Factory Fifteen is a film and animation studio, led by directors Jonathan Gales, Paul Nicholls and Kibwe Tavares. They’ve just joined the Nexus roster and you should watch out for them because between them they can turn their hand to pretty much any kind of filmmaking project.

They’re experts in all sorts of things, from architecture to 3D visualisation, engineering, animation and photography and their talents have been employed for brands like Samsung, Channel 4 and The British Film Institute.

They’ve already gathered a huge stash of awards and been exhibited at festivals and exhibitions all over the world, and now Nexus have their back they look like they’ll be unstoppable.

Watch some of their work here:

Cyril Gfeller is an intriguing talent. He has been working in motion graphics, animating, directing and editing for several years now. Originally trained as a plumber, bizarrely, and then later graphic designer in Bern, he honed his visual arts skills in Switzerland, where he became quite accomplished. But now we’re lucky enough to have him on these here shores, living in London.

With a passion for animating handmade objects but also a flair for the digital, he’s a versatile animator with experience all over the place – as well as arty music promos he’s worked with clients as big as McDonalds, Greenpeace and Microsoft.

Watch some of his work here:

Directors’ biographies can be quite formulaic. Generally they mention a film school, followed by a list of accolades to justify their credibility, and then a few big clients/bands they’ve worked with.

This pair of brothers from the North of England, who just signed to Agile’s roster, didn’t go to film school and they haven’t won any awards (yet). That’s not important though, because they’ve built up a body of music videos that range from charming comedy to grim, moody material.

What ties all their work together is a knack for engaging narrative – stories that you find yourself getting pretty wrapped up in.

Watch some of their work here:

Since it was uploaded just over a year ago, the video for Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men has been viewed over 50 million times. Not half bad for an obscure Icelandic indie-folk band.

That video was directed by Canadian duo WeWereMonkeys – Mihai Wilson and Marcella Moser – and while it's a hugely catchy song, some of the credit for those hits has to go to the stylish mythical narrative the pair created for the track. The rest of their reel is impressive too.

WeWereMonkeys use a massive range of techniques to create thier sumptuous videos, combining live action, 3D rendering, illustration and photography. Look out for more of their orthcoming sci-fi short film – OVO – it looks like it'll be a visual feast.

Watch some of their work here:

Irish animator Conor Finnegan is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. His reel contains 3D and 2D, hand drawn animation, stop-motion, Claymation and live action with puppets and live action with actors. Refusing to stick to one style, he often mixes techniques according to what works for a project.

Fear of Flying – his most recent short film – uses several different animation methods to tell story of a cute little bird with no inclination to use his wings. He’s picked up a good few awards for it while it’s been touring the festival circuit.

He’s just signed to Nexus, so watch out for his multi-faceted style in the future. If Johnny Kelly’s anything to go by, they know how to spot a good Irish animator.

Watch some of his work here:

Every two months since 2007, a celebration of music video has taken place at the BFI. Hosted by comedian Adam Buxton, BUG has showcased the best visual accompaniments to popular music and spoken to the directors who made them. It’s grown into a bit of an institution among the advertising and video production industry and with a TV series on Sky Atlantic behind them, it’s a pretty big deal. They’re celebrating this later this month by putting on a big show - The Best of BUG – at the Odeon Leicester Square on 19 March.

We spoke to BUG’s founding partner and curator about what’s in store for the audience.

What sort of thing can we expect from The Best of BUG show?

It’ll be recent greatest hits [of the BFI BUG shows] plus a few things from the TV show. So we’ll show a couple of the videos that we’d made especially for the show. We’re also going to have a special guest: Edgar Wright [director of Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World] which is great. He’s actually done a BUG show before, but weirdly, it wasn’t with Adam [Buxton].

It was a strange one. A few years ago now we did a BUG Halloween special and the host was Corin Hardy. Corin is a video director and he’s done various things we’ve featured at BUG. But he’s kind of like a horror fanatic. At this stage he was making real horror shorts. That’s how he started and that’s the same way that Edgar started – making little Super 8 films as teenagers – and that’s how they met. This wasn’t long after Hot Fuzz had come out, but because Edgar’s got his material and his music videos also fitted into the horror theme, he was invited as a guest. And Edgar invited John Landis, the director of Thriller, who was our secret special guest.

It was a great night, but weirdly Adam hadn’t hosted it. I think he feels a bit bad about that, really. So we’re sort of putting things right. And he’s an old friend of Edgar’s, so it’s strange that we’ve never had him on as Adam’s guest. This is kind of like the perfect setting for it.

We’ll no doubt show some excellent music-related Edgar Wright stuff, both music videos and clips from various films. So that’s going to be a good part of it. Edgar’s going to come up and have an on-stage chat, show some stuff and goof around in the inimitable Buxton fashion.

Do you think Adam is integral to the format?

