LFA Graduates create music video with kit hire from Emerging Filmmaker Award

13 February 2026

At London Film Academy, our goal is to provide students with an environment where they can meet like-minded filmmakers and form crews of collaborators that they will work with for years after graduating. Another example of this in practice has sprung up, in the form of the mesmerising new music video for the song ‘Ghost’ by Australian rock band Darling Street.

Emma Jefferson (MA Filmmaking, 2024), teamed up with numerous other LFA graduates to create the monochrome music video that flows between meditative and frenzied imagery. Emma was the deserving recipient of the LFA Emerging Filmmaker of the Year Award in 2024 for her cohort, which gave her three days of free kit hire from our partners, Focus Canning. It was with this that Emma and her crew brought their vision to life.

Recently, we caught up with co-director Emma to learn more about the project, including her collaborators, how the project came their way, and how they landed on the unique visual style of ‘Ghost’.

From Australia to LFA (and back again)

Emma, having graduated from LFA, was keen to continue working with those who she connected with the most during her time in Fulham. With the Focus Canning kit hire to hand, she saw her opportunity:

This felt like the perfect chance to collaborate with some of my closest friends and fellow filmmakers from LFA and make a passion project that aligned with our creative career goals. Marika Sophie, former LFA master’s student, and I had really hoped to co-direct a project together and have always shared a kindred taste and love for films, TV and specifically for music videos. We spoke early on about our aspirations as directors and our shared ambitions to collaborate with musicians and artists.

Emma Jefferson

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Emma grew up an avid fan of the theatre and music scene there and is an avid fan of Sydney/Gadigal-based indie rock band Darling Street. They were Emma’s first choice; and sure enough, when they reached out to the band over Instagram to gauge interest, Darling Street were more than up for it, with new music on the horizon.

An actor lying on the floor being filmed

It was an unprecedentedly smooth process. We simply lucked out by reaching out at such an opportune time to such an enthusiastic, open-minded band. We chose their song ‘Ghost’, as it had the most cinematic quality and was arranged in clear bridge-chorus-verse sections of the song with changing tempos and instrumentation. We then pitched our idea for the video’s narrative and gritty/grungy vibe which they approved of and gave us complete freedom to execute our creative vision.

Emma Jefferson

Emma and Marika then reached out to LFA Alums Sabrina Pate (producer), Ainis Grinius (director of photography), and Martin Boh (1st AD), and got the ball rolling on pre-production.

Two women sat down, smiling

Filming ‘Ghost’ in the streets of London

Emma shares how the shoot for ‘Ghost’ was a blast, with everyone in front of and behind the camera bringing their A-game. Filming in Tooting Common, as well as in the flats of crewmembers, kept the production budget low and allowed for free movement of equipment from place to place. Extras were made up of friends, coworkers, and classmates, who all gave up their Friday and Saturday nights to dance around in the dark.

Emma heaps praise on her crewmembers, including DOP Ainis as well as star Jude Crook – both LFA graduates:

Ainis Grinius, our DOP, was an incredibly collaborative, open-minded force on our set and thanks to Martin’s expert planning, we often had time at the end of each shooting day, once we had ticked off our shot list, to try out any ideas or shots suggested by the crew, Marika or I on the fly, some of which are now our favourite shots in the video. Star of the video, Jude Crook, was also incredible to work with. We briefly met over zoom to explain our vision and hopes for his performance in the video, but working with Jude on set, he absolutely blew us out of the water. He was a dream to work with and was hugely open-minded throughout the shoot. Luckily, he was also not easily embarrassed, as much of the shoot required him to perform from under a sheet walking the streets of London.

Emma Jefferson

Two men setting up a lighting rig

The haunting visuals of ‘Ghost’

Ainis was Emma and Marika’s first choice of DOP right from the off, having admired his work during their time in MA Filmmaking – especially on Sejahari Saulter-Villegas’s short The Grasp of Death. Once he was onboard, the three LFA graduates created extensive mood boards and shot lists, drawing inspiration from their favourite films, music videos, and photos in order build a “shared visual language”:

Together we mapped out the song into key narrative beats, separating each chorus, verse and bridge with their timecode and emotional beats and shot choices. Ainis brought so many creative ideas to the table, with many of our most-loved shots in the video coming from his on-set experimentation combined with careful planning and research.

Emma Jefferson

One such idea was that they play around with framerates, pushing shutter speeds to their limits to help depict the protagonist’s emotional journey:

This made the more fast-paced frantic moments appear more manic using low framerates of 4,6,8 and 12, juxtaposing high emotional moments by stretching them out using higher frame rates of 120fps. Additionally, the shots of the sheet falling onto Jude were filmed in 200fps, cutting between the two black eye holes and the reverse of Jude's shadowy face with two pinhole beams of light illuminating his eyes was an Ainis experiment that took time to perfect, but was so much more effective than we could have imagined.

Emma Jefferson

Ainis also worked closely with senior colourist Ben Rogers as well as grade assist Juliana Coelho to help give the video a gritty and grungy black and white texture.

Students at a party, looking annoyed

Tapping into the LFA Community

Emma finds that working with LFA students on projects has been a regular and always fruitful experience since graduating:

Working with fellow LFA students after graduating from our master's course has absolutely come naturally. It’s been a fantastic way to find like-minded creatives who are keen to collaborate and work on each other’s projects. So many of the people we’ve now had the privilege to work alongside are past students who might not have even been in our courses or classes, but filmmakers whose work we’d admired or fellow graduates who we’d been introduced to or recommended by friends. Almost every member of our ‘Ghost’ crew was an LFA student, and it’s been fantastic to become a part of this growing community of enthusiastic filmmakers with a shared knowledge base and shorthand for creating effective and exciting new works.

Emma Jefferson

Eight students smiling towards camera

We at LFA would like to congratulate Emma, Marika, and the entire crew behind ‘Ghost’, for creating a truly striking piece of work that demonstrates their immense talents both individually and collectively.

You can find the full list of credits for the project below:

Directors - Emma Jefferson & Marika Sophie

Producer - Sabrina Pate

1st Assistant Director - Martin Boh

Starring - Jude Michael Crook & Marika Sophie

Director of Photography - Ainis Grinius

1st Assistant Camera - Daria Milyukhina

Gaffers - Steven Wang & Lisa Tiné

BTS Photographers - Millie Evans & Cassidy Medwell

Editor - Ainis Grinius

Colourist - Ben Rogers Grade Assist - Juliana Coelho

Extras - Allie Kelly, Anna Freeman, Anna Mckenzie, Rachael Nadalin, Sheyann Edwards-Brown, Max Evans, Harry Moncrieff, Barnaby Dean, Adrija Zake, Emma Wiltshire, Hamish Galbraith

Executive Producer - Michael Waddell

Additional Supporters - Diana Jefferson, Gerald Bruschek, Jacqui Field, Zoe Blacklock

Alumni