Category: Blog

Copyright or wrong?

I’ve been busy putting the finishing touches to my forthcoming book, “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist“. It’s funny, I’ve written books before. Software books, teaching people how to use Adobe After Effects to be specific. I was commissioned to write these books, at the time there were very few books on the subject…
Creative Video Workflow

I’m busy preparing to leave on a mammoth journey to San Fransisco to speak at the Macworld 2010 conference for the first time. I’ll be talking about production workflow, specifically broadcast production as that’s where I spent 12 years of my life freelancing as a motion graphic designer/ animator. I’ll also share some of the…
Decoupling Production

I’m interested in the trend of decoupling going on in the world of TV and film production companies. It’s the world that I used to live in so it’s close to my heart. Decoupling refers to the process of reducing costs to the client by outsourcing some of the work to freelancers or external services,…
MacWorld 2010 – Are you going to San Fransisco?

I’m hoping to see a few of you at MacWorld 2010 where I’ll be speaking next year. I love San Fransisco so will be taking a little extra time out to hang out with my old friends, Amacker and Nina at the Lucky 13 bar on Castro. I also hope to catch up with all…
Women of Punk 02

Growing up in Scotland in 1975, I had no idea what was going on the other side of the Atlantic. Little did I know that American “women of punk” were in the process of breaking ground so that people like me could find a voice and be accepted despite our inherent weirdness!
Women of Punk 01

What I really loved about The Slits, growing up was their originality. They were unlike any of the other “punk” bands. They didn’t seem to want to conform to the usual punk stereotypes of girls in fishnets and bondage clothing, their dress sense and music was taken from a wide range of different styles and…
Life of a demo-dolly

I went to Amsterdam earlier this month, with the Gridiron gang, to attendIBC 2009. I had several meetings to attend, demo’s to do and an interview or two to give. So I packed my suitcase with all my usual accoutrements, everything I would need for a business trip in a distant land! I get especially…
Two worlds collide

I’ve had many careers in my lifetime, one of them being a deejay in the 1990s London club scene. I regularly deejayed at clubs like FF at Turnmills, Mix it at Heaven, The Fridge, The legendaryBell in Kings Cross, and the good old Market Tavern. I gave it all up in about 1993 to follow…
The Influence of Punk 03

The influence of fanzines like Sniffing Glue cannot be overlooked. Mark Perry, who was also the singer in Punk Band, Alternative TV started his fanzine in the summer of 1976, when the Punk Rock scene was at its most vibrant stage. At that time there was no media positively covering the emerging scene (although the…
The Influence of Punk 02

There’s not one person responsible for the style of Punk, it was a coming together of minds and styles. A collective, group activity gained momentum, and as a result, the various styles of the people involved merged into an established fashion. But the pivotal people were the ones who recognized the elements that would excite…
IBC 2008

Wel, just back from another amazing IBC it was a great show and the whole expereience somewhat revived my enthusiasm for my job. I decided to split the work this year and worked for Adobe in the mornings, and Gridiron in the Afternoons.In retrospect this was a bit over-ambitious for me, it was very tiring…
Thoughts

OK, it’s been a while since I posted a blog, I’ve been really busy trying to reinvent myself again! The last year has been an odd one. I decided to take a few months off from doing international events after IBC 2007, due to sheer exhaustion. But just as I was ready to return, Adobe…