Joyrider is a production studio with a track record of creating captivating visual storytelling. At our core are award-winning directors, writers and producers. We celebrate and cherish developing and producing work, that strives to inspire and stands out. We are passionate about creating film, TV, commercials, podcasting, branded entertainment and music videos.Our directors are multifaceted, and bring a fresh approach to visual styles, deftly mixing memorable narratives with photographic and CG techniques. At the heart of our work is a hybrid approach to delivering the highest quality on projects, for all media platforms.Founded by Spencer Friend in November 2004 in London, we produce work globally.We believe every project should be different and be the best.

Production Company

Joyrider

Just when you thought that nothing could be completely surprising ever again, how about this?The new IDLES video is... the iconic video for Coldplay's first hit Yellow, directed by James Frost and Alex Smith, reworked so that the fresh-faced Chris Martin, is lipsyncing the rock band's track Grace (from just released new album Tangk). And it's flawless. It's so convincing it defies belief... well, at the moment at least.&nbsp;Helmed by director Jonathan Irwin, this is a feat of visual deception which is so real and believable its genuinely eery. It's a next level Deepfake, a new depth reached in the Uncanny Valley. And it's not only mindblowing in the way its been executed. Its the sheer unexpectedness of it.&nbsp;Not surprisingly AI was involved, and&nbsp;also&nbsp;lots of other VFX techniques, to make it happen. But at its core, there is a surprising&nbsp;creative collaboration going on here, primarily between IDLES' Joe Talbot and Coldplay's Chris Martin, that no-one saw&nbsp;coming.[imgtoken data:1]Joe Talbot came up with the concept - in a dream, allegedly, which seems entirely plausible - of using <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKNxeF4KMsY" target="_blank">the classic Yellow video, directed by&nbsp;James Frost and Alex Smith back&nbsp;in 2000</a>, to frame the song Grace. The process by which this outlandish idea became possible is currently a mystery to Promonews.&nbsp;But&nbsp;at some point,&nbsp;rather wonderfully, Chris Martin then agreed that this was a splendid&nbsp;idea.After that, the process began when production studio Joyrider were approached by&nbsp;IDLES commissioner John Moule, with the question: can you make this happen? But the fact that nothing like this had been done before meant that the necessarily level of perfection could only be achieved by a combination of techniques and a good deal of trial and error.It also required Chris Martin's further involvement beyond giving his go-ahead, as the filmed him in order to provide a mouth reference to 'train' the AI technology. But that was later on, after&nbsp;Jonathan Irwin had tested&nbsp;various AI tech solutions to land on the best route forward.&nbsp;Tests on the mouth, face and full head replacement tests were trialed using AI tools such as wac2lip. But at that stage it&nbsp;did not deliver the required consistency and quality.The team moved to an approach that used a filmed mouth singing the song, which the AI Deepfake training then used, before this pre-trained face went through around one million iterations to get to a very decent level. To sync the mouth seamlessly with the original video&nbsp;Joyrider approached VFX specialists&nbsp;Stone Dogs&nbsp;to harness their flame compositing expertise. In a cyclic turn of events, Brian Carbin, senior VFX artist and co-founder of Stone Dogs, had worked on the original Yellow&nbsp;video.[imgtoken data:2]Then the team were able to take the production to the next level and film Chris Martin himself in the band’s studio, singing the song at double speed (50fps) with three 4K cameras. The video was then played back and slowed down, adding an additional layer of subtlety to match the original plate. The filmed material was then Deepfaked further, helping to deliver a convincing AI performance of Chris Martin, filmed as if it actually happened in 2000.Jonathan Irwin led weeks of further research and development, constantly refining machine-learning approaches. “To create the training set, we fed every frame of the original video into DeepFaceLab and ran for five million iterations, approximately one and a half months of processing time, running 24/7," he explains. "At each stage of improvement, there would be backwards and forwards of new AI training runs and flame VFX work, tracking, extensions, clean up, more tracking, test composites, more AI, more clean up, etc.”Beyond the demands of the lipsyncing, other factors had to be addressed, such as the difference in the length of the tracks while keeping the integrity of the original video, which was filmed in one take (and ironically, was a last minute option taken by Frost and Smith, after bad weather had curtailed their original idea for the video).&nbsp;A time/speed ramp effect was applied to a section of the film to bring the two versions in sync, and additional time warp effects were positioned over certain points of the video, to take the viewer away from the original video and into an IDLES-esque world.And as a result, we have something never seen before, and something that was frankly unimaginable, not too long ago. But crucially this is not using amazing technology for its own sake. At its heart, it's just a gobsmacking&nbsp;idea.&nbsp;&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Jonathan Irwin

