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Archive for the ‘staff profiles’ Category
Anyone who’s ever broken a leg will tell you that, after a while, that pot on your leg is just something you get used to. Likewise when you break something in your house – you intend to fix it but things get in the way and it never gets mended – eventually you just get used to it, it becomes part of the furniture. This is how Casual became the proud owners of one Tom Silverstone (no relation to the race track).
Yes, Editor/Operator/Director (perhaps that should just read all-rounder??) Tom was just a friend of office stalwart Adam who hung around the place like a cat at a fishmongers, but then, one day, he started invoicing us. We figured that if we were going to be paying him it’d be wise to put him to work – maybe we could prove him incapable and start to charge him rent.
His claims to be a graphic designer were somewhat undermined by his equally vehement protestations of colour blindness, but somehow he did that very well, so we were stuck with him on that front. Never content to just let someone do what they’re good at we set him to editing – that’ll be his undoing we secretly cackled to ourselves before contemplating why on earth we’d indulge in such acts of self-sabotage. Of course he excelled at that too. It seemed like a lost cause. We had Tom, and he was good so he was here to stay. Then we had the idea of putting him behind the camera as a director, that ought to scupper him. It didn’t. He performed wonderfully. Bugger.
Alas Tom is, thankfully, excellent at all his jobs and here to stay – which is a bonus as we’re kind of obliged to pay him any way, but the main thing he brings to us is the gift of song. If you ever visit the office and hear a sweet soulful voice singing along to whatever happens to be on the radio or engaged in a frantic (and frankly not wonderful) rap battle (yes, really) with Adam, you don’t need to search the cupboards for McFly, it’s not the kids from Fame – it’s Tom.
If you find Tom hanging around your office and start to get that comfy ‘getting used to him’ feeling then please return him to us, his rightful owners.
If you ever watch awards shows, such as the BAFTA’s or the Oscars then you’ll be used to reacting strangely to seeing people for the first time. I don’t mean like realising Elijah Wood isn’t actually a Hobbit, or that Mickey Rourke actually does look like that, no, I’m talking about that moment where the Director or the Script Writer or the Voice Artist suddenly does what they spend their whole life not doing, and appears on screen. Christopher Nolan suddenly stops looking like Christian Bale (as he did in my head) and starts looking really American, Andy Serkis looks nothing like Gollum, and as for the woman who voices Bart Simpson? Well. What I’m saying is that when you know someone’s name, and maybe even what they sound like, then you start to get an image in your head of what they look like and it’s almost always wrong.
So, in order to make your life easier, we’ve made this little film about us – the people behind the award winning films that spew out of Casual Films like a celluloid geyser. See our face, hear our voices, marvel at our opinions and rank us according to our attractiveness. So, here’s the film, and below it a little list of who’s who and what they do:
Cast (in order of appearance)
Barnaby – Head of Production, Co-Founder of Casual Films, a tall fellow.
Adam – Head of Post Production, tuba player, Crème Egg connoisseur
Matthew - Senior Editor, drummist, bad boy beat boxer
Tom - Editor/Operator, keen eater, songstress
Jerome - Business Development Manager, computer geek, a taller fellow
Claudia - Production Manager, baked goods provider, foreign type
Tim - Head of Digital Integration, day trader, exaggerator
Charlie - Book-keeper, lead singer, a quiet man
Teilo - Camera Operator, father, owner of most mis-pronounced name in the UK
Corrina - Production Assistant, dance prodigy, office baby
Nick - Creative Director, Co-Founder of Casual, Andrew Strauss look-a-likey
Rob - Writer/Creative, undiscovered genius, undoubtedly a handsome chap
Kristof - Editor, beard wearer, more obscure foreign type
Guy - Head of Sound, billion dollar box office extra, office punchbag
Francis - Editor, perfectionist, New Age Hippy type
A.M.O. - Graphics Whizz, philosopher, fan of acronyms
Now if you could just send us your photos before calling that would be lovely…
If you add all of Casual Films’ box office receipts together they come to over $1Billion. That’s actually quite impressive when you think about it – a billion dollars – it kind of makes you wonder why we’re still in an office in North London and not living it up in the Hollywood hills.
Well wonder no more, because the sad truth of the matter is that 99.98% (give or take) of those box office receipts are thanks to Casual Films sound guru Guy Hixon and his sterling work as an extra. Yes, Tom Hanks, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black are just three of the stars that Guy hasn’t met whilst on the set of hit films like The Da Vinci Code and Sherlock Holmes, but he assures us that the world of the extra is a long way from the world of Ricky Gervais’s hit sitcom.
“I assure you it’s a long way from the world of Ricky Gervais’ hit sitcom Extra’s!” laughed Guy as he inadvertently repeated words I was yet to write.
