Blind Aura Pictures has recently completed production on the debut music video for ex- X Factor contestant, Gamu. A hugely popular contestant in 2010, Gamu made it to judges house’s but controversially wasn’t taken to the live shows by X Factor judge and Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole. With brilliant choreography and a fun, upbeat tempo, the video is directed by Nirpal Bhogal, who recently completed a block on Channel 4′s supernatural teen drama, MISFITS. Gamu compliments her awesome vocal with a sassy performance in this stylish studio based video for ‘Shake the Room’. Previewed below on the Mail Online.
We hooked up with Myspace recently for another live music session and shot the excellent and very loud, female two-piece band DEAP VALLY. Having toured with The Vaccines and currently opening for rock giants MUSE, Deap Vally look like they’re about to take the world by storm. And above all else, they’re lovely, as you can tell from our interview and live performance video below.
Here are the edits to Lucy Rose’s live performance in the Levi’s room at Somerset House as part of London Fashion Week. Big thanks to Myspace UK. Enjoy!
Blind Aura Pictures teamed up with Myspace at the weekend to shoot the very talented and very nice, female singer/songwriter Lucy Rose. The gig took place at Somerset House as part of Levis’ involvement with London Fashion Week. Blind Aura worked closely with Myspace to create the online content to be distributed via Myspace and Levis. Lucy performed beautifully and gave a great, insightful interview into what she’s been up to prior to the release of her debut album ‘Like I used to’. You can watch the video on Myspace here.
Blind Aura Pictures has a brand new showreeel! Featuring work from artists such as Machines Don’t Care, Shotty Horroh, Dukebox, Skittles, Malia and Dot Rotten on labels such Sony music and UKF- not forgetting films such as The Hive, For Keeps, Greasy Spoon and Three Little Words. This is what we do! Take a look.
Promo News has recently blogged about Ed Lillys music video for dubstep duo Dukebox and his critically acclaimed, short film The Hive. You can read what they (and Ed) had to say here.
Blind Aura Pictures recently completed music video production on new track ‘Do It’ for Malia featuring Dot Rotten. Shot in London and directed by Ed Lilly, the video is an explosive dance performance piece. Unfortunately the artist management took control of their own ‘Official’ edit – however, you can watch our directors cut here.
Ed Lilly has recently uploaded a blog on the production of his short film FOR KEEPS. The blog gives a great insight into how and why the film was made and was recently picked up by Virgin Media Shorts and awarded their ‘Blog of the Week’. FOR KEEPS tells the story of a young girl, Sophie, who loses sight of what’s really important, during a game of marbles. The film was shot at Fred Longworth High School and production took place in 2011. Click here to read the blog or watch the film below.
Our music video production for Machines Don’t Care went live recently … and you can see it here! Directed by Courtney Phillips the promo was shot in Hackney, London and is a fast paced dance performance piece with some really nice visual ideas. Not to mention a big ‘reveal’. The video was shot in February and was commissioned by Sony Music Entertainment. Thanks to everyone who worked on it!
Over the past five years Blind Aura Pictures has worked with a large number of music artists and record labels, producing exciting music videos for artists in all genres including dubstep, hip-hop, rock, grime and indy.
With the rise of urban culture into the mainstream, urban music has become a huge part of popular culture. Artists such as Wiley, Wretch 32, Chase ‘n Status, Plan B, Ed Sheeran, Tinie Tempah, N-Dubz, Tinch Stryder and many more have all reeped the benefits. Here at Blind Aura Pictures we have worked with up and coming artists such as Shotty Horroh, Dot Rotten, Tyler Daley, Virus Syndicate, Machines Dont Care, Skittles, Wrigley and Flexplicit to name just a few.
Check out our showreel below. As a production company we love to be diverse and believe that anything’s possible.
Last week, Ed Lilly’s film THE HIVE was picked up by Vimeo and put on their ‘Staff Picks’ page. The film has consequently received 18,000 plays in July alone. So thanks to Vimeo and thanks to everyone who has watched!
Ed Lillys promo for newly formed duo DUKEBOX has recently been released. Comprised of Virus Syndicate producer MRK1 and rapper DOCTOR, their first single release is titled PRESSURE. Signed to AEI London (owners of the UKF brand and youtube channel), the video was shot in the borough of Sutton in South London, and features Courtney Pruce and Jack Saunders. Jack is currently rehearsing to perform at the Olympics.
Ed Lilly shot this online content for mobile-phone giants Nokia. The brief was to creatively introduce the online user to Nokias ‘Comes with Music’ 5800 handset. We employed the skills of Manchester rapper Skittles – who came up with this original piece of music that nostalgically takes us back through the importance of Nokia to its young customers and also introduces us to the new handset. The film was shot in one day in Manchester.
Blind Aura Pictures’ short film THE HIVE has been nominated for a world Vimeo Award in the Narrative category. A huge accolade for everyone, THE HIVE is one of 12 films up for the prize – with the list being whittled down to four, before an awards ceremony to be held in New York on 7th June 2012. Judges include James Franco and Casey Neistat. Congratulations to everyone involved in the film. You can check it out, along with the other nominees on the following link.