Spencer Friend

Danny Coster

Mark Meadows

Stone Dogs

Brian Carbin

Dave Kiddie

Rufus Blackwell

Bailey Marks

Paul Mackay

Daniel Kolditz

Von Adams

Rock

IDLES 'Grace' by Jonathan Irwin

IDLES - GRACE (Official Video)

Jordan Clarke ponders society's increasing reliance on technology and AI, in his hugely imaginative&nbsp;promo for Des Hume featuring Juicelover.&nbsp;In the video for Onetwostep - nominated at the recent UKMVAs -&nbsp;our online world is brought into stark focus, as perpetual scrolling brings the technology to life, breaking out of the grid and into surreal, often haunting forms.&nbsp;"In this video, our digital overlord is a sentient ooze that sludges through the fabric of online communities, AI-generated landscapes, robocalls, and targeted advertisements," explains the Toronto-based animator."It is neither good nor bad. It just is. It drips through our feeds, pausing to see what we like and what we scroll past."[imgtoken data:1]This omnipresent perspective is almost overwhelming, a clash of every technology, every texture and environment available at our fingertips. Deftly executed 3D animation stands side by side with prompt-driven AI performance vignettes, and the result is hypnotic and feverish.A towering achievement, but it's safe to say that viewers may want a break out in the real world after watching this one, as it's a thought-provoking assault on the senses.&nbsp;

Canada

Jordan Clarke

J-Pop

Des Hume ft (Juicelover) 'Onetwostep' by Jordan Clarke

onetwostep (featuring juicelover)

Reuben Sutherland directs a transcendental promo for Fence Collective stalwart King Creosote - aka Kenny Anderson - which takes the viewer on a surreal journey through an art gallery that reflects the folk artist's considerable back catalogue.As if looking through a surreal retrospective, the video for Blue Marbled Elm Trees transitions through dreamlike set pieces with otherworldly flair and&nbsp;a grand, ambitious scale to each segment.&nbsp;"It is trying to illustrate time and the time spent on art and what that means when all is said and done - looking forward to looking back," explains Sutherland.&nbsp;

Russell Boyd

Reuben Sutherland

John Moule

Domino Recording Company

Singer songwriter

King Creosote 'Blue Marbled Elm Trees' by Reuben Sutherland

King-Creosote-'Blue-Marbled-Elm-Trees'-by-Reuben-Sutherland

In Jonathan Irwin's exquisitely-crafted video for Kodaline, a robot-pet is cast out into a cruel world when its old master dies.Irwin adds to the considerable&nbsp;canon of heart-rending narrative videos from the Irish band with this emotional story of the loveable mini-robot's misadventures, and eventual salvation. And the execution is so immaculate, it actually takes a while to realise that the whole thing was created in CGI.As he explains, this is a project that has been on the drawing board for a long time - and it was not always going to be full animation.&nbsp;[imgtoken data:1]"This video was originally pitched as a live-action piece way back, and was on-track to be made but eventually fell apart due to the fact that it would be too expensive to produce for a non-single track," reveals Irwin. "So&nbsp;the storyboards languished in development hell until the pandemic, where I got more and more involved in full-CG productions.&nbsp;"I created a string of CG animated projects, creating solid workflows and rendering pipeline, after which I had a lightbulb moment - wait, I think I can do that Kodaline video inexpensively as a pure animated piece.[imgtoken data:2]"With the band's approval, I set about recreating my storyboards in CG. As it turns out, it seems like we were waiting for the technology to catch up the vision and now I can't imagine having done it any other way."Also, given that it was written with live-action in mind, it involved lots of tricky simulation work that I'd normally be keen to avoid - lots of water simulations and human characters - which pushed me technically to meet the vision."Thankfully it has finally seen the light of day, and what a wonderful result. &nbsp;

