Last night the annual UK Music Video Awards were held in London’s Leicester Square where a throng of British filmmakers assembled to celebrate creative excellence in British music videos. As well as some outstanding videos by British artists, the Awards demonstrated the impact of UK filmmaking talent across the globe as British creatives scooped awards for international as well as home-grown artists.
OK Go picked up the Best Video of the Year award and the Best Rock Video award for This Too Shall Pass. The video, which featured a Rube Goldberg machine created by OK Go and Synn Labs engineers along with British director James Frost, has garnered over 16 million views and is the #1 Top Rated (All Time) music video on YouTube.
After receiving a massive 11 nominations UK hip-hop turned soul singer Plan B scooped a record 4 awards - Best Pop Video, Best Art Direction in a Video for Prayin’ and Best Cinematography in a Video and Best Styling in a Video for Stay Too Long, both of which are taken from his hit album The Defamation of Strickland Banks and were directed by Daniel Wolfe and produced by Tim Francis who received Best Director and Best Producer awards respectively.
Meanwhile, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien presented The Icon Award to Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, better known as Hammer and Tongs for their contribution to the British film-making business. Despite having gone on to direct hit feature films Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy and Son of Rambow, they have never lost their passion for music videos, and their impressive music videos credits include Blur’s Coffee and TV, Supergrass’s Pumping on your Stereo, Fat Boy Slim’s Right Here Right Now, REM’s Imitation of Life, Beck’s Hell Yes, and more recently Radiohead’s Nude and Vampire Weekend’s A-Punk and Cousins.
Jay-Z, who has sold over 50 Million albums worldwide and received 10 Grammy Awards, picked up two awards - Best Urban Video and Best Editing in a Video – for On To The Next One, which was directed by British star Sam Brown and edited by the UK’s Amanda James.
Other winners included Hot Chip’s I Feel Better for Best Dance Video, Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance for Best International Video, Gorillaz On Melancholy Hill for Best Animation in a Video, Biffy Clyro’s God & Satan for Best Telecine in a Video, Example’s Watch The Sun Come Up – whose director Ben Newman received the Best New Director award - and The Johnny Cash Project for Best Innovation Award.
Now in its third year, the MVAs celebrates the very best work in British and international music videos – honouring the people who make them from well-established directors to up-and-coming directing stars of the future, as well as the cream of the talent making videos behind the camera, from DoPs to editors to stylists and visual effects artists with a range of over 20 awards.
The Winners:
Best Pop Video in association with Music Week
Plan B – Prayin’ (679 Recordings/Atlantic Records)
Director: Daniel Wolfe
Producer: Tim Francis
Prod co: Partizan
Commissioner: Tim Nash
Best Dance Video
Hot Chip – I Feel Better (Parlophone)
Director: Peter Serafinowicz
Producer: Tamsin Glasson
Prod co: Colonel Blimp
Commissioner: James Hackett
Best Urban Video in association with Aimimage
Jay Z ft. Swizz Beatz – On To The Next One (Atlantic Records)
Director: Sam Brown
Producer: Jeremy Sullivan
Prod co: Flynn Productions/DNA
Commissioner: David Saslow
Best Rock Video
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass (Rube Goldberg Machine vsn) (EMI)
Director: James Frost, Synn Labs, OK Go
Producer: Shirley Moyers
Commissioner: OK Go
Best Indie/Alternative Video in association with 3 Mills Studios
Charlotte Gainsbourg ft. Beck – Heaven Can Wait (Because Music)
Director: Keith Schofield
Producer: Nick Diaz, Jules Dieng
Prod co: Caviar, El Niño
Commissioner: Nathalie Canguilhem
Best Budget Video – Rock, Indie, Alternative
Sour – Hibi No Neiro (Neutral Nine)
Director: Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Who-fu (Magico&Masayoshi)
Prod co: Zeolot/Neutral Nine
Commissioner: Takeshi Matsuhashi/Neutral Nine/Sour
Best Budget Video – Pop, Dance, Urban
Example – Watch The Sun Come Up – Devil’s Gun Zeitgeist Remix (Data)
Director: Ben Newman
Producer: Annabelle Marshall, Ben Newman
Prod co: US3 Productions
Commissioner: Katie Collard
Best International Video
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance (Interscope)
Director: Francis Lawrence
Producer: Heather Heller
Prod co: DNA
Commissioner: Nicole Ehrich, Kathy Angstadt
Best Animation in a Video
Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill (Parlophone)
Animation: Jamie Hewlett & Pete Candeland
Director: Jamie Hewlett & Pete Candeland
Producer: Cara Speller, Debbie Crosscup
Prod co: Zombie Flesh Eaters/Passion Pictures
Best Art Direction in a Video
Plan B – Prayin’ (679 Recordings/Atlantic Records)
Art Director: Sam Tidman
Director: Daniel Wolfe
Producer: Tim Francis
Prod co: Partizan
Best Cinematography In A Video in association with Panalux
Plan B – Stay Too Long (679 Recordings/Atlantic Records)
DoP: Lol Crawley
Director: Daniel Wolfe
Producer: Tim Francis
Prod co: Partizan
Best Editing in a Video
Jay-Z ft Swizz Beatz – On To The Next One (Atlantic Records)
Editor: Amanda James
Director: Sam Brown
Producer: Jeremy Sullivan
Prod co: Flynn/DNA
Best Styling in a Video
Plan B – Stay Too Long (679 Recordings/Atlantic Records)
Stylist: Hannah Edwards
Director: Daniel Wolfe
Producer: Tim Francis
Prod co: Partizan
Best Telecine in a Video
Biffy Clyro – God & Satan (14th Floor)
TK: Simone Grattarola at Rushes
Director: Corin Hardy
Producer: Liz Kessler
Prod co: Academy Films
Best Visual Effects in a Video in association with BEAM
Audiobullys – Only Man (Three Size Group/Cooking Vinyl)
VFX: Mathematic Studio
Director: Jonas & Francois
Producer: Jules Dieng
Prod co: El Niño
The Innovation Award in association with Shots
The Johnny Cash Project
Johnny Cash – Ain’t No Grave (American Recordings)
Director: Chris Milk
Prod co: Radical Media
Commissioner: Rick Rubin
Best Live Music Coverage
The Prodigy – Take Me To The Hospital (Live at Milton Keynes Bowl)
Director: Paul Dugdale
Prod co: Family Values/Agile Films
Commissioner: John Fairs
Best Music Ad – TV or Online
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N’ Cheek
Director: Chris Boyle
Prod co: JJ Stereo
Commissioner: Ian Dutt
Best Producer in association with Rushes
Tim Francis
Best Commissioner in association with IMD Fastrax
Ross Anderson
Best New Director in association with Locomotion
Ben Newman
Best Director in association with Promo News
Daniel Wolfe
The Icon Award
Hammer & Tongs
Video of the Year
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass (Rube Goldberg Machine vsn) (EMI)
Director: James Frost, Synn Labs, OK Go
Producer: Shirley Moyers
Commissioner: OK Go
