Nice&Polite's 5 Seconds of Summer Lyric Video Scoops MTV VMA

Nice&Polite, the London-based creative agency, received international recognition at the MTV VMA (Video Music Awards) this week for its lyric video production for 5 Seconds of Summer’s release “Don’t Stop”. 

The comic-book inspired content won the inaugural prize for Best Lyric Video 2014, the result of 77 million public votes. The creative behind the video was written by the team at Nice&Polite and directed by Nice&Polite’s Sophia Ray.

The film, loosely based on the style of classic graphic novels and peppered with pop-art style text, sees the 5 Seconds of Summer gang graphically represented as comic book heroes. Sophia used Motion Graphics created in After Effects to bring the part-static part-animated content to life.

Sophia Ray, Director, Nice&Polite says: “The 5 Seconds of Summer guys are heroes to so many of their fans out there, the graphic style of comic book heroes really seemed to fit them well.  The band is so well-loved, I’m delighted to have done their music justice, and that they and the public enjoyed it so much.”

Ross Anderson, Managing Director, Nice&Polite says: “We work closely with the band and their management, across all their video content, which is great because they are so open to creative interpretations. We’re thrilled with the recognition from MTV and the voting public. Lyric videos are often seen as the poor relations to music videos, Sophia’s direction of Don’t Stop shows how they can be showstoppers in their own right.”

The MTV VMA’s are the music industry’s biggest event celebrating the music video medium, in all its forms including visual effects and cinematography. The 2014 ceremony was the first to include a Lyric Video category illustrating the impact promotional lyric videos have had on the industry.