Show Felix Brady a cool bit of kit and he’ll instantly start wondering how he can use it in his next music video. And if the gear doesn’t exist – like a custom-made camera trolly that looks like a diplodocus or a ‘tattoo removing thingymabob’ – well, he’ll put his set designer background to good use and hack it. But the Stink director’s not just a geek for tech and problem-solving in a budget: his latest promo for Greentea Peng taught him the importance of emotional connection to the work. He tells 1.4 about accidentally falling in love with motion control, extinct Hawaiian birds and why a glass of orange juice propelled him into directing

How do you go about introducing a director whose work, which spans more than a decade, can only really be described as ontological, and even then there’s something not quite all encompassing enough about that term? Martin de Thurah is an artist and polymath. Yes, his primary medium is film, but it could be said that his output more closely resembles a unique form of visual psychoanalysis. At his freest, de Thurah explores lines between conscious perception and our unconscious minds, the tensions that exist between nature and culture, and in that regard there is almost a mythological dimension to his unearthing of these themes. His latest project, Color Me, is an exquisitely resonant short film created in collaboration with musician Active Child. In it, de Thurah ventures into the terrain of mental health, anxiety, paranoia and psychic dissonance. Ahead of the WHO World Mental Health Day on October 10th, Stephen Whelan caught up with the Danish visionary to revisit a conversation he and de Thurah had commenced some 10 years past and find out how the passage of time had impacted the creative’s work .

Sometimes a music video connects with you in a way that leaves a lasting and indelible echo in the back of your mind. David M.Helman’s Cold Little Heart for Michael Kiwanuka from 2017 remains one of the most thoughtful reflections on the circularity of grief ever represented in a music video. Helman’s work is at once tender and angry, confused yet reconciled. Ambiguity and abstract narrative structures flow through his films, with characters that refuse to spill their guts within the restrictive time formats of short films and promos, forcing the viewer to do some of the conceptual and creative heavy lifting themselves. We caught up with Helman to discuss his latest promo for James Vincent McMorrow’s I Should Go, disillusionment and stripping away artifice.

Among the many ugly consequences of the global pandemic has been a rise in anti-Chinese sentiment, bringing micro-aggressions that have bubbled away beneath the surface for years into the mainstream. The burden of everyday racism, and the struggle to accept one’s heritage, is explored with heartbreaking authenticity in Sunny, the debut film from new filmmaking collective This Is Our Youth. We spoke to founders Ben Bainbridge and Sky Yang about supporting fresh new voices to tell their stories and the importance of making films for film’s sake

If there’s one thing that connects the work of director Taz Tron Delix it’s the process of growth. Having scooped the Best Urban Newcomer award at the 2017 MVA’s for his Oscar Worldpeace promo, Taz’s work has progressed at lightspeed both creatively and technically in its execution. Across promos for Kojey Radical and Camelphat, Taz has managed to create worlds that express two totally different sounds sitting on opposite sides of the musical divide - one a reflective musical evolution of spoken word poetry and the other a late night deep house beat. Music for thought and music to lose yourself in.  Yet across this work Taz has artfully built doorways into experiences other than our own, and it’s this idea that leads us to his new promo for Stormzy’s track Superheroes, his third collab with the artist after Audacity earlier this year, and this month’s Aint It Different for Headie One and Stormzy. Stephen Whelan sat down for a socially distanced beer with Taz to delve deeper into his world.

