Hugh Hudson - film director / producer / writer

Anglo-Scottish director-producer-writer, Hugh Hudson began his career as a filmmaker in documentaries, producing and directing many award winning films. Most notable of these was a 90 minute biography of FANGIO, the five times race-car champion, which was distributed in Europe and South America.

In the late sixties and throughout the seventies he was directing and producing television commercials, becoming one of the most prestigious advertising directors in Great Britain, winning the Grand Prix in both Cannes and Venice and gold lions 10 times. In 2003 he, together with Ridley Scott and Joe Pitka, was awarded a special 50th anniversary Lion to celebrate that they had been the only directors in the history of advertising films to have won the Grand Prix twice.

In the eighties he graduated to feature films.

The main theme of this career, consisting of 8 full length feature films is the search for personal identity.

From the self betterment of CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981), to the affirmation of the main character's personality in I DREAMED OF AFRICA (2000) starring Kim Basinger and Vincent Perez, all of his characters face a process in which they must accept the contradictions of their lives. Whether it be in the African jungle as in GREYSTOKE (1984) starring Christopher Lambert and Andie Macdowell - or the American war of independence as in REVOLUTION (1987) starring Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland and Natassia Kinski.

CHARIOTS of FIRE
was nominated for 8 academy awards, won the Best Picture OSCAR in America and England, and Academy awards for supporting actor, music, script, and costume design .

GREYSTOKE
followed to equal critical and financial acclaim and was nominated for four academy awards for design, supporting actor, script and effects. The BFI awarded it for design and technical effects.

REVOLUTION
was an epic drama of the American war of independence and starred. It received the BFI music award. It has become a cult film considered a much maligned and underestimated work

During the 1990's he made four films.

LOST ANGELS, LUMIERE & CO, MY LIFE SO FAR and I DREAMED OF AFRICA.

He has made numerous political films, the most notable of which was "Kinnock the Movie", which altered the British Labour leader Neil Kinnock's popularity by 15% overnight.

He has worked for UNICEF on a film promoting children's rights featuring Nelson Mandela and made a landmark global documentary piece for the Millennium exhibition in London

His films deal with men and women separated from society, trying to find a true identity for themselves, fighting against forces of prejudice and compromise.

He's made both period and modern dramas. Often set in far distant lands, they encompass emotionally intimate human and family stories, yet contain an epic sense of time and place.

An outstanding visual sense, and the use of powerful sweeping music are hallmarks of his work.

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Graham Fink FRSA RBAC - advertising creative director

Graham started his career in advertising dressed up as an old man. He applied for a job at CDP. Then London's top creative hot shop and was told they were looking for someone more experienced. He returned the following day dressed up as an old man.

They hired him.

He went on to create some of advertising's most memorable images ( Benson and Hedges and Silk Cut Campaign ) before moving onto WCRS, Saatchi and Saatchi and finally GGT. Becoming creative director along the way.

He won countless awards (D&AD pencils, Gold lions, Gold British Television arrows, Gold Campaign Press awards and Gold Campaign Poster awards, including numerous silvers. Umpteen Gold Creative Circle awards, 4 BAFTAS, Gold New York Advertising festival awards, Golden Break award,, Mobius, Epica, various others. ) for his work, including the famous British Airways 'Face' commercial. (which has just recently been voted into the Hall of Fame. ) plus many others for Land Rover, Red Rock Cider, Met' Police, Post Office, Holsten Pils, Hamlet Cigars, Ariston and on and on...

In 1995 he started directing commercials and music videos at the Paul Weiland film company. Winning a Gold Award for his first ever promo. He has since been nominated for a Brit award for best promo of the year ( 1997 )

In 1996 he became the youngest ever president of D&AD (Design and Art Directors Association)

1997. Voted into D&AD's 'Masterclass Art Direction book' representing the top 22 Art Directors of all time.

1999. Directed a short film ( Z ) for the Millenium, commissioned by David Puttnam which was shortlisted at BAFTA.

In 2001 he created thefinktank..a conceptual production company. Directing commercial, videos, photography, illustration. His website design was voted into the One Show in 2002. A true Renaissance man - his award winning photography has been used in many advertising campaigns including the successful London 2012 Olympic bid.

In 2002 he set up what some have called Britain's most radical art school with monthly meetings in different places. Over 1500 people are on their database. In 2004 theartschool went online, offering the chance for people all over the world to visit the school and work on its briefs and get feedback.

2005. Became Creative director of M&C Saatchi.

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Peter Saville - designer

Peter Saville is one of the most influential designers of our time. He has created a series of iconic images, including album covers for the bands Joy Division and New Order, and conceptual design projects that are exhibited all over the world. He is now contributing to the economic regeneration of Manchester as the city's creative director.

Born in Manchester in 1955, Saville studied graphic design there, and in 1979, a year after graduating, he co-founded the legendary independent record label, Factory Records, with the late Tony Wilson. As the label's creative director, he began his famous collaboration with Joy Division and New Order. Saville later designed seminal artwork at other labels for Roxy Music, Wham!, Suede and Pulp.

