aka Father John Misty, living in Beirut for several years, and revealing some of the secrets of the Black Midi ‘Sugar/Tzu’ video which won the Best Cinematography prize at this year’s...

We talk to director Ali Kurr on what she’s learned from 10 years of making music videos, her rules on working with new artists, on winning pitches, not having a definable directing style, making a porn film - yes, really - and finding success through her longterm collaboration with singer Rina Sawayama, which recently reached new heights with the videos for This Hell and Hold The Girl. Useful links: https://www.darkroomworld.com/ali-kurr Connie Constance - Lose My...

From emerging as a director in the early 2010s, Aoife McArdle has explored the boundaries of narrative filmmaking in music videos, commercials and longform - most recently on AppleTV’s psychological thriller-cum-black comedy Severance. We talk to her about her roles as director and producer on the series and how her background in music videos - working with Jon Hopkins, U2 and Coldplay, among others - has informed her later career. Useful...

We talk to Rick Joaquim, the Johannesburg-born Director of Photography who is now establishing himself in the UK. Rick learned his craft in South Africa, on music videos and more, before moving to London with his family at the start of 2021. The discussion covers his career in South Africa and the challenges of starting again in his new home, his breakthrough with videos for KSI, Clean Bandit and others, and insight into his meticulous working process. Useful links: Rick...

Over the last couple of years Milo Blake has made a real impact in British music videos, directing acclaimed videos for a new generation of music artists such as Louis Culture, Lava La Rue, Willow Kayne and Obongjayar. He talks about how his spirit of experimentation and versatile approach, exploring bold ideas and techniques, has gelled with a new wave of UK music talent across different music genres. Useful links: Milo Blake https://www.spindle.co/directors/milo-blake/ Louis Culture -...

Thirty years ago, Andy Morahan was working with Guns N’ Roses, at the height of their fame and notoriety, directing a series of extravagant videos that still spark debate today. So in this episode we dive into Music Video History, as Andy takes us back to those wild times of big hair and big budgets, and how he created the most iconic guitar solo in music videos for November Rain. Andy also takes us back further to how he began his career, making some of the best loved British videos of the...

Sam Brown is a top British commercials director who cut his teeth making music videos in the Noughties and recently made a rare return to videos for none other than Adele. Sam tells us about the making of her video for Oh My God, an incredible technical feat that fuses numerous Adele performances together with brilliant use of motion control camerawork, and he reveals the remarkable ‘pre-visualisation’ process that was key to making it work. Useful links: Sam...

Fred Rowson talks to us as he celebrates ten years as a music video director, and following his outstanding videos in 2021 for Years & Years, Little Mix and Wet Leg - aka “the loungewear trilogy”. During our entertaining chat Fred opens up about the ups and downs of directing music videos, and discusses his long working relationship with Olly Alexander of Years & Years. Useful links: Fred Rowson https://blinkprods.com/talent/fred-rowson/ Police Dog Hogan - S****y White...

Sam Davey has been representing music video directors via independent agents OB Management since the mid-Noughties, playing a crucial role in bringing artists, labels and directors together, and involved in the making of hundreds of videos over that period. Winner of Best Agent at the UKMVAs 2021, we talked to Sam late last year about his work, what he looks for in directors, and how music video production looks right now. Useful links: OB...

KC Locke has become one of the UK’s most successful music video directors, working with many of the big stars of British grime and hiphop, including AJ Tracey, Aitch, Pa Salieu, and Stormzy, and making some standout music videos. He has also done it on his own terms, building an alternative to London-based music video production in his hometown of Manchester. So we got together with the Mancunian maverick to find out how it happened, and what makes him tick. Useful links: KC...

In this episode we're talking to director and creative director Nathan James Tettey about his work with artists like Dave, Stormzy, Ghetts, Headie One and Fredo, exploring the importance of his close relationship with those artists in making some of the most-watched British music videos right now. Nathan also talks about working in a number of roles, including producer to video commissioner, before making the leap to directing - and his commitment to making the world of music video creation...

In this episode we look at a different aspect of music video creativity, talking to hairstylist Regina Meessen about her career, and distinctive contribution to music videos. Regina talks about her unusual journey to becoming a hairstylist on fashion shoots, commercials and music videos, her strength in working with Afro hair, and the importance of research on jobs for Anaiis, Krept & Conan and Joy Crookes - and having an almost telepathic understanding with some makeup artists. Krept...

In this episode we talk to director/photographer Olivia Rose about her work, from chronicling London’s grime scene through her photos to her videos for Jorja Smith, Skepta, Lola Young and Sasha Keable. Olivia talks about how her passionate nature informs her work, the double-standards faced by women in the creative industries, exploring different sides of her character through her music videos - and her big plans for the future. Useful links: Olivia...

In this episode we talk music videos - and comedy - with Kasper Häggström, the Norwegian director who has made wonderful promos in his signature comic style for Kelly Lee Owens, Flyte and now Radiohead. Kasper talks about the joy of working with heavyweight actor Michael Sheen for Kelly Lee Owens, the rigorous creative process that led him to Radiohead, and reveals his all-time favourite video.

In this episode we talk music videos with cinematographer Rik Burnell, who has been responsible for outstanding work for the likes of Willie J Healey, Dry Cleaning and Samm Henshaw. He tells us about the work he’s been doing over the past couple of years, his unconventional route to becoming a cinematographer - and not being that interested in cameras. Useful links: Rik Burnell, DoP https://looptalent.co.uk/portfolio/rik-burnell/ Willie J Healey ’True...

In this episode we talk with director Sophia Ray and producer Mayling Wong, who work together to create music videos for some of the UK’s favourite pop stars, like Little Mix, Mabel, Ella Eyre and Raye. Sophia and Mayling tell us what draws them to the world of Pop, the key to their strong partnership, and how they ride out the ‘stress express’ when the best laid plans go awry - including on their latest video for Sigrid. Useful links: Sophia...

In this episode we talk to up-and-coming talents in the adjacent fields of cinematography and colour grading: DoP Adam Singodia and colourist Vlad Barin (based at Cheat). We learn about their career paths so far and their collaboration on the video for The Academic’s Kids (Don’t End Up Like Me) by directing duo Tearjerker. How did they fulfil the directors’ brief to create a distinctive look of nostalgic Americana on a shoot that happened in Northern Ireland? They discuss the technical...

In this episode, David and Rob talk music videos with Lucrecia Taormina, a director and photographer who has directed bold and arresting work in videos for Ashnikko, Bree Runway, Steven Wilson, and more. Lucrecia talks about how moving to London from Buenos Aires and discovering her creative freedom through photography and then moving image, about the challenges of being a female director, winning an UKMVA Award for her first Ashnikko video, and pushing things further with her...

In this episode, David and Rob talk music videos with Salomon Ligthelm, a director who’s created beautifully-shot, emotionally-charged, gripping videos for the likes of Young Fathers, Daughter, Prince, and most recently for UK hip hop artist Little Simz. Salomon talks from his home in New York about his unconventional career path, being ‘a nomad’, developing direct relationships with music artists and making videos as a reaction to his high-end commercial work. Useful links: Salomon...