Daniel Wirtberg’s music video for Zebra Katz is a perfect testament to the director’s desire to explore the relationship between dynamic images, sound and music. His interpretation of lyrics lies not in the literal sense but as a foundation for theme and attitude creating visceral, atmospheric work which extends to his short films, art projects, and music pieces. We talk to the director about his creative process, growing up in deepest rural Sweden and why it’s crucial to collaborate closely with artists and commercial clients

You could call it modern surrealism, but in truth the work of director, illustrator and photographer Quentin Jones defies a label. A magpie for stylish imagery, Jones layers artwork with live action to produce complex animated collages, rich in curiosities that demand a second viewing. Having carved out a career creating lushly textured fashion films for the likes of Chanel, Kenzo and Louis Vuitton, Jones recently created an insight  into her fevered mind with It Was Fine, a still-to-be-released quarantine chronicle excavating the layers of lockdown-induced mania with wry humour and style. She tells 1.4 about early experiments with playdough stop-motion and how she’s planning to take baby steps into a more narrative world

Want to be part of the 1.4 Awards Showcase this year? Then get your ducks in a (socially distanced) row. Entries open now!!

Earthquakes, gunshots, and even cartel run favelas haven’t stopped Aussie-based, Kiwi Director Paul Nevison from telling stories. He tells 1.4 what’s driven him from the end of the earth to the ends of the earth, and how he uses the imagination as a trojan horse into the soul.

Growing up between New York’s Spanish Harlem and Puerto Rico, director Kristian Mercado Figueroa draws on his complicated heritage and outsider status to sensitively explore the Latinx narrative. A champion of the working class and minority communities, much of Figueroa’s work feels politically charged – Pa’lante addressed the devastating consequences of Hurricane Maria that went largely unreported by world media, while Mariposa explored the intergenerational journeys of women of colour – yet, at its core, he says, it’s just about ‘human experiences’. He tells 1.4 about challenging music doc formats with a visual snippet of Billie Eilish’s brain and why filmmakers should be able to destroy, not just create

Somesuch filmmaker A.V. Rockwell honed her distinctive directorial voice through hard-hitting yet poetic depictions of urban life in her native New York. Looking at themes of race, identity, mental health and systematic oppression through a fiercely original lens, her body of work includes the award-winning short Feathers and The Gospel, a collaboration with Alicia Keys. She talks to 1.4 about her messy creative process, the role of music in her unique aesthetic, and why real change starts with awareness of privilege   

A cinephilic brain, an open heart and fresh eyes have served Daniel Kaufman well in a directing career spanning hip-hop videos, documentaries, branded content and commercials. Highly experimental, his work often occupies the gap between documentary and fiction. Ahead of today’s Vimeo premiere of his first narrative short, Runon, he tells 1.4 about the ‘fluid and formless’ future of media, the street-casting gamble that paid off, and the painful catharsis of breaking karmic loops.

Turkish-born, London-based director Basak Erol brings her trademark mash-up of animation, live-action and VFX to this visually arresting tale of unrequited love for Nothing But Thieves. She tells 1.4 how her peripatetic life colours her work, and why she wants to live among pink clouds

For our latest roundup of our favourite new(ish) music videos we've gathered together an assortment of leading female talent from across the sonic spectrum. Cardi B, Ashnikko, Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Kylie Minogue and Taylor Swift unite (with reasonable social distancing, face masks and hands sanitized) to kickstart your week.

Jesse Lewis-Reece talks to 1.4 about his explosion of visual ideas when he first heard Neil Hilborn’s poem OCD resulting in this heart-breaking film of love, obsession and loss that unanimously won over the judges at the Young Director Awards. Eyelash was jointly awarded the Jury Special Prize along with Jeremy Merrifield’s film, Balloon.

A collection of lockdown filmmaking made during recent tough times

The filmmaker and the musician-turned-director bounce the talk around what lies behind their enduring artistic collaboration of beautiful, surreal, mythical films

A CGI and animated fest of musical and visual fusion

Making the world a better place

Whether they’re exploring the human body through thermal imaging or imagining film as a musical instrument, directors in/out seems to hover on the threshold between the familiar and the uncanny, to riveting effect. Combining boundary-pushing in-camera work with a genuine love for the medium of music video, the cerebral duo tell 1.4 how they interpreted the brief of ‘hyper-musicality’ for their latest promo and why “doing things for real” is always rewarded.

