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Luke Losey

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Luke Losey
Born
London, England
Occupation(s)Film director, lighting designer
Parent(s)Gavrik Losey (father), Sally Chesterton (mother)
RelativesJoseph Losey (grandfather)
Elizabeth Hawes (grandmother)
Marek Losey (brother)

Luke Losey is a film director and lighting designer based in London.

Background and early life

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Losey is the son of the film producer Gavrik Losey and the former British ballerina Sally Chesterton, as well as the grandson of the film director Joseph Losey and the fashion designer Elizabeth Hawes. He is also the nephew of actor Joshua Losey, and the brother of film director Marek Losey.

Losey grew up in Paddington, London, where he attended Hallfield Infants and Junior School in Royal Oak. He then attended Hampstead Comprehensive School in Camden, North London. Suffering from dyslexia, he left school without qualifications.

Early career

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As a child, Losey enjoyed science fiction. In 1975, a chance viewing of Kubrick's 2001 and the gift of a Brownie camera led to an interest in capturing images. After leaving school in 1984, he worked as a runner on film sets and for production companies. He worked on Derek Jarman's film Caravaggio as the floor runner.[1][2] He spent much of the late 1980s working as an art department runner/assistant on films, music videos and ads. Involvement in the early rave and squatting scene in north London led to him getting involved in lighting and film projection.

In the early 1990s, he met the electronic band Orbital. With video artist, Giles Thacker, he created the visual elements of Orbital's live show, containing imagery of clocks, danger signs, insects and other types of content.[3]

In 1998, Losey co-directed a music video for Orbital's single The Box, which starred Tilda Swinton and was inspired by time-lapse animation. The promo won a silver spire for the Best Short Film at the San Francisco film festival,[4] and was nominated for the best video award at the 1998 MTV awards. It also closed the Edinburgh film festival, opened the London film festival, screened at Sundance and was seen at almost every festival that year.[5] In 1999, Losey created a second music video for Orbital called Style, with Jonathan Charles as director of animation. Style also uses stop motion animation throughout and is a surreal take on Kafka's The Metamorphosis, influenced by the work of Jan Švankmajer.

Later work

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Losey directed music videos in the late 1990s and 2000s, including work for William Orbit (directing the video for his 1999 version of Adagio for Strings)[5] and Mercury Rev.[6] After a period directing TV adverts, Losey moved with his young family to Australia, where he continued to direct and pursue photography. He periodically returned to the UK to design live shows for bands, including The Libertines, Turin Brakes, The Verve,[7] and Magazine and Mott the Hoople. In 2009, he shot the video for the cover of Gang of Four's Damaged Goods by Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey's side project The Hotrats.[6]

His commercial work has included a number of internet campaigns, a return to photography and advertising work and several short films, most notably i in 2010, a two-minute short of an eyeball. i won the Best Sound Design award at the Hamburg Film Festival and was shown at the Rushes Short Film Festival[8] as well as the Ann Arbor Film Festival.[9] Losey also directed The Promise in 2011, which was likewise shown at the Ann Arbor Film festival.[10] The Promise garnered critical acclaim but its dark subject matter – a slow-motion depiction of a woman being executed – limited its distribution. Losey, who is now UK based, exhibited work at the Latitude Contemporary Art Exhibition in 2010.[11]

Luke has directed a major 3D experiential advertisement for Ralph Lauren[12] and viral/cinema ads for Mulberry and Nokia.

In late 2013, he directed a short teaser film of Jessica Albarn's fairy tale book The Boy in the Oak. The film was narrated by Jude Law with music by Damon Albarn.

In 2015, Losey directed a Kickstarter financed dramatic short film shot on 35mm film by Serge Teulon starring Jonathan Pryce and Sara Kestelman entitled 'One Last Dance'.

In 2018, Losey directed The Clock, a music film for electronic band 08:58 starting Cillian Murphy.

In 2022, Losey directed the UKMVA nominated animation Smiley's World promo for Orbitals 30th anniversary, with Tim Varlow acting as animation director. The video is set in alternative 1989, during a period in British subculture that bridged the gap between free festivals and big raves. The music samples the ‘A Trip Round Acid House’ edition of ‘World In Action’ – the ITV documentary about the Acid House scene, with a 20-year-old Paul Hartnoll recalling being beaten up by police at a house party in Sevenoaks, Kent. The events portrayed in the film reflect Losey's own experiences of the period, with the animation style deliberately reflecting the strong DIY ethos of the time. The narrative is a dystopian comedy featuring sock puppets, high-end CGI, background stock footage, specially filmed elements, stop-motion and stills photography. Also in 2022, Luke directed the promo for the Orbital Sleaford Mods collaboration Dirty Rat. Losey started collaborating with the Orbital on their live show as content and lighting director, after an absence of over a decade.

References

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  1. ^ Peake, Tony (2000). Derek Jarman: a biography. Overlook Press. ISBN 1-58567-066-9.
  2. ^ Bersani, Leo; Dutoit, Ulysse (1999). Caravaggio. BFI modern classics. British Film Institute. p. 85. ISBN 0-85170-724-6.
  3. ^ "Orbital taking ambient techno to the stage". Billboard. 25 May 1996. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  4. ^ "The Box". San Francisco Film Festival. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  5. ^ a b Bass, Tracy (Spring 2002). "Unseen! Unclean! Unsung! Music videos converge on - screen". Vertigo Magazine. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  6. ^ a b "Hot Rats' Damaged Goods by Luke Losey". Promonews.tv. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  7. ^ "The Verve". Avolites Online Newsletter. 1998. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  8. ^ Armstrong, Owen (August 2007). "Rushes Short Film Festival". Vertigo Magazine. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  9. ^ Mosher, Mike (24 September 2008). "BohemiA2n Like You: The 46th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival in Michigan". Otherzine. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  10. ^ "The Promise". Ann Arbor Film Festival. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  11. ^ "Latitude Contemporary Art Exhibition & £10,000 LCA Award". Altsounds. 15 June 2010. Archived from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  12. ^ "Face to Face with... Luke Losey". shots. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
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