Blind Aura Pictures has grown through our love of film production and short drama. We have shot numerous short films over the past five years. In 2008 we shot a one-minute short tilted UNITED YOUTH? which was later nominated by BAFTA in their ’60 Seconds of Fame’ competition. The film featured manchester rapper Skittles and focussed on social prejudice and discrimination. In 2009 our short film THREE LITTLE WORDS was selected in the Final 12 in the Virgin Media Shorts competition beating off almost 2000 entries. Subsequently Three Little words was shown in 214 cinemas across the country, playing before feature films.
Virgin Media Shorts was a great achievement for us and helped us to get our next two short films GREASY SPOON (2010) and THE HIVE (2010) commissioned by Vison+Media (UK Film Council). Greasy Spoon is a dark-comedy written by writing duo Dean Lines and Ray Bogdanovich. The film stars Ben Hood and Matt Milburn (Hollyoaks, Emmerdale). THE HIVE is written by Andy Walker and was produced by Lauren Tomlinson. The Hive is a truly british short film and tells the story of two young lads as they embark on a dawn raid to steal a stack of beehives. The film premiered at BAFTA in late 2010 at a private industry screening, before moving on to Encounters Film Festival in Bristol. In 2011 Blind Aura Pictures shot their most recent short film, again for the Virgin Media Shorts competition, titled FOR KEEPS and starred pupils from Fred Longworth High School.
Blind Aura Pictures will continue to produce short film and drama whilst we develop our first feature film projects.
Tip-i-cal-ly by Skittles has recently been playlisted on BBC 1xtra and therefore we thought it a perfect time to post the video that we produced for him – having also notched up an impressive 27K youtube views. Skittles’ second album ‘Poor with £100 Trainers’ is available to buy and download across the UK. He has gained support from some of the industries biggest name for his lyrical talent and intelligence. This is the second video Blind Aura Pictures has produced for Skittles.
David Schofield was announced by Paul WS Anderson (Resident Evil, Alien vs Predator) as the WINNER of the Jessops ‘The Shot’ competition. Dave receives £5k of camera equipment and a trip to meet Paul in Toronto, in post on the new Resident Evil. Well done Dave and all involved in the film! You can watch Dave’s film below -
We’ve collected some lovely praise on our short film THE HIVE over the past year or so. Here are some of the best quotes.
“What can I say? Brilliant, really brilliant. The performances and casting are really good and it’s beautifully shot. Ed Lilly and the DP (Adrian Peckitt) have a really good eye.”
Brian Percival (Downton Abbey, Emmy Award Winning Director)
“At first this film seemed tough and then I realised it was not at all. It was actually very tender and made with love and I liked it very much for that.”
Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights, Oscar Winning Director)
“…heart-wrenching and exciting short”
The Reel.net
“One word – wow. An emotional short, with excellent acting and directing – good enough for the silver screen.”
Reed Film
“…a fine drama”
BFI Sight & Sound Magazine
“Very impressive … a nicely enigmatic ending too.”
James Rocorols (BBC Film Network)
“A hugely ambitious short film with extremely high production values, strong performances and visual flare.”
Will Massa (Former UKFC Film Executive)
Blind Aura Pictures’ short film The Hive has won the Shooting People ‘Film of the Month’ for December. Andrea Arnold (Wuthering Heights, Fish Tank, Red Road) judged the finalists and had this to say about The Hive “At first this film seemed tough and then I realised it was not at all. It was actually very tender and made with love and I liked it very much for that.”
As a result The Hive screened at London Short Film Festival alongside two newly Bafta nominated short films, as part of LSFF awards ceremony. Thanks to everyone who watched and supported the film.
You can still watch The Hive online at Shooting People here.
Aurora Fearnleys music video production for Troy Faid has made it onto the Promo News blog this week. Well done to her and all involved You can see the music video here on Promo News.
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) happened last night in London with Paddy Considines Tyrannosaur picking up a hat-trick of awards for Best Film, Best Debut and Best Actress. Tyrannosaur is the follow on story to Considines short film Dog Altogether, which won the BAFTA for bet short film in 2008. Considine said: “It’s been an overwhelming night – to get the best film was the real shocker for me.” Other winners included Michael Fassbender for his role in Shame and Vanessa Redgrave took the best supporting actress prize for her role as Volumnia in Coriolanus, the directorial debut of Ralph Fiennes.
Back in 2010 we shot our UK Film Council funded short film THE HIVE. If you’d like to know more about how we did it, here is a lovely ‘Making Of’ feature, made by Barney Batchelor and Luke Spiers at Vesper Pictures. Massive thanks to them, nicely captures how much fun we all had shooting the film during a rain-soaked four days in July. You can watch the full short film over at Shooting People where it is competing in 2011 December Film of the Month judged by Andrea Arnold. You can also see THE HIVE on the BBC Film Network.
THE HIVE is currently in Decembers Film of the Month competition over on SHOOTING PEOPLE. Andrea Arnold is this months judge and for her to watch our film we need to be rated in the top three by the online community! So if you’re a member and you like THE HIVE please follow the link and, erm, press LIKE.