As lockdown lifts and we contemplate a return to the daily grind, lunch al desko and a soul-sapping commute, this stunning new promo highlights just how alien and absurd the office environment has become. Breathing new life into stock footage with expert CGI, Smuggler directors StyleWar talk us through their chaotic take on corporate culture

Magnetic, powerful and mesmerising are words that come to mind when watching Rohan Blair-Mangat’s take on modern day story telling - a blend of documentary-style, short film and music video. The director, who was one of the filmmakers behind the recent Change The Lens pledge talks to 1.4 about his influences and his compelling work with artists including Wretch 32, Jay Z, Nas and most recently visual artist Maurice Harris. 

Experimental, daring and playful, Partizan director Ali Kurr has literally learned her craft on the job, eschewing a formal film school education and throwing herself into the deep end of filmmaking. Whether it’s adding a gritty twist to Sport England’s This Girl Can series or confronting casual racism and rampant consumerism with a hefty dollop of kitsch for pop-rock star Rina Sawayama, every job is met with a joyously can-do attitude, a magpie-like attraction to new and shiny sources of inspiration and a determination to educate herself. Constantly searching for new challenges, she found herself at the bottom of a very steep learning curve with her latest project – a porn film about a performer who can’t conventionally perform – but couldn’t be prouder of the final result, she tells 1.4

As lockdown lifts and we emerge, blinking like cave-dwellers, into the outside world, this feels like a time for taking stock. While the death tolls from Covid-19 make for grim reading, the truth is that this pandemic has ravaged minds as well as bodies, with many left mentally scarred by their time in isolation. Yet it’s the generation of young people whose education, career plans and social lives have been put on hold, indefinitely, who have borne the brunt – and will continue to suffer the ripple effects long after ‘normal’ life has resumed. In this lyrical short film, conceived and shot during lockdown, director Sadie Frost captures the invisible toll of isolation on mental wellbeing, while sounding a positive note for the future. She tells 1.4 about having a muse in the family, and why grief is a process everyone has to get through

Andzej Gavriss’ short film Malaria is a metaphor showing how quickly and unexpectedly one small event can be catastrophic. We asked the director to share his notebook on how the film and the resulting campaign to help homelessness in LA came about

Released amidst the groundswell of anti-racism protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, Sitting in Limbo couldn’t be more timely. Highlighting the Windrush scandal through the ordeal of one man, it’s a gripping and emotional watch that will move you first to tears, then rage. Director Stella Corradi keeps a tender hand on the tiller while navigating the harrowing journey. She tells 1.4 about her deep responsibility to tell the story, and how drama has the power to instigate real change

They’re still students and they’re brilliant. Just take a look at musician Rodney Chrome and filmmaker Zachary Dov Wiesel’s videos that explore the experience of growing up as a queer black man in America. Crafted on a shoestring with heaps of collaborative imagination. We like a lot. Here, we catch up with the New York-based Australian director

We take a look at The Great Reset, a movement born out of a collaboration of over 200 people from competing agencies, in an effort to capture and promote the positive behaviours and environmental shifts created during the UK lockdown.

"From mid March 2020 most agencies enforced a freelance freeze. This proved to be one of the most productive periods of my career,” says Mathew Jerrett who normally would be writing fiction for commercials. Now he’s behind three projects reflecting the very real events on the streets of New York. Here he tells us about his latest film, Fuck I Love New York, directed by Joaquin & Lalou

Colin Read’s work is more about exceptionally-crafted ingenious ideas than big flash budgets, and looking at the credits lists you can see that he does most of the crafting himself. He so often writes, directs, edits and creates special effects himself – from his earlier skateboarding films to the more complex recent music videos. We talk with Colin about directing Dave Bayley of Glass Animals in London while in quarantine in Florida and how he has evolved his techniques to always serve the core idea

No surprises that VFX and Creative Production Studio The Mill’s Rauri Cantelo is steeped in technical wizardry. Using i-phones and drones and quite a bit of artistic imagination the new director has created these two music videos for pop queens Foxes and Ella Henderson