London-, New York- and Los Angeles-based RSA has signed several directors, expanded its Black Dog Films division and absorbed LA prodco Little Minx.

The latest additions to the RSA roster are Irish director Richie Smyth and Swedish creative collective Acne. Additionally, former Propaganda/Satellite player Philip Fox-Mills has come as head honcho at RSA USA, New York.

The addition of satellite company Little Minx, formerly an independent Los Angeles production house, adds to the influx of new talent. Malik Hassan Sayeed, Andrew Dosunmu, Mark Seliger & Fred Woodward, Young Kim and Curtis Wehrfritz comprise the roster Little Minx exec producer Rhea Rupert brings with her to RSA.

Black Dog, the promo division of RSA, is known for producing the art-house work of maverick director Chris Cunningham, as well as recent promo hits such as the Dawn Shadforth-directed Kylie Minogue vid "Out of My Head." Stateside, it has seen the addition of exec producer Catherine Finkenstaedt and creative director Kim Dellara.

The pair were most recently with now-defunct Propaganda, and bring with them directors Jeremy Ralls (some clips include Ludacris and Snoop), Alex De Rakoff (Dub Pistols and Little T & One Track Mind), The Malloys (Blink 182, Foo Fighters, and surf and snowboard films) and David Slade (Apollo 440, Stone Temple Pilots, David Grey and Tori Amos), who is repped by Bullet in the UK.

"Black Dog has been wonderfully creative, which can sometimes limit the volume and hence exposure of the work done," says Finkenstaedt. "Now we have broadened the vision to retain creative integrity but have a more commercial approach for our music videos."

Finkenstaedt describes the US video market as overburdened with a generic style, and points to Shadforth or Slade as examples of British directors whose work has caught on in the US. However, Finkenstaedt describes a music video market that has recently suffered similar indignities as the commercials industry.

"This year, budgets for a mid-level band are between $175,000 and $250,000 US. Labels are restructuring and if they are laying people off they won't throw down gobs of money for music video marketing. And since MTV does so much original programming, the market has shrunk. Labels will explore other marketing options," says Finkenstaedt. "So, why not do a commercial campaign for an album rather than doing three music videos? We will all have to get more creative and shift our thinking processes.This could be a really interesting year."

Back in the UK, Shadforth is wrapping up post on a new promo for the So Solid Crew. Chris Cunningham recently produced, "Monkey Drummer," a twisted short scored with his longtime musical collaborator Aphex Twin's "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount," and is currently putting together a new video for the Aphex Twin track "AFX237 V.7." Cunningham is handling lighting, performing, editing and visual effects on the video, with assistance from The Mill, London.

Other Black Dog directors include the graphically inclined Johnny Hardstaff, who has recently completed Radiohead's combined singles "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" and "Like Spinning Plates." The videos combine 2D and 3D computer animation and industrial design aesthetics, and was also created in conjunction with The Mill. Hardstaff also recently completed an eight-minute subversive Sony film called "The Future of Gaming," which is meant to market the Playstation2 outside of traditional media outlets. A recent signing to Black Dog is Alex Rutterford, a contemporary of Cunningham whose graphic design experience has been applied to a video for Autechre.

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RSA USA> http://www.rsausainc.com