Inventive Futures Revisited: Daybreak Shadforth
For almost 30 years, Creative Review ran a program called Creative Futures that celebrated the best and brightest new talent in the industry. Here we meet the director Dawn Shadforth, who we first noticed in 1999
Dawn Shadforth started making music videos in the 1990s after studying art at Sheffield Hallam University. She directed promos for some of the most memorable tracks of the 90s and 2000s – from Kylie Minogues Can & # 39; t Get You Out Of My Head to Basement Jaxx & # 39; Red Alert and Molokos Sing It Back – before moving on to the film – and turned to TV drama. She was selected for Creative Futures in 1999 after making videos for Supercollider, Jamiroquai, and Garbage.
At the time, Shadforth said that she was completely absorbed in promos: "It was never a conscious decision to make music videos to get into the drama. I made music videos because I loved them and because I loved music, ”she tells CR. "It is so amazing to make a video – to develop an idea, to make a piece and to edit music." And the freedom of form is incredible because you often have a completely open job. "
The 90s were a great time to make videos. “There were budgets to play with and a lot of really interesting pieces of music. Even really obscure music would have the money to do something exciting. The creatives and crew were so enthusiastic and there were a lot of great people to work with. "