Director Nick Pollack, in the running for his painstaking work on the stop-motion video for Gyroscope’s Baby I’m Getting Better, says the award carries a lot of weight within the industry, particularly as it is one of the few music video awards given from a filmmaking perspective as opposed to the music media.

“It is definitely fantastic to be recognised outside of just the music video world, the MTV and Channel V world,” he says. “It’s great to see IF opening up and looking outside of just film and TV, and looking at music video directors and people who work within the music video field, and acknowledging the creativity and the passion that people put into that.”

Despite a perception that music videos are a mere stepping stone on the path towards directing feature films or television, Pollack claims it to be his preferred medium to work with because of the creative freedom it can allow a filmmaker.

“I’ve always loved them, they’re my absolute passion,” he explains. “If I could make a career out of making music videos, personally I would be a happy man. I just see them as one of the most creative things you can do as a director.

“You look at the people who have made a career in the 90s or early 2000s, the Michel Gondrys and the Spike Jonzes, that people look up to these days and try to emulate. I think music videos are a breeding ground for creativity that sometimes you don’t get to explore that much within the realm of a feature film or a TV show. The music video world just opens up so much more and allows you to explore so many more options creatively.”