He has also worked extensively in fashion by creating advertising and branding for Alexander McQueen, Dior, Jil Sander, Stella McCartney, Yohji Yamamoto and, most recently, Kate Moss and Kilgour. Saville's clients in the cultural sector have included Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Barbican Centre and Whitechapel Gallery in London. He has also developed products in collaboration with Adidas and Raf Simons.

Saville has won numerous design awards, and his achievements in design were celebrated in The Peter Saville Show at the Design Museum in London in 2003. The exhibition was then shown in Tokyo and Manchester. In 2005, he staged his first major show in a contemporary art museum with the exhibition, ESTATE, at the Migros Museum in Zurich. Saville's ongoing work in conceptual design is exhibited at Paul Stolper in London and at Galerie Neu in Berlin. An international authority on design and creativity, he is a regular broadcaster on design issues, and lectures all over the world.

Throughout his career, Saville has engaged with design at a strategic level, culminating in his appointment as consultant creative director to Manchester City Council in 2004. As well as advising the council on perception and communication, he is creative consultant to the critically acclaimed Manchester International Festival.

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Michael Faulkner - digital artist

Mike Faulkner is the founder and creative director of D-Fuse (1995), a collective of London based artists who explore the relationship between image and sound through a broad spectrum of creative media.

Through D-Fuse, he has exhibited at Eyebeam NYC, Mu Eindhoven, MIC New Zealand, as well as providing the creative vision for high-profile commercial projects with Nokia, BMW and Apple. Mike Faulkner has worked with artists as varied as Beck, Scanner and Steve Reich.

Mike's background is in photography and music graphics, designing for electronica labels such as Talkin' Loud, Sub Rosa and Crammed Discs. In 2006 Mike edited VJ: audio-visual art and VJ culture (Laurence King Publishing Ltd), a seminal critique of the emerging global phenomenon that is VJ-ing

Mike Faulkner is Visiting Tutor at London College of Communication [LCC] and Camberwell College of Arts and has held a number of visiting artist posts globally. He has also held lectures and talks at the EMAF Sign Jam [Milan], Elektra [Montreal], onedotzero events in okyo and Hong Kong and the CineCity Festival Brighton.

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Patrick Baglee - advertising creative director

Patrick Baglee is Executive Creative Director at EHS Brann, one of Europe's largest direct marketing agencies. He has written off, on, through and above the line for print, digital and TV. His clients have included Audi, British Gas, Barclays, The FA, COI, Diageo, Tesco and Gilbert & George.

He is the former chair of The Typographic Circle, and the founder of 4Designers, an annual student conference held in London and New York. His writing on design and advertising has appeared in eye, Campaign, Grafik, Creative Review and u&lc.

He is the son of a compositor, and lives in London.

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Mike Chambers - visual effects producer

Mike is an independent Visual Effects Producer with over 25 years of experience in VFX and film production. Working with major film studios, such as Warner Bros, Disney, Sony & Fox, he has contributed to dozens of feature films, including recent hits I Am Legend, 10,000BC, and The Day After Tomorrow, as well as classics such as True Lies, The Abyss, and Die Hard. Mike sits on the Board of Directors for the Visual Effects Society and is a member of the Producers Guild of America

A native of Los Angeles, his work takes him around the globe. He has plied his trade in a number of world-class cities, including London, Capetown, Sydney, Montreal, Miami, and New York, as well as in more remote locales such as Gaffney, South Carolina, Key West, Florida, Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, and Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Trained in Fine Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute, and a student of the world, he continues to support and enjoy the arts in a variety of media, and encourages any forum for artists to get their work in front of an audience, be it a gallery, stage, cinema screen or a website like HYPtv.

Working in the film industry for over 20 years, I have been fortunate enough to be involved in virtually every aspect of film production; from development and pre-production, through principal and special effects photography, editing and post-production. I have worked in various capacities for both feature film producers and visual effects studios. Most recently, I completed 2 years of service as the Visual Effects Producer on "The Day After Tomorrow" for director Roland Emmerich and 20th Century Fox.

As a freelance Visual Effects Producer & Consultant, my work has been focused primarily on large-scale productions. Working closely with many A-list directors and producers, as well as with some of the leading effects houses throughout the world, I have benefited from an impressive list of mentors and have gained extensive knowledge of the production process and studio procedures. I have worked with most of the top studios in Hollywood, as well as on locations across the country and around the globe. As a VFX Producer, I have been responsible for planning, bidding, budgeting, scheduling, resource planning, contract review, staff management, unit photography and vfx vendor selection and supervision. With an eye for detail and a unique ability to grasp the bigger picture as well, my skills and talents are well suited to the coordinated integration of the multiple disciplines active in visual effects production.

I began producing visual effects for feature films and special venue projects in 1990, while working for Apogee Productions. Previously, I served as a freelance Visual Effects Coordinator on several major features, including James Cameron's "The Abyss". Prior to the "digital revolution", I began my career working for many seminal Hollywood figures and production companies, including Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Doug Trumbull's Showscan and Richard Edlund's Boss Films. Trained in theatre arts and film production at the University of California, I hold a degree in fine arts from the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute. I currently sit on the Board of Directors of the Visual Effects Society and am an active member of the Producers Guild of America.

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