the Craft

Q&As and behind-the-scenes info on the latest and greatest
commercials, shorts and music videos.

26^th May ANIMATION FOCUS

HowtomakeaJapaneseanimeforacontemporarybrand

Creative Director for YT, Andreas John, talks about how The Line and SHIFT Active Media made an animated world come to life, building on a concept and creating an immersive, folkloric, contemporary cityscape.

19^th May ANIMATION FOCUS

Howto...buildaLEGOcarchase

Last week saw the release of a new, high-octane LEGO spot. Here, the director, producer and VFX Supervisor give detailed insight into how they created 'The Fast and the Furious on a kitchen floor'.

18^th May ANIMATION FOCUS

How an old animation technique proved to be a fresh approach

Directing duo Lamar+Nik employed the more than century-old technique of kinegrams for their most recent promo for Husbands. Here they explain the labour-intensive, but highly effective, processes while asking the band their thoughts on the video.

30^th Apr

Aaron Ruell on bringing Dynamite to lockdown

With his hilarious series of Kip's Tips films, actor/director Aaron Ruell brought back cult-favourite character Kip Dynamite to impart his Isolation wisdom. We chatted to Ruell about what it was like revisiting the man, the message and the moustache.

22^nd Apr

How to create a star-studded short from quarantine

Before most of us had settled into our isolation groove, director Ben Berman was already plotting, editing and releasing his 'celebrity'-filled short The Follow Up. We asked him how he became the king of Cameo.

10^th Apr

Ruffian's directors are Alone, Together

With the production company in lockdown, Ruffian founder and EP Robert Herman challenged his directors each to come up with an innovative 360° glimpse into their world.

1^st Apr

How to film from four hundred feet away

For Four Tet’s newest promo, New Land director Joanna Nordahl, collaborated with Instagram sensation, Andrés Aguilera Morillas, in order to get drone footage that flies through buildings and over waterfalls and mountains.

20^th Mar

How Direct Line created its heroic new campaign

A trio of new spots for Direct Line, starring pop culture icons RoboCop, Bumblebee and Donatello, aired recently. We speak to three key members of the team that brought these heroes to life for this high-concept campaign.

Spotlight

Some in-depth discussions of what it takes to make a killer music video.

27^th Jan SHOTS AWARDS EUROPE 2019 WINNERS

MusicVideooftheYear:FKAtwigs,Cellophane

Director Andrew Thomas Huang, who has collaborated with artists like Bjork, Perfume Genius, and Thom Yorke, shares some of the process and influences behind his Icarus-inspired, shots Awards Europe-winning 2019 music video, Cellophane.

28^th Jan SHOTS AWARDS EUROPE 2019 WINNERS

MusicVideooftheYear:TheChemicalBrothers

As we near the end of our Music Video Focus we talk to the those behind one of our two shots Awards Europe 2019 Music Videos of the Year. Below, Outsider directing duo Dom&Nic and The Mill's ECD Jonathan ‘Wes’ Westley, explain the nuts and bolts of making The Chemical Brothers' Free Yourself.