Video Director;

Richard Ayoade

An English comedian, actor, writer and

director best known for his role as

Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd.

Not exactly a very popular director, but has worked with Last Shadow Puppets, Arctic Monkeys,

Kasabian, Super Fury Animals, and the Yeah

Yeah Yeahs

In 2007 he directed the a live Arctic Monkeys DVD entitled At the Apollo, recorded in Manchester. It was previewed at Vue cinemas across the UK during October 2008 and was released on DVD the following month, winning the "Best DVD" title at the NME Awards that year.

Ayoade co-wrote the stage show Garth Marenghi's

Fright Knight with Matthew Holness, appearing in the

show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2000 where it was

nominated for a Perrier Award. In 2001 he won the Perrier Comedy Award for

co-writing and performing in the sequel to Fright Knight,

Garth Marenghi's Netherhead.

With co-writer Matthew Holness, Ayoade took his spoof horror comedy stage show, Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight, to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2000 and won the Perrier comedy award there in 2001. Two Channel 4 series - Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and Man to Man with Dean Learner - followed, alongside roles in Nathan Barley and The Mighty Boosh after Ayoade met and performed with Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Things took a more unusual turn when Ayoade had a meeting with a film company, Warp, to discuss script ideas and mentioned that he would love to direct a music video. Through Warp's connections, he met Arctic Monkeys in Sheffield and created the video for Fluorescent Adolescent, a funny and surreal clown fight in the style of The Sweeney. Since then, he has made a flurry of videos, including Vampire Weekend's Oxford Comma - a one-shot video of "revolutionary farmers" that "looks Wes Anderson-y and was meant to look more Godard-y but not in a po-faced way" - and Super Furry Animals' Run Away - "like a Serge Gainsbourg TV special, a very melodramatic story".

The I.T Crowd; Moss

Richard Ayoade has become best known for The I.T Crowd

Ayoade's unique style of speaking elevates Moss above the Mr Muscle stereotype as does his understanding that true nerds are completely unselfconscious (unlike Ayoade).

He based Moss on stage-show technicians. "The main attribute that they seem to share is an enthusiasm for life.

They are all very positive. You go, 'How are you?' and they go, 'Great! I've just bought a dog!' and it's very charming and not mean-spirited in any way."

Despite his meticulousness and esoteric references (his smoky, atmospheric video for the Last Shadow Puppets' My Mistakes Were Made For You was inspired by Federico Fellini's cult film Toby Dammit), are playful and funny. He particularly admires Spike Jonze, who made the videos for the Beastie Boys' Sabotage and Weezer's Buddy Holly. Apart from Dinosaur Jr and Kings of Leon, he would most like to direct "a nunsploitation" for Girls Aloud "with them as nuns but in a horror setting. The nun chainsaw video. But I'm sure that's probably not a direction they are going in," he says.

Influences

This screen shot interested me, as the band are all in a car, with a woman in the driver’s seat. She is wearing floaty white clothing, so this suggests innocence and purity, which is a complete contrast to the rest of the band, and the song.

This screen shot, is of the bassist. The atmosphere throughout the video is dark, with bright coloured lights, and continuous moving camera shots, between one atmosphere to the other. It portrays confusion, angst, and makes you feel like you’re with them.

His WorkI really like Ayoade’s music videos that he has directed. I am a fan of the bands he has worked with, and I think that his music videos work with the genre and narrative of the song, in the fact that the camera shots and lighting connotate the mood of the song, and create a humorous atmosphere when appropriate.

The visual style of his work, is quirky, and dark, as the “My Mistakes Were Made For You,” [ by “The Last Shadow Puppets” ] had very little lighting, except the coloured lights throughout. It was a little twisted at the beginning, and the videos sometimes confuse you with the quirky edge he brings to the videos.

His video for “Florescent Adolescent,” was just a massive fight scene, with clowns, and all took place outside.

The one thing that Ayoade hasn’t ventured further with, is the genre of the videos he directs; however, as the videos he creates are very original and humorous, the genre that he tends to stay with, is rock/alternative.