Kodaline

Fantasy Records

Singer-songwriter

Kodaline 'Everything' by Jonathan Irwin

Indy Hait directs a blazing&nbsp;promo for Alex Clare's Why Don't Ya.&nbsp;Shot to resemble one continuous camera move, the video glides seamlessly&nbsp;between two apartments: one belonging to a couple, the other with Alex Clare performing.The couple in the apartment next door are struggling to show their emotions, apathetically sleepwalking through their routines, while the whole place is, quite terrifyingly,&nbsp;in flames.This contrast of danger and ennui&nbsp;is beautifully realised - and the fact nearly all of the fire effects are practical and in-camera adds a real sense of tension to the piece.Hats off to the actors to keeping their cool on that fiery set...

Indy Hait

Anton Reznichenko

Brave Film Ukraine

Vova Yarmola

Sergiy Kachura

Max Ruban

Mikhail Levchenko

Vasyl Bondarenko

Max Inkognito

Svetlana Rymakova

Alex Clare 'Why Don't Ya' by Indy Hait

Alex Clare - Why Don't Ya (Official Music Video)

Reuben Sutherland pays homage to vintage video games, in his retrofuturistic promo for Berlin band Partefacts.&nbsp;The animated video for Time Travel incorporates still images of the band taken during lockdown, and a series of increasingly genius ways to incorporate them into the 2D&nbsp;aesthetic.&nbsp;Reuben’s inspiration for the video was the title sequence from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,&nbsp;as well as other iconic retro movies and TV shows of the era.Sutherland notes, "I’ve always loved the look of TV shows from the late 70’s and early 80’s, so marrying this with games like Street Fighter and Mario Brothers, was really a great aesthetic that worked well for the lyrics."The end result is a visual extravaganza that elevates the undulating funky beats in the track.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]

Germany

Craig Schuftan

Tiny Lights

Partefacts 'Time Travel' by Reuben Sutherland

Visual effects artist and animator Matt Westrup collaborates with Hybrid's Mike and Charlotte Truman on this richly cinematic visual for Flashpoint,&nbsp;the first track released from the British electronic band's sixth album.The video builds an ominous atmosphere on a scale to match the track with a combination of Truman's live action work - as DoP as well as directing -&nbsp;and Westrup's visual effects and character design. With Covid lockdowns in place, the latter worked remotely with the band to create this, the first in what is a series of short films to accompany the new album. The partnership has worked a treat.When a digital face starts appearing on screens to question everyday life it precedes a meator storm over English countryside. The film features Hybrid's Lottie Truman as the main character who investigates the weird phenomenon, riding through country roads and into railway sidings on her motorbike.But the main focus is on establishing the cinematic scale - and introducing an alien 'angel' who has landed in the meteor storm. So it's appropriate this comes with a 'To Be Continued...' finale. Looking forward to seeing what the team come up with in the next chapter.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2][imgtoken data:3]

Mike Truman

Matt Westrup

Charlotte Truman

Richard Elson

Distinctive Records

Hybrid 'Flashpoint' by Mike Truman & Matt Westrup

Hybrid-'Flashpoint'-by-Mike-Truman-&-Matt-Westrup

Jonathan Irwin directs an innovative exploration of nanobot technology, in his promo for Junior Jack and Pat BDS.The video for Klimax hones in on the technological breakthrough and future development of nanobots, looking at how it will develop in many years to come.&nbsp;Through a breathtaking display of visual effects and CG, we see an impressive space race, depicting digital likenesses of the artists travelling through a body and fixing deteriorating networks - against all odds.&nbsp;Truly otherworldly and striking, this is a stylised glimpse of a near future, which celebrates how far technology has come both in concept and aesthetic.&nbsp;

