Miles Jay

Miles Jay is a Canadian filmmaker whose work includes Super Bowl commercials and music videos. He won an Emmy Award in 2018 for his work on a Squarespace advertisement featuring actor John Malkovich and was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on Leon Bridges' "River" music video.[1][2] He was nominated for Best Commercial Director at the Directors Guild of America Awards in 2016 and 2018.[3][4]

Early life

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He is the son of television director Michael Robison and his mother, who was a set director.[5][6] His early aspirations were to become an athlete but while still in high school he began to seriously pursue filmmaking as a career by enrolling in a TV production class and spending his downtime reading Final Cut Pro manuals.[5]

Education

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He enrolled in Ryerson University's filmmaking program where he made a short film "BLINK" which won the TIFF Student Showcase. A year later he went on to direct 2012's Carly's Cafe, an interactive film intended to help viewers relate to a young autistic girl's experience, Carly Fleischmann.[7] The film was later used by the President of Poland in a presentation to the United Nations to support the Convention of Rights of People with Disabilities.[6]

Jay went onto make a short film which won the Best Student Film at the Toronto International Film Festival and a music video that was short-listed for the Young Director award in Cannes.[5]

He went onto win numerous other awards, including Best Director & Best Film at the Air Canada Film Festival,[6] the Jury Award at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival for "The Statistical Analysis of Your Failing Relationship."[8] and a Directors Guild of America nomination for Best Commercial Directors in 2016.

Professional career

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His commercial projects include spots for Airbnb, Apple, Bose, Budweiser, ESPN, Facebook, Google, Heineken, Major League Baseball, and Samsung.[9][10][3] Two of his commercials for Squarespace, which starred John Malkovich, debuted in 2017 during Super Bowl LI.[11]

In 2015, he signed with production company Smuggler for international representation.[12]

A seven-minute music video for Leon Bridges' "River" was nominated for the best music video Grammy Award, though it lost to Beyonce's "Formation". The music video is mostly a fictional interpretation of scenes Jay witnessed while visiting Baltimore in the aftermath of protests over the death of Freddie Gray.[13] In an interview with The Canadian Press he said, "I was much more interested in what people did when they left the riots."[13]

"River" was shot mostly with a Canadian crew, including cinematographer Chayse Irvin, who also worked on Beyonce's Grammy-nominated music film "Lemonade."[13]

Awards

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  • 2016 Grammy Award Nominee for Leon Bridges "River" video[2]
  • 2016 Directors Guild of America Nominee for AT&T[4]
  • 2017 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial for Squarespace[1]
  • 2017 South by Southwest Grand Jury Prize for Leon Bridges "River" video[14]
  • 2018 Directors Guild of America Nominee for Bose and Squarespace[3]
  • 2018 Association of Independent Commercial Producers music video award winner for Leon Bridges "River" video[15]
  • 2018 Grand Prix for Entertainment at Cannes Lions for Jay-Z's 'Smile' music video[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Outstanding Commercial Nominees / Winners 2017". Television Academy. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Miles Jay". GRAMMY.com. November 23, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Meet the Nominees: Commercials - 70th Annual DGA Awards". www.dga.org. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Meet the Nominees: Commercials - 68th Annual DGA Awards". www.dga.org. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Miles Jay - My First Shoot". My First Shoot. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c "B-Reel Signs Miles Jay | LBBOnline". Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  7. ^ ""Carly's Cafe" Provides a Glimpse at What It's Like To Live With Autism". Co.Create. May 11, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  8. ^ "Miles Jay". Smuggler. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  9. ^ "Projects". Miles Jay. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  10. ^ "Apple's Humble and Honest Films Call James Blake and Tyler Mitchell to Open Up | LBBOnline". www.lbbonline.com. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  11. ^ "John Malkovich - Squarespace". Miles Jay. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  12. ^ "Miles Jay signs to Smuggler | shots". shots. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c Friend, David (February 9, 2017). "Grammy watch: Vancouver's Miles Jay on his best music video nomination". Calgary Herald/The Canadian Press. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
  14. ^ "SXSW Film Awards". SXSW. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  15. ^ "The AICP Awards Honors The Best Advertising of 2018". SHOOTonline. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  16. ^ "4 Highlights from CICLOPE 2019 | LBBOnline". www.lbbonline.com. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
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