We started nearly six years ago, unbelievably, and I could count on a few fingers when Adam hasn’t hosted a BUG show. I think he’s done every one at the BFI. He was always in our mind as the ideal person to do the show because he’s got such a feel for videos. He knows what it’s about. He’s mates with some of the top directors, including Edgar and Garth Jennings, Dougal Wilson, Shynola. He’s even made a few music videos and obviously now he’s made a few more with the TV show.

How was BUG first created?

Taking it way back I was the editor of PROMO magazine – the music video trade mag – for years. And at the beginning of the millennium me and this producer from MTV2 – when they were quite and arty adjunct of MTV – Nick Hutchens. We did a co-production between PROMO and MTV2 where we did these millennial best music videos ever made shows, where we’d filmed interviews with the directors. They went out on MTV and at the same time they were shown at the BFI.

It was the first time they’d shown music videos at the BFI, or the NFT as it was known then. They would just sell out. They were hugely successful. And we did a few more.

And then the BFI got a regular music video night than ran from about 2002-2007, which was called Antenna. But it was different. It was quite straight. It was very popular with ad agency people, full of great creative work.

At the end of 2006 they said they weren’t going to do it anymore. But then they got Adam to host the very last show. He’s got this character called Ken Korda, who’s a movie nerd who fancies himself as a great critic. He often likes really terrible movies. He did the whole of this Antenna night as Ken Korda and I was like ‘this is good but why?’ So when we wanted him to do BUG, I said ‘Adam, it would be great if you can do the show, but please do it as yourself. I don’t think you need to do a character.’

He knew it would involve him interviewing people and he was very reluctant about [that]. The very first show we had about five guests all on stage at the same time, so I really sort of punished him. It’s settled down since then. His interviewing technique has improved but he wouldn’t call himself an interviewer. He’s more of a fan.

What do you think people love about BUG?

Obviously people come to the show for the comedy, for Adam’s YouTube comments etc. – the important thing is that we put everything in context. That’s our remit at the BFI. This is a show with the best creative work we can find (well, what we think – others may disagree). It’s to explain who these directors are, what they do, where they are in their careers. And Adam’s very much down with that. He wants to tell the story around the video. And then the YouTube comments are part of the story.

The lucky thing was in 2007, when we started BUG, YouTube had just started. The growth of videos as a YouTube phenomenon had already started but was just getting going. We called it The Evolution of Music Video because it was a way to take it on from Antenna that had preceded it, but also it was a way to refer to everything that was going on at a particular time.

The internet affected the music video pretty much more than anything. At least, it was the first thing. It needed that injection of excitement. It’s always been the thing about music videos, being the length that they are, that’s the perfect length for the YouTube generation.

Music videos, as they’ve always been, you can quite happily watch on YouTube. It’s not like they’re out of place because you should have watched them on TV. The classic music video lives and is actually being seen online, whereas previously it was getting increasingly not seen on TV.

How do you decide what to put in the shows? As editor of Promo News you must see practically everything.

It’s impossible to see everything. There is so much stuff. It’s like you’ve got the videos that are commissioned out of labels, which is pretty much the same as it always has been. But then there’s the other massive tsunami of material that comes from everywhere else.

The whole scene and music industry has changed so much and then there’s a lot of stuff being made that’s not been commissioned at all in the conventional way. What I’m trying to say is I get sent so many videos from all over. Essentially it’s completely changed from back in the day, which means I can never take a holiday, basically.

It’s incredible how you can miss things. Everyone else knows about it then you find out about it. You think everyone has seen something and then Adam asks the audience ‘have you seen this?’ [and they haven’t].

Gangnam Style is the perfect example. It was still a vaguely minor viral and hardly anyone in the audience had seen it when we showed it at BUG. At that point it hadn’t gone absolutely ballistic global. Somebody had sent it to me a few days before the show. I think that was in May last year.

It’s about trying to show people things they haven’t seen. And obviously there’s a lot of very obscure videos that deserve to be seen and we provide that service.

Do you feel it’s your duty to focus on the obscure, rather than the stuff people will see anyway?

I tend to think that the mainstream stuff is generally by definition not as interesting. Obviously there are exceptions that can be extremely well made. We will show videos from big bands as well. It doesn’t really matter. The definition is if it’s good enough as a piece of film. It’s got to at least hold your attention for the whole length of the film. There are a lot of things that don’t do that, but that’s really the criteria, otherwise people are walking out the cinema.

Click here to reserve tickets for The Best of Bug. 

We know. Becoming a successful director is hard. It’s a tough old industry to break into – you’ve to elbow your way in past the hordes of people who think they’re the next Kubrick to prove that you really are a talented director. That can be difficult, but if you have the skills, there are people on your side.

The Young Director Award, by CFP-E and Shots, celebrates talented directors at the beginning of their careers. It takes place every summer on the fringes of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and, now in its fifteenth year, the ceremony draws in the biggest crowd of any fringe event at Cannes.

