Jamie Thraves - Music Video Director

1. Thraves' style never really changed, he has adopted the same style consistently. Even despite the fact that he has covered a diverse range of artists - he has stayed consistent, leaving his trademark of championing the style and grit of the working class, and the saddening situations that they may face.

2. Jamie Thraves first music video - Radioheads "Just".

3. Jamie Thraves - After starting his career making short films at University, some of which won him several awards, (The Take-Out; 1993 and The Hackney Downs; 1995) Jamie Thraves decided to channel his creative energies into music videos. With these "calling cards" - he started on low budget music videos of about £5000 in budget. Soon leaving uni, he joined Oil Factory, a music video company, and gained his first contract. This was making the music video for Radiohead's "Just".

4. Thraves has used these videos to create a foothold into feature films - and has created 3 features to date; The Low Down, The Cry of the Owl and Treacle Jr., with his newest film Pick-ups to be released in 2017. The plots of these films are reminiscent to his music video directing style - plots often being sad and will tackle tougher issues, such as the presentation of masculinity in Treacle Jr - see arrow for poster.

5. Sam Smith - Thraves also directed two of Smith's 2014 singles; Stay with me and Money on my Mind. This video too leant towards sadness - with Jamie following the emotion of the song instead of the literal meaning of the lyrics.

6. Japanese Popstars - Thraves had recently gone on to work with bands such as Japanese Popstars; "A Song for Lisa" (his most recent video). He spent a shorter two days shooting, on a £20,000 budget.

7. With the journey to become a good music video director a difficult one. With a life dependant on commission - Thraves can be considered a success story for the industry, especially coming from a lower class background, being from Romford, Essex. Thraves however went on to more success from the Radiohead video, working with Blur on their song "Charmless Man". This video built on the anarchic music vibe with this video, having Blur follow a middle class man and narrate his life. This video draws on the isolation of the man. As much as he believes wealth defines him and makes him better - it does nothing but drag him down, especially when he refuses to see the real truth of the situation, and that the bands narration is the reality. Thraves' style champions the working class, but also incorporates feelings of sadness and isolation in all his videos.

8. Another video made by Thraves was Coldplays "The Scientist". Shot across 3 days, and on a £200,000 budget, this video runs entirely in reverse. This follows the story of a man in a car crash, wanting to go back and change things. Even despite the fact that Coldplay are comprised of middle class band members, Thraves still champions the working class - using urban settings and casual clothes for the image and style of the band in this video. When talking about the video, Thraves commented; "I had this idea that I wanted to do a story that's tragic but starts off happy and ends happy, and the video is about rewinding to that happy ending". This clearly paid off, with Thraves winning 3 "Moon Men" awards for the video.