Italy

Adesso Music

House

Junior Jack & Pat BDS 'Klimax' by Jonathan Irwin

Klimax - Junior Jack & Pat BDS  (Official Video)

Indy Hait’s brilliant&nbsp;promo for Lola Marsh&nbsp;features the band competing&nbsp;in a table tennis competition, with some clever visual trickery.Filmed in one continuous take - atop a motion control rig - the camera seamlessly weaves and rotates around the table, immersing viewers in the action as the pair rhythmically hit the ball back and forth.&nbsp;“The snap and clap beats felt&nbsp;like a dialogue between two people in a relationship, almost in a dance” said Hait.&nbsp;“I also wanted to push the boundaries of mo-con camera movements, beyond just tracking the choreographed moves with the ball”.&nbsp;The band's moves&nbsp;were rehearsed for a week with a professional table tennis player, alongside three days of pre-vis work and programming before the shoot.&nbsp;

Israel

Pavel Buryak

Anova

Alternative

Indie

Lola Marsh 'For A Moment' by Indy Hait

Lola Marsh - Only For A Moment

Reuben Sutherland treats pixels as a rare commodity in his mesmerising video for Ducks!The New Zealand-born, London-based director/VJ/visual artist, whose work includes acclaimed videos for Doves, Royksopp and Phoenix Foundation has created the&nbsp;promo for the Aussie band's With Compliments from an idea of using a limited number of pixels.&nbsp;The concept involved combining a mixture of single pixel designs with actual cut- outs, which he then created as moving scenes with animated mosaics. Sutherland creates the look of a semi-quasi stop frame pixelation, using literal interpretations of the lyrics to create graphic rich scenes. Then by manipulating and animating the pixels, he created colour popping and hypnotising transitions between each scene.&nbsp;This counter-intuitive move in this&nbsp;age of ultra HD allows him to slip in some delightful visual ideas. Look out for a guitar solo performed by a black cat at the end.

Australia

Ducks! ft Maya Shenfield 'With Compliments' by Reuben Sutherland

Ducks! x Maya Shenfeld – With Compliments

Indy Hait creates a mesmerizing performance video for Lola Marsh, with multiplying ghosting effects – all shot in camera without using VFX.Lead vocalist Yael and guitarist Gil face&nbsp;off as they perform, each joined by several copies of themselves, creating a trippy visual you won't be able to take your eyes away from.The promo was shot entirely on 16mm, on location in Kiev. Influenced by 1970's filmmaking and dance offs from films like Pulp Fiction, it's beautifully&nbsp;constructed and choreographed:&nbsp;seven&nbsp;dancers line up behind Yael and Gil,&nbsp;who look&nbsp;and move exactly like them. The effect is to&nbsp;show the passage of time, past and present, in a single shot, as if it's an infinite dance."The band got very excited about the idea," says Hait. "So we had to find a way to nail each scene even on a Super 16 format.&nbsp;So it clearly had its challenges!"

Katerina Nefeld

Margarita Shekel

Mariya Chukalova

Indie pop

Lola Marsh 'Echoes' by Indy Hait

Reuben Sutherland makes a rare but very welcome return to music videos for rock outfit&nbsp;Naked Elephant, with his distinctive visual style transforming a Nevada roadtrip into an extraordinary Kodachrome-esque visual feast, featuring&nbsp;beautifully designed collage photography and multi-layered postcard effects.The video was shot around iconic Nevada locations in Red Rock and Valley of Fire – the band’s hometown. With a nod to the amazing collage style artworks of <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-stezaker-2000" target="_blank">John Stezaker</a>, it's a brilliantly mesmerising video from the director who has been creating these brilliant works of imagination and VFX craft intermittently since his videos for <a href="https://joyriderfilms.com/directors/reuben-sutherland/phoenix-foundation/" target="_blank">Phoenix Foundation</a> and Doves in the early Noughties.