Over the years the YDA has proven its worth. From the get-go it has launched directorial careers of some calibre: Peter Thwaites, Daniel Wolfe, Kim Gehrig, Martin Krejci. In its first year it awarded an aspiring director called Ringan Ledwidge, setting him on a trajectory that has led to his winning seven British Arrows, 11 Cannes Lions and a Yellow Pencil at D&AD. You might have seen some of his work.

Ringan remembers how difficult making that first splash was. Before his YDA win he was working hard to make waves in directing. “I was trying to find ways to get work by either shooting things I thought creatives would find interesting or by bugging them to meet me,” he says. “I made a real pest of myself, phoning and emailing creatives, directors and so on in a bid to get a foot in the door.” But winning a YDA was a turning point.

Even back in 1999, the YDA had the power to transform someone’s life. “Winning the award was pretty fantastic to be honest,” says Ringan. “It was like being ‘made,’ like they do in the mafia!” Understandably, this recognition was a massive confidence boost, but it also meant, importantly, that the industry knew his name. It’s not one they’ve forgotten since.

Showcasing their best work in front of so many clients, agencies and production companies, the award can bring opportunities that can become threshold moments for young directors. “Obviously, those don’t last forever,” says Ringan, “but if you take them it really gets your career going.”

Karen Cunningham, who won a YDA in 2008, experienced these opportunities directly. “I got instant work from people in the audience,” she remembers. They phoned her immediately after the ceremony and gave her a script for Electrabel, which she went on to direct.

Having moved over to directing after years of wearing a producer’s hat, Karen had a hard time proving herself in her new role at first. “I made myself a bit of a target, really,” she admits. But winning at the YDA was proof that she was up to the change. “It’s affirmation when your peer group says it’s good. What more can you want?”

Accolades like the YDA are vital to making progress as a director. “Awards are really your only currency,” says Karen. “That’s it. If you win an award, you don’t have to start at the bottom of the pile.” It worked for Karen, who has directed films for clients like Dove and The Daily Mirror and gone on to set up her own unique production company, Pop-Up Films, with executive producer Julia Fetterman. She even directed the trailer for last year's ceremony.

Tell No One, a directing duo who’ve known each other since they were six and seven years old, won the Video Art Europe category in last year’s awards. “We’re not sure what’s being said behind closed doors but we have been quite busy since,” they say. In the few months since their victory they’ve worked with Sienna Miller on a film for Matthew Williamson and made a striking, reality-bending commercial for bookmakers Coral. They’re currently on the Good Egg roster “mainly thinking about umbrellas” – they can’t say anymore than that. They say “it’s top secret.”

“It’s lovely to be recognised at such an important event,” they say. And they approve of its tech-savvy nature, which suits its young audience. “Unlike most awards the YDA successfully utilise the internet, YouTube and contemporary communication to broaden its scope and audience.”

Japanese director Kosai Sekine won a YDA in 2006 and notes one of its defining points is its high standards. If the entries are not up to scratch then categories have been known to go without winners. “Because of its strict regulation,” says Kosai, “it focuses to select the best fresh talent.”

As a director from outside of the Western world, Kosai sees the YDA’s international character as a great benefit. “Not so many Asian directors have chances to become known internationally,” he says. “But Cannes is where every international advertising market gathers.” After he won a few years ago the effects were clear. “I started to receive offers from international production companies immediately after the YDA,” he says. He’s currently signed to Stink, who represent him in London, Berlin, Paris and Shanghai. Some of the work this led to has been successful, like his short film for Adidas, Break-Up Service, which won him a Silver Film Lion at Cannes.

French directing duo We Are From LA won a YDA last year for their Tetris-inspired Eastpak commercial. They were already represented by Somesuch & Co. in the UK and Iconoclast in the USA and Europe, but in the months since they won they’ve been pretty busy creating commercials, web films, a music video, a photography exhibition and an interactive experience.

They point out one important point about the YDA in Cannes – that it’s a great party with all of the advertising industry. “The super cool thing,” they say, “is that you can celebrate after the awards on the Croisette with all your friends until the early hours of the morning. The hardest thing is not losing the award before dawn.”

Ringan agrees that being held on the French Riviera works well for the ceremony. “Well, it’s sunny, there’re some great parties and if you haven’t done it before you’ll be amazed at how much rosé humans can consume,” he aptly observes. “It also means that as a young director you’re exposed to a worldwide market and talent. That’s worth its weight in gold.”

The Young Director Award is calling for entries now until Friday 19 April. Submit your work at their shiny new website, re-launched to commemorate their fifteenth anniversary, www.youngdirectoraward.com. See you at the beach party.

Emile Rafael has honed his filmmaking skills through a producer’s eye.
Having grown up in Prague, he moved to London at the age of 22 to study at the London Film School. After graduating, Emile returned to the Czech Republic and began producing there.

But missing the buzz of London he returned to the UK and found work producing commercials and music videos. He has more recently begun to focus on directing and over the past year has churned out a stream of impressive music videos.

Watch some of his work here: