History
From 1997 – 2007 I worked for a digital marketing agency specialising in design and motion graphics. In 2006 I was attending a Macromedia Flash conference in Brighton, UK where renowned web guru Hillman Curtis did a presentation about his discovery of filmmaking, I really connected with Hillman as he spoke about falling in love with his subjects during the filming of his simplistic video about movement. Why was this simple thing so emotive? I’d never felt like that about my work before, I wanted more!
I met Hillman at the event and he signed his book with the message above. Sadly Hillman Curtis died in April 2012, I will always owe him a huge debt of gratitude for inspiring me.
I’ve been a musician since my teens playing guitar in various bands so I think a big part of what drew me to film was the ability to combine moving images with my love of music. Towards the latter part of 2006 I got my first video camera, a Canon XH-A1 and started on the long road of learning all about shooting and editing video. I loved every minute of it, even the bits where it all went horribly wrong! I’ve left all of my videos on this blog, even the terrible ones but I think it’s important to share my journey.
By March 2007 my heart was no longer in what I was doing at the agency, I’d fallen in love with video big time and I knew that I couldn’t keep working in something that wasn’t fully video related. I decided to quit my job and set up my own company Drift Media.
Working for myself gave me the freedom to explore filmmaking and video production further. Today I’m happy to say that I’ve managed to continue to support my family whilst doing what I love. I’m getting work from some really nice clients and have travelled to many fantastic places in the world shooting so it’s made a hugely positive impact on my life.
One of the best things about being a filmmaker is getting to mix up my interest in the technical side of the business with my passion for the artistic and creative sides including lighting, shooting & directing.
About the blog
I run this blog for one simple reason, I love to share my passion for filmmaking and get a huge buzz from interacting with others who have the same passion. As somebody who’s mad about technology, running a blog where I can share my interest in filmmaking gear and techniques is a huge thing, I really enjoy getting feedback and comments so please do comment on anything I write about and start a discussion.
I hope you enjoy the blog.
Best regards
Paul