Filmmaker, Camera Operator, Editor and Artist
I’m a shooting and editing producer director in creative documentary, with my own equipment, and I also make artist films as part of an ongoing multidisciplinary practice. Over 20 years I have made work for leading brands in fashion, art, museums, heritage and broadcast, alongside my own independent documentaries, which have screened internationally at major film festivals and galleries. I have made hundreds of short documentaries for galleries, institutions and corporations, on a range of artist films, documentaries and communication films for BBC, C4, NPG, Somerset House, National Trust, Boots and many more.
My short film PS Your Mystery Sender (2010), about fashion icon Paul Smith, was developed through the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Bridging the Gap Scheme. It travelled to festivals and broadcasters including Hot Docs, Doc/Fest, BBC, SVT and SBS, winning awards along the way. In 2012 I was accepted onto the Documentary Campus Masterschool to develop my first feature, Paa Joe & The Lion, which premiered at Doc/Fest and SXSW and sold to Amazon Prime. My own films have been broadcast on BBC, SBS, SVT and C4, and I’ve screened at many other international film festivals, including DocsMX, Margaret Mead, Palm Springs and Glasgow SFF.
Since 2011 I’ve also developed my artist practice, supported by Arts Council funding, international residencies and commissions including Somerset House, L.I.F.T Toronto and the Milan Triennale. My artist films have shown worldwide at festivals such as Jihlava IFF, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Encounters, London Short Film Festival, Offbeat Folk Film Festival and LaboCine, and I’ve also exhibited work at Somerset House and the National Portrait Gallery. Alongside this, I’ve built long-term relationships with galleries and museums including NPG and National Trust, creating short documentaries about art, nature, science and history.
My current project is a feature documentary co-commissioned by Sky Arts, Sky Docs and Screen Scotland: Benjamin Zephaniah: Rebel Poet, about my friend and long-term collaborator. I’m working with a BAFTA-winning team and Oscar-nominated editor Paul Dosaj, and the film will be released in 2027/28. I am directing, shooting and editing.
I have also mentored filmmakers and taught at universities, colleges and broadcast media companies, developing skills and helping people to realise projects.
See the ART DOCS Company Overview PDF:click here
Post Production
Editing
I began editing 20 years ago as an Apple Certified Pro Trainer, delivering professional training on Final Cut Pro Studio (alongside After Effects, Premiere and Flash) to BBC, ITV, Sony, Ravensbourne, Confetti Studios and Nottingham Trent University. I used Final Cut Pro when cutting my first award-winning film, about Sir Paul Smith and then for my first feature film, Paa Joe & The Lion, which I also shot and directed.
I’ve also cut on Adobe Premiere for many years on a range of artist films, documentaries and communication films for BBC, C4, NPG, Somerset House, National Trust, Boots and many more.
My current project is a feature documentary co-commissioned by Sky Arts, Sky Docs and Screen Scotland. For this I’m working with Oscar-nominated and BAFTA/RTS-winning editor Paul Dosaj, and I have upskilled in Avid and am now an Avid Certified Specialist, working alongside Paul to build an extremely complicated feature documentary with hours of archive material. I have a deep understanding of the full post production all the way through to theatrical and broadcast.
FILM
As an artist filmmaker I’ve been working with film for 20 years. I undertook a series of artist residencies at no.w.here from 2011 to 2016. Over five weeks in 2016 I undertook a series of residencies in Toronto: I was artist in residence at LIFT (Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto), at Philip Hoffman’s Film Farm (an independent filmmakers’ retreat) and at Artscape.
I own two Bolex H16s (RX5 and SBM), a rostrum, a Steenbeck editing table and a large darkroom studio, where I have been exploring eco processing, hand printing from film, printmaking with photosensitive solar etching plates, animation and many other artist filmmaking techniques. My film and print work has been showcased at Somerset House and the National Portrait Gallery, and was shortlisted for the RA Summer Show.
(D.O.P) - Digital Camera Op
I’ve always shot my own work. I began shooting documentary when I went to Siberia to film the ‘Second Coming’ on a mountain. I bought a small Sony A1E, a decent microphone, a few lights and lots of batteries and HDV tapes. For over 20 years I’ve owned and shot on cameras ranging from the PD150, EX3, PMW-200, 5D Mk III and FS7, to my current FX6 and FX3, which make up my two-camera setup. I previously used Canon lenses with the 5D Mk III and the FS7 two-camera setup. Now I use the beautiful Sigma Art lenses, the 24-70mm and the 70-200mm. It’s a great setup, and the Sony FX3 and FX6 share the same colour space so they cut together beautifully.
I’ve been filming and lighting interviews for 20 years. My work has screened at festivals and been broadcast internationally, and I also work with smaller lighting and camera setups for galleries and artists.
Flying the drone for an NZZ (Swiss) TV production
Drone
I have an up-to-date Operator ID and Flyer ID. My drone is the DJI Mini 5 Pro, which shoots the best quality 4K in D-Log, giving my productions a high-end look.
Gimbal
I have the RS 4 Pro gimbal. The Sony FX3 camera is the perfect size and weight for it, and its onboard mic makes it easy to sync with the Sony FX6 later. This makes for a perfect two-camera setup, and alongside the Sigma Art lenses it gives a polished finish fit for broadcast and cinemas.
Educator
I’ve mentored artists on film for The Space, and I’ve taught and trained professionally for many years. From 2006 to 2013 I regularly delivered Apple Pro training courses on software including Final Cut Pro, Motion, DVD Studio Pro and Adobe After Effects for companies including BBC, Ravensbourne College of Broadcast, Cryptic Peach, ITV, One to One (Soho) and Confetti Studios Nottingham. Over the same period I ran the Video module at Nottingham Trent University School of Science for BSc and MSc students, writing and delivering the training on Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects and Flash animation.
I’m now an Avid Certified Specialist, and I’ve developed course materials for Avid. I have also been a working practitioner on Premiere for 20 years and I’ve given workshops and talks at many international film festivals, and film forums.