Blind Aura Pictures short film THE HIVE has recently featured on the homepage of the BBC Film Network. The film has screened at BAFTA and Encounters Film Festival Industry screenings before making its online premiere at the BBC. We made the film back in 2010 and have received good feedback, including from Downton Abbey director and Emmy Award Winner, Brian Percival who had this to say about the film;
“Brilliant, really brilliant. The performances and casting are really good and it’s beautifully shot”
So, we have a lovely small rosta of Director who are all exceptionally talented storytellers. Here’s a bit about each of them.
Ed Lilly is a BAFTA and Royal Television Society nominated Director. Specialising in pop promos and drama, his filmography includes UNITED YOUTH? (2008 BAFTA nominated ’60 Seconds of Fame’), THREE LITTLE WORDS (2009 Virgin Media Shorts Winner), GREASY SPOON (UKFC) and THE HIVE (UKFC). Ed has also directed promos for Nokia, Manchester City Council and a host of record labels. Ed is a dedicated storyteller, with a unique and engaging visual style.
Aurora Fearnley was a founding member of the Left Eye Blind collective who signed to Academy Films in 2009 for promo. Last year she pitched and won the EPIC award to finance short film, LIFE ON THE LINE (2011). Now flying solo she completed short SHADES OF LIVING (UKFC) and was one of eight international winners for the Nokia N8 Shorts contest, where DANIEL was premièred at Edinburgh Film Festival.In 2010 she won the European Getty Images MISHMASH award for editing. Aurora is attracted to the fantastical, emotional and raw aspects of life which is reflected in her work.
Dave Schofield‘s fantasitc graduation short RYAN was part of the 52nd London Film Festival. Buoyant from the experience he took out a graduate loan to blow on another short LAST TRAIN. Fortunately, it was nominated for a bunch of awards at major festivals. After such a bold risk his local screen agency chanced a few quid on his recent short THIS TIME OF YEAR which has been nominated for Best British Film at Encounters film festival 2010. David is a small bald chap with a fondness for beards and all things visual.
Lewis Metcalfe is a self confessed cinephine since seeing Jurassic Park as a scrawny 11-year-old kid. Years later he got his teenage mitts on a college VHS camera and that was the end of it; there was only one path to follow. His graduate film ‘FIGHT’ won ‘Best Film’ at Renderyard International Short Film Festival and was nominated for ‘Best International Short’ at the prestigious Raindance Film Festival. Lewis likes to ponder on the darker side of human nature with thought provoking and challenging dramas and promos.
Blind Aura Pictures has shot no-less than THREE music videos that feature midlands based rapper Flexplicit. He is a prominent role in both the Sidewinder Raw movement as well as Highrise. We first met Flex on the set of THE SICKNESS music video, before shooting the SRE ‘Drop the Funk’ video and then in 2010 Flex’s first solo single that featured Nike Jemiyo, ‘About me’. Nike Jemiyo has made a big name for herself posting youtube covers of artists such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Adele and JLS to name just a few. Flex has recently shot a couple of videos with SBTV that can also be seen below.
Blind Aura Pictures has enjoyed a good relationship with Manchester grime artist Shotty Horroh, having now shot three videos in which he features, both as a solo artist and part of Highrise. Shotty Horroh has recently performed at the BBC 1xtra Live show along side Manchester artist Tyler Daley (Hoodman) and is set for big things in 2012. Our music video Winners Anthem involved getting Shotty Horroh up a hill at 5am and also features UFC MMA fighter Dan Hardy.
In late 2010 Blind Aura Pictures began their first project with Manchester grime artist Wrigley, on a track titled ‘Behind Closed Doors’. Wrigley is part of Wiley’s A-List group and has had previous success on tracks such as ‘Midnight Lover’ and ‘She Likes to’.
In 2011 we then shot our second music video for Wrigz on a track titled Survivor. Wrigz had a strong hand in the concept for this video which included multiple locations. Both videos went on to feature on Channel AKA with Behind Closed Doors reaching number three in their Official Chart. Here are the music videos for Behind Closed Doors and Survivor.
We have twice worked with dubstep group Virus Syndicate (MRK1, JSD, NIKA D, GOLDFINGER) who have found much success in the UK and across Europe, and more recently in America. Our first music video production for them was on a track titled ‘Believe’. ‘Believe’ took influence from feature film ’28 Days Later’. We took to the streets of Manchester at silly-o’clock in the morning in order to shoot when the streets were completely empty. Here it is …
We’ve been lucky enough to work with some outstanding artists over the past few years. One of our first music videos was for Manchester based rapper Skittles in 2007. The track was titled ‘Weed and Drink’ (later changed to ‘We’d Drink’) and the video was shot on a local Manchester market in Harpurhey.
The music video featured some great performances, including a drawing from Broke ‘n English rapper DRS, on his birthday! Skittles has recently gone on to feature on Camo & Krooked’s dubstep tune ‘The Lesson’, racking up huge view numbers on youtube channel UKF. Skittles is preparing for the release of his second solo album, Poor with £100 Trainers. Here’s our music video for ‘We’d Drink’ …
