Outstanding Contribution Award Winners

I started my journey in the Art Department on set as a Standby. I loved the excitement of being on set, collaborating with other departments to create something we’re all proud of.

Now as an Art Director, when visualising the sets with the Designer, I’m always considering how they function in order to facilitate the onset crew to be creative and efficient, whilst continuing to uphold the Designer’s vision to tell the story. I find myself seeing the world through a different lens now, and every bit of detail is inspiration and reference for a future build, but it also means having a camera roll full of ceiling beams, architraves, and floorboards.

I’ve been privileged to learn from generous people who’ve given their time to teach me, and I try to pass on some of the advice that has been so valuable to me to all the new starters who join the team. Seeing the enthusiasm of someone starting in the Art Department is a wonderful reminder of how lucky I am to have found a career that I love and feel passionate about.

My love of storyboarding began when I watched two films when I was ten years old – ‘The Elephant Man’ – where I realised someone is responsible for the look of the film and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ which had an amazing documentary showing the director going through his storyboards with the actors… I was hooked.

Through hard work, luck and the kind help and advice of two industry legends, I started my career in 1995.

After five years I hit the big time when I was lucky enough to get on the first Harry Potter film and as they say the rest is history. Years ago, a fellow storyboard artist told me that we have a privileged position in that we often get the director to ourselves. I have always enjoyed these particular moments and hopefully I’ve learnt a thing or two along the way, although to this very day, I still wonder if I’m putting the camera in the right place, be it only with pencil and paper. Yes, I still use pencil and paper!

I feel very honoured to receive this award and I thank you all.