United States

Jon Harmon

Kiera Liberati

Thomas Mangham

The Mill

Reuben Sutherland - Joyrider

Lucy Rogers

Virgin Records

Naked Elephant 'Long Way Home' by Reuben Sutherland

Guy Mar takes Hadag Nahash, one of&nbsp;Israel&#39;s most successful bands, back to their roots in the video for Bua.They gather in a loft apartment in a dodgy neighbourhood to have a jam session - and show that they are still the same&nbsp;bunch of mates who got together with big dreams and plans to be successful, more than&nbsp;fifteen years ago.

Guy Mar

Kaboom

Einav Giat

Sergei Antonovsky

Itzik Canetti

Hadag Nahash 'Bua' by Guy Mar

Two young women embark on a mini-crime spree in icy Ukraine, in this action-packed&nbsp;video&nbsp;directed by Indy Hait.The girls are popular Israeli pop duo&nbsp;Carakukly sisters, cast as the convenience store robbers who take on a job too many too&nbsp;quickly.The video marks a return to his homeland for Hait &ndash; who is&nbsp;Ukrainian, but has been based in Israel since his teens - and the video was shot as a one-take&nbsp;affair, on 16mm. The main part of the video was made in one continuous take, with the viewer along for the ride as an avid spectator.

Brave Ukraine

Alexander Popudrenko

Vasiliy Katsan

Ofir Peretz

Oleg Katsan

Anna Bugera

Svetlana Drozdova

Carakukly '9 Lives' by Indy Hait

After a relationship-busting&nbsp;argument, a goth and a geek find themselves rewinding to&nbsp;their favourite moments down the years, in the place where it started&nbsp;-&nbsp;the local&nbsp;kids&#39; playground.&nbsp;Alexander Darby&#39;s video for The Fratellis&#39; Starcrossed Losers is sweet and poignant, making good use of the wind-blasted location with his&nbsp;couple portrayed as kids, teenagers, and reflective adults.

Alexander Darby

Joel Scott-Halkes

Osiko Films

Dylan Rees

Joe Starrs

Simon Shen

Chris Steel

Jeremy Lawton

Simon Battensby

Isabella Artitzone

Roberta Kent

Aiden Jordan

Peter Oppersdorff

Dominic Ryan, Louise Poole, Rebecca Jayne, Andrew Armitage, Harrison Green, Savanna Barnett

Cooking Vinyl

The Fratellis 'Starcrossed Losers' by Alexander Darby

The-Fratellis-'Starcrossed-Losers'-by-Alexander-Darby

Gal Muggia has directed this harrowing dystopian drama&nbsp;for Israeli group&nbsp;On Shoulders Of Giants aka&nbsp;OSOG&#39;s Who Who?, following two backpacking travellers through an&nbsp;barren&nbsp;desert landscape.It starts out on a positive note, emphasising the loving bond&nbsp;between the couple,&nbsp;but the true horror of their situation starts to emerge.&nbsp;Their&nbsp;fight&nbsp;of survival is a hard watch at times, because this post-apocalyptic scenario is so close to reality.&nbsp;It serves&nbsp;as a necessary reminder, of the often terrifying plight of refugees from warzones in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere...

Gal Muggia

Idan Epshtein

Nur Wcs

Eitan Hatuka

Fatian Ibrahim

Maya Arbel

Alice Kroytor

Barbara Chait

Tal Baltuch

Boy: Tomer Shushan. Girl: Inbar Marco

Osog

Folk

Acoustic

Experimental Folk

OSOG 'Who Who?' by Gal Muggia

Talented Irish director Jonathan Irwin has crafted something rather awesome for the video for Aqualung&#39;s Eggshells, featuring&nbsp;Lianne La Havas on guest vocals: it&#39;s a large, detailed, beautifully-lit&nbsp;model city, containing&nbsp;the sometimes-visible&nbsp;spirits of the two performers.&nbsp;Jonathan came to wide attention&nbsp;with his video for <a href="http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2013/08/27/funeral-suits-we-only-attack-ourselves-jonathan-irwin" target="_blank">Funeral Suits&#39; We Only Attack Ourselves</a>, which combined live action and 3D. But here the visual ingenuity is (mostly) in-camera - confirmed by the final moments, and the&nbsp;distressing sight of the city being consumed by fire...&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Tim Marshall

