Academy has signed Jake Knight, left-field director and winner of this year's Rushes Soho Shorts contest with Salaryman 6, to its music video roster.
Knight leaves Manifesto, where he signed earlier this year, for both music videos and commercials, but is in talks with another London production company as to commercials representation.
Knight explained: "I just don't think Manifesto quite knew how to get in the right sort of work for us. Because we're quite off the wall in our style, I felt we needed somewhere that was more established. It was frustrating going from Bullet, where we didn't really fit in, to Manifesto, where the same thing happened. We just want to get our teeth into something more exciting." With promos, he hopes to direct narrative-led videos with a visual shift.
Tim Nash, producer at Academy, said: "We just love his work, and had encountered him through his post company, Eye Candy. It's been a mutual conversation, and when we saw the finished, gleaming Black Strobe video (forthcoming on shots 74) we immediately decided to sign him up."
Knight will direct alongside photographer Ryoko Tanaka as a duo under the title Ne-o. Tanaka worked with him on Salaryman as producer and writer, but is equally comfortable behind the lens, and has directed idents for MTV with Knight.
