"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

Prettybird director Jess Kohl recuts her earlier Nowness documentary about the transgender community of India into a charity film to support them during the Covid crisis

Director Stevie Russell’s homegrown solution for Kodaline’s latest music video

From sanguine bulls to singing yams, Blink director Nick Ball can spot a seam of comedy in a script and mine it for every laugh going. His latest spot for MoneySuperMarket joins a host of blockbuster, big budget ads for the likes of Barclaycard, Foxtel and Aami, but shrink the action down to a close shave in a shower cubicle and he’ll still have ‘em rolling in the aisles. From the confines of quarantine in a Sydney hotel room, he tells 1.4 about struggling with the concept that comedy should look “funny” and why, when the laughter stops, he’ll be crying on the bathroom floor surrounded by Twinkies

We talk with Jeremy Goold, founder and EP of London-based You Are Here, about creating this cinematic film shot by seven of the production company’s directors in seven different countries during global lockdown

We have become so used to seeing mobile phone footage posted to social media and network news reporting of the BLM protests, that Julian Marshall's film, WE ARE GEORGE FLOYD, stands out as an extraordinarily crafted documentary that speaks to us on another level.  

CANADA director Rogelio González makes the most of his time in quarantine with an introspective journey into his own psyche and vivid dreams. The relationship between the director and his lockdown partner, Dichas, – from reading together to tripping together – forms the basis of a film that charts a journey through the different stages a 50 day lockdown imposes on the mind.

Don't stop the music

Working around the world during "normal" times, Scandinavian-based Matias & Mathias have been making films since they were 16. We talk with the duo about their latest lockdown campaign, their desire to make a real music video and how their earlier obsession with Bunuel has stood them in good stead.

Nelson de Castro pays homage to George Michael and Mary J. Blige’s duplication device used in their cover of Stevie Wonder’s track Always. Now for Waze & Odyssey’s version the LA-based director blurs the line between digital and practical effects with a mirroring effect achieved with a cast of twins and stunning choreography in camera.

Photo: Chandan Khanna. Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 2, 2020.

Stay in and watch these brilliant epic promos

Ladies, how are you spending your time in lockdown? Nurturing that sourdough starter? Attempting cross-stitch? Taking long and luxurious baths? In this entertaining isolation creation, shot entirely on phones, Raine Allen-Miller suggests getting to know ourselves a bit better instead – and she’s roped in her friends and family to help spread the word via an enjoyably 80s-tinged music video that extols the benefits of closing your doors and opening up your legs

Well-known for capturing intimate live sessions and a master of the one-take shoot, FRIEND director Colin Solal Cardo has honed his up-close-and-personal style with pop videos for the likes of Robyn and Charli XCX. His raw performance-based videos recently stepped up a gear with La Vita Nuova, a cinematic short film for long-time collaborator Christine and the Queens. We chatted to the French director about the dangerous allure of the single shot, catharsis through filmmaking and why performance will always be part of his DNA

Filip Nilsson’s work always has a feel good edge to it whether it’s manipulating monkeys for the Swedish legend Håkan Hellström or creating a belting user-generated video from 1,000 dancers and musicians around the world for Major Lazer.

Raw and immersive, the work of London-based filmmaker Aneil Karia sears with authenticity in every shot. Whether it’s capturing the gritty underbelly of the East London drug trade in cult TV series Top Boy or exploring the murky waters between mental illness and mental wellness in award-winning short film BEAT, Karia focuses his lens on hard-hitting topics like knife crime and racism with empathy and even-handedness. Fascinated since childhood by the city he now calls home, Karia’s London is as much a star of his films as the A-list talent – Ben Whishaw, Riz Ahmed, Kano – he collaborates with. Recently signed to Somesuch, he talks to 1.4 about his feature film debut, the importance of casting and whether the pain of lockdown is enough to produce a seismic shift in our world.

Musician Thomas Azier and filmmaker Ayoto Ataraxia met three years ago at a time when they were both questioning the rules their respective industries asserted over their work. Here the two artists discuss how their desire for more improvisation resulted in this collaborative fusion of pitch perfect music and film

Figuring out how to bring effects to life without CGI can be challenging. Actually executing them even more so. LA-based Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro reveal the painstaking way they approached the light special effects in their first but not last film they directed together

Agile's new signing Brock Neal-Roberts distorts the standard, seemingly relaxed, nature of shot-at-home music videos with this piece for Berwyn directed entirely by screen sharing. By manipulating the digital form he has created an alternate world of the haunting emotions of the track.

Radical Media director Joshua Osborne reveals the stories and the creative processes behind Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes as they riff and jam on their first album together

Take some time off, put your feet up and take a look at Blink director Will Hooper’s totally absurd, cleverly funny and technically complicated music videos. The super-talented, almost-new director, who was about to shoot his first commercial when lockdown skittled the project for now, talks to us about his desire to make bowling alley animations, a video game and wouldn't mind designing a ghost train.

Martin Garde Abildgaard uses his knack for visual metaphors to look at the importance and difficulties of keeping relationships alive for Tom and His Computer’s latest track Future Ruins

Let's roll through the looooong weekend with top promos from brilliant filmmakers around the world - some shot before Covid times, some created after.

Watching 1.4's Showcase Icon winner golden boy Henry Scholfield’s work is a bit like being taken by the hand and pulled through the looking glass. The self-taught director and ‘dance nut’, who started out making music videos for local grime artists, likes his camera to be an active observer – it’s spun around with Stormzy and Stromae and dived into the action with Dua Lipa – and he chooses choreographers with the same care as a sommelier selecting a fine vintage. Add a mastery of speedy turnarounds into the mix and it’s no wonder world-class artists keep coming back to work with him. His latest promo, for Dua Lipa’s lockdown anthem Break My Heart, is a typically tricks-y mash-up of seamless VFX, stunts and camera transitions. 1.4 found out more…

Across the world filmmakers haven't lost their creative spark while documenting lockdown life

We talk with Joe Connor about directing photographers around the world under the Covid1-19 global lockdown for the Rolling Stones’ track Living in a Ghost Town and catch up with the recently signed to Rogue director about what makes him click

A ton of ingenious resourcefulness lies behind New Zealand director Alexander Gandar and musician-artist Chelsea Jade’s enduring music video collaboration

Nur Casadevall first came on our radar with her beautiful and thoroughly disturbing short film Lina. Since then she has signed to CANADA in London and Barcelona and has turned her talent to creating commercials, fashion and quirky content. Definitely one to watch. Now.

Shot just before full lockdown, director Franck Trebillac collaborated with performance artist Tom Heyes to create this stunning music video shot on the south downs for Amon Tobin and Thys' track Letter From St Anthony