Time For: Luke Monaghan

A good friend of ours, Luke is fast becoming one of the UK's most prominent video directors.

With Flatbush Zombies and A$AP already under his belt, earlier this month, Luke travelled to Detroit to film White Noise for Disclosure, possibly the hottest duo on the planet right now. Apart from perhaps AlunaGeorge, who, guess what, also feature on the single. Double double whammy. Quadruple whammmy in fact.

Check out the amazing video for White Noise and read below as Luke explains the making of it.

How did you get involved in directing White Noise?

 I pitched on the video as is the normal protocol for directors. I also spoke to Disclosure's manager Sam, a while ago, about shooting in Detroit. He was set on the idea of shooting there before White Noise had even been made. Then I came up with the narrative and the idea around a guy that works looking after these amazing abandoned buildings, then he reclaims them, setting up speakers and going wild in these amazing spaces.

What's the video's concept and how does it relate to the tune?

I wanted the dancer to not be a typical dancer, when we were casting we saw all different types of people. We needed somebody special, with a story, someone who had lived the role. We luckily found him, a legendary dancer from the Hardcore Detroit crew, called Kafani. His dancing style was perfect with the track, intense but also floaty and melodic in places, and a real House dancer.

What sort of things inspired you, creatively?

My main inspiration for this was an incredible documentary called 'Searching For Sugarman'. I took the profile walking shots straight from that documentary, it's brilliant. Also, concept wise it was important, because it's the story of a guy who is inherently special, but lives a normal life. Kafani stands out from these bleak landscapes and lights them up.

What was the toughest aspect of shooting the video?

The weather, it was freezing. I caught the flu halfway through the shoot. The whole crew was then infected, some people couldn't get their flight back and were throwing up in the toilets. Troopers.

What's next for The Monaghan?

Working on the pilot for my TV series, it's a mockumentary on the music industry. It's interesting and hopefully mildly funny. I hope to work on some more music videos in the next few months, but you have to pick the right things to work on. After working with A$AP Rocky and Disclosure on my last videos, the next people need to be amazing oto. I'm doing some work with Tinie Tempah at the moment. And want to work with my bros Flatbush Zombies on their new stuff.

See more of Luke's work here and follow him on Twitter here.