Gustavo Korontai

Eva Delimata

Brendan Byrne, Film FX

Kai Van Beers

Absolute Post

Lock It In

Indie, singer-songwriter

Aqualung ft Lianne La Havas 'Eggshells' by Jonathan Irwin 

Gal Muggia&#39;s video for Israeli actor and singer Ester Rada&#39;s Life Happens starts out as a well-shot performance piece, with the twist that Ester is playing every instrument on the MidEast jazz/funk/pop&nbsp;track. But that&#39;s just the start.Gal&nbsp;then&nbsp;introduces&nbsp;a range of inventive FX that takes the video to another level: Ester multiplies, then grows additional limbs while drumming, playing sax, and so on. A resourceful exercise in visual wit to demonstrate the singer&#39;s alluring qualities.&nbsp;She&#39;s got special powers.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Or Weiner

Ester Rada

Rona Cohen

Naor Leib

Ayelet Shimoni

Cherut Rada & Dikla Rada

John Yonatan Jacoby

Yotam Guendelman

Cherut Rada

Fit Fit Records

Pop,

Jazz

Ester Rada 'Life Happens' by Gal Muggia

Ester Rada - Life Happens (Official Video)

What would you do if you were a heartbroken Minotaur Apparently you'd trek to a city, drink and smoke a lot, find the nearest karaoke bar and sing your lungs out. Pretty much the same as not being a Minotaur then.
This entertaining promo from wonderful Australians 'Oh Yeah Wow' (responsible for some great videos for All India Radio and Gotye among others) comes equipped with some pretty wonderful prosthetics from Russell and Kirsty Sharp.

Darcy Prendergast and Seamus Spilsbury (Oh Yeah Wow)

Nicky Pastore

Skye Staude

Paige Prendergast

Christina Remnant, Mike Greaney, Samuel Lewis, Alexandra Calisto de Carvalho

Tom Saviage

British India 'I Can Make You Love Me' by Darcy Prendergast and Seamus Spilsbury

British-India-'I-Can-Make-You-Love-Me'-by-Darcy-Prendergast-and-Seamus-Spilsbury

Alex Rutterford returns to music video directing to shoot a lively performance from Geordie rockers Maxïmo Park for the promo to new single Write This Down - powered by Ben Magahy&#39;s classy photography and some nifty on-screen garish pink swirls punctuating the chorus...It&#39;s Alex&#39;s first video in ages, and a departure from his renowned CGI work - but its still there in flourishes, in the pink paint on glass FX...

Alex Rutterford

Savana Jones Middleton

Final Cut

Big Buoy

Nikki Porter

Maximo Park 'Write This Down' by Alex Rutterford

Maximo-Park-'Write-This-Down'-by-Alex-Rutterford

Now The White Stripes have jacked it in, Seasick Steve now looks like one of the most reliable sources of primal rock thrills out there - especially as he's now teamed up with John Paul Jones. 
He certainly has a great video from Reuben Sutherland for You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks, the first single from the same titled new album. Its more wacked-out than anything the Stripes ever managed, as Reuben has adapted his famous 3D style into a 2D cartoon that appears to have come from a dream that Robert Williams once had. Steve's anathema to relentless consumerism is definitely a theme, of course, where everything including roads and TVs have teeth, and flying irons flatten cities.... 

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=5661DlLWV80

Seasick Steve's You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks by Reuben Sutherland 

Seasick-Steve's-You-Can't-Teach-An-Old-Dog-New-Tricks-by-Reuben-Sutherland-

Joyrider

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