The competition

Back in 2022, I launched a competition offering an emerging musician the chance to win a fully produced music video.

I've always enjoyed working with new talent, and this was an opportunity to give an artist something they might otherwise struggle to afford.

There were plenty of strong entries, but one track stood out.

Body Sayin' by Anthony Hughes was a ridiculously catchy slice of disco-house that practically demanded a dancefloor.

And that was rather exciting because I'd never made a music video quite like the one I was already imagining.

A nightclub, a dream and a lot of dancing

When I first met Anthony, it quickly became clear that we were thinking along similar lines.

He wanted something bold, theatrical and full of movement. I was imagining a steamy nightclub dream sequence, with dancers, dramatic lighting and a slightly surreal atmosphere.

Anthony also had a background in dance, which was a considerable advantage.

He brought in Pineapple choreographer Claire Street, who assembled a brilliant group of dancers to help bring the routines to life.

I put together a storyboard, we developed the idea and everything started falling into place.

Until our original venue fell through.

Not ideal when you've got dancers, choreography, costumes and a production schedule to coordinate.

Fortunately, I had a Plan B.

I'd filmed regularly at the Looking Glass Cocktail Club in Shoreditch, and the team were happy to let us use the venue for the day.

And what a venue.

Through the looking glass

The Looking Glass Cocktail Club had a rather wonderful feature.



From the front, it looked like a fairly conventional bar. But at the back was a floor-to-ceiling mirror that doubled as a secret door, leading into a hidden speakeasy.

You can probably see why I liked it.

The original idea was to use the mirror as the transition between reality and fantasy.

Anthony would begin in the ordinary world, pass through the mirror and find himself in this extravagant nightclub dream.

It was a lovely idea.

Unfortunately, lovely ideas don't always survive the edit.

But more on that in a moment.

Lights, camera, choreography

The main nightclub sequence was the biggest production I'd put together for a music video at that point.

We had dancers, a choreographer, a drag queen, make-up, wardrobe, runners and a whole collection of people working together to make the thing happen.

And, of course, lighting.

The choreography was particularly important because the video needed to feel as energetic as the track.

We filmed multiple takes of the dance sequences, giving me plenty of options to cut between performances in the edit.

The idea was to make the movement feel tightly synchronised with the music, particularly during that ridiculously infectious chorus.

It was a busy day, but we got what we needed.

And for me, there was something else that made the experience rather special.

A little personal ambition fulfilled

My daughter Kyra grew up sharing my love of music and film.

For years, I'd quietly entertained the idea that one day we might get to work together on a music video.

It was one of those things you imagine happening but never really expect to.

By 2022, Kyra was 21 and had completed three years studying film and digital art. She'd developed a particular passion for lighting, which made her rather useful for a video set in a dark nightclub.

So I asked her to take charge of the lighting. And she did.

Watching her transform that gloomy space into the nightclub I'd imagined was a genuinely lovely moment.

I was directing the video, she was creating the atmosphere, and for the first time we were working together on a proper music production.

There are plenty of professional milestones I'm proud of, but that one's pretty high on the list.

And the footage looked fantastic.

Which made what happened next all the more frustrating.

Sometimes the best decision is to start again

Once filming was complete, I began putting the video together.

The dance sequences worked beautifully. The performances were strong, the lighting looked great and the whole thing had exactly the energy I wanted.

But there was a problem.

The opening didn't work.

Remember that clever idea about Anthony passing through the mirror into a fantasy nightclub?

Well, it turned out the contrast between the two worlds wasn't nearly strong enough.

The transition was supposed to feel dramatic, but instead it felt a bit underwhelming.

And with more than 30 seconds of music before the main chorus arrived, the video needed an opening that would hold people's attention.

I could have tried to make the original footage work. But sometimes the best thing you can do in an edit is admit that something isn't working and find a better solution.

Even when you've spent an entire day filming it.

So I went back to the drawing board.

An early morning in Wapping

The new idea was to tell the story backwards.

Instead of watching Anthony enter a nightclub dream, we'd meet him arriving home after a big night out.

Still buzzing from the evening, he'd make himself a cup of tea, collapse onto the sofa and drift off to sleep.

As he did, we'd begin seeing flashes of the nightclub sequence, gradually pulling the audience into the events of the previous night. It gave the opening a much stronger narrative and made the transition into the dance sequences feel more natural.

So we arranged to meet at Anthony's flat in Wapping early one Sunday morning to catch the sunrise.

Not exactly the rock-and-roll lifestyle I'd signed up for.

But it worked.

The new footage gave the video a proper beginning and helped the whole story fall into place.

And, rather wonderfully, it meant the finished video was stronger than the one we'd originally planned.

The result

Body Sayin' ended up being a considerably bigger production than I'd anticipated when Anthony first won the competition.

What started as an opportunity to make a dance-led music video became a production involving choreography, elaborate costumes, multiple locations and a fairly substantial crew.

It also taught me something that's stayed with me.

You can plan every shot, storyboard every scene and convince yourself you've got the perfect idea.

But until you see everything coming together, you don't really know whether it works.

And if it doesn't, you have to be prepared to change it.

That's not a failure of planning. It's part of the creative process.

Sometimes the best ideas arrive after you've already filmed the first ones.

And sometimes a project gives you something far more valuable than another video for your showreel.

In this case, I got to make a music video with my daughter.



I'd call that a pretty good result.

Every music video has a story.

Some involve big ideas. Others involve tiny budgets, happy accidents or problems nobody saw coming. Here are a few more stories from behind the camera.

Nate James – Chasin' The Sun

How I turned a freezing Scottish beach into Ibiza, directing the whole thing from 300 miles away.

EM Kane – Wasted Time

Three scenes, three shots and a freezing barn. How simplicity became the video's greatest strength.

Nate James – 1Kind

Making a music video from 300 miles away with a phone, a bedsheet and a big idea.