Johnny Hardstaff
- United Kingdom
- Member since 2015
Johnny Hardstaff is a director, designer and modern storyteller. Represented by 'WME' (feature films and television - Los Angeles), 'RESET Content' (branded content / commercials - Los Angeles) and 'Ridley Scott Associates' (branded content / commercials - London), Hardstaff has directed and designed innovative moving image work across a broad spectrum of both commercial and non-commercial strands of the visual arts. Mass media clients include Twentieth Century Fox, XBOX, Sony, Radiohead and the BBC.
Hardstaff's work has been broadcast worldwide and exhibited at major museums of modern art and cultural institutes including Tate Modern / ICA / Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) / ACMI (Melbourne) / MOMA (San Francisco) / Laforet Museum (Tokyo) and the V&A Museum (London). His first retrospective was held at the Zero One Design Center (Seoul) in 2004.
Born 1970 in the Midlands, Johnny Hardstaff initially studied Graphic Design at St. Martins School of Art (1989-92), his distinctive approach to visual media nurtured within a maverick and progressive left-field climate unique to the school at that time. A consummate late developer, upon graduation Hardstaff worked exclusively outside of the creative industries, finally making his first short film in 1999.
Amongst his most notable works to date remain 'History of Gaming' and 'Future of Gaming' (two early short films designed to first engender then test corporate patronage, now inducted into the National Film Archive), the Radiohead film 'Like Spinning Plates' (long format two track experimental music video), a contemporary raft of innovative design based commercials (Smirnoff / Coca Cola / Honda / MTV etc) and more recently his short film works. Hardstaff's 'DarkRoom' and in particular his short format promo works and film sequences for Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus' ('DAVID' featuring Michael Fassbender, 'Transmission' featuring Idris Elba and 'Quiet Eye' featuring Noomi Rapace) and 'The Counselor' ('Hand' featuring Michael Fassbender and Natalie Dormer) have received considerable global attention.
As displayed within his widely documented oeuvre, Johnny Hardstaff remains firmly committed to the pursuit of post-contemporary storytelling, whether it be through commercials, long format advertising, short film formats or increasingly feature films.
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