Because unlike in Extra’s, Guy had no dizzy female sidekick, no witty exchanges with Kate Winslet and very few angry encounters with Ben Stiller – instead having to make do with talking to other ‘background artists’ and the odd costume designer providing him with an ill fitting beard.
He might never be a star, but extra work is something Guy still enjoys doing.
“I still enjoy doing extra work.’ Guy confirmed.
Casual Films is no film set, but Guy continues to be an ‘extra’ around the office, operating solely as a ‘background artist’, making the place look busy and helping the stars of the show – editors, directors, writers etc. – to look good.
Of course that’s not true, but it’s precisely this sort of banter that ties the office together, so as well as providing exceptional music and sound design (and our abiding big screen presence) his role as an office unifier is absolutely invaluable. We love him and genuinely couldn’t get by without him, but don’t tell him that. Tell him he’s rubbish.
There are several interesting things that you should know about Jerome Cook, Casual Films’ Account Manager and younger brother of co-founder Barnaby, and the first of these is that he’s not riding on his brothers’ coat tails.
“I’m here on merit, – I helped make this company what it is today, if anyone’s getting a free ride it’s Barnaby the little mummy’s boy.”
He might have said if he wanted to start a fight, but he doesn’t and he didn’t.
Totally fabricated quotes aside, there really are some bits and bobs we’d like to share with you. So, for no obvious reason, we’ve assembled all the facts and made an arbitrary top 5 out of them. Hold on to your hats pop pickers, it’s the Jerome Cook countdown:
5) Starting simple, at five is Jerome’s fascinating full name: Jerome Edward Phineas Cook. Yeah, Phineas, no, not like the bloke out of 80 Days Around The World – that’s Philleas.
4) Fantastic fact number four – despite being called ‘Jerome Edward’, no-one has yet referred to Jerome as ‘Jedward’. Whilst this wouldn’t be welcomed by Jerome, it is something we encourage you all to indulge in.
3) Straight in at three is Jerome’s tremendous height. Coming in at a staggering eight feet* Jedward’s height prevented him from following his childhood dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot.
2) New at two and, despite being a giant, Jedward has tried – and failed – to become part of the World of Warcraft community. This is despite counting ‘making computers’ as his most thrilling hobby.
1) And sitting pretty in the top spot we have Jerome’s, sorry Jedward’s unique approach to workplace etiquette. Basically the rules are thus: If Jerome is busy then please, be quiet and respectful, if Jerome is not busy then prepare to suffer as he becomes as noisy and disruptive as he sees fit. Rock and roll.
*Jerome’s height has not been certified at eight feet, in fact all known measurements appear to show him as 6’4”
We hate cultural stereotyping just as much as the next man (unless that next man’s from Yorkshire, they love it, all of them do), but there are occasions where you have to hold your hands up and admit that the xenophobes might just have a point. What I’m trying to say is that Claudia, our production manager, is the most efficient and organised person in the office. She also happens to be German.
Sick of a life of cow fondling in Bavaria (as a teenager her Saturday job was killing things with a vet), Claudia –like so many other young Germans – fled to England to record footsteps for the film and television industry. But it wasn’t long before Claudia was once again fleeing – to the sound of expertly dubbed footsteps and right into the warm welcoming arms of Casual Films.
In the times BC (Before Claudia) the office could be, well, a little disorganised. Now? It’s as efficient and organised as Boris Becker’s paternity tests, and to soften the blow of all this sensibleness she’s even added the continental touch of Monday morning croissants!
It’s all, quite frankly, a bit more than we bargained for when we took her on – we like a bit of a mess and a touch of disorder – but we daren’t tell her to stop. I mean this is a woman who walked across Wales in a day (a f*%king day!) to prove a point and anyone that’s seen this video of her walking the frankly terrifying El Chorro will know that she’s not scared of anything.
So, until we can find someone far tougher than us it would seem that we’re stuck with an efficient and smooth running office, all thanks to a bit of German discipline.
Vorsprung durch Technik as they’ve never said in Germany (other than during an English language Audi commercial that is, for some reason, showing in Germany, possibly at a military base?).
When Casual Films animator and After Effects know-it-all Rob Cureton heard about Sarah Palin’s Tea Party he was cock-a-hoop because he absolutely loves tea.
“I bloody love tea.” He told onlookers.
When he discovered that rather than being an actual tea party – featuring ladyfingers, French Fancies and possibly scones – this was actually an ultra conservative and really quite right wing political party he was quick to distance himself from it.
“I bloody love tea – the drink.” He confirmed.
Because contrary to what you might have been told about the internet film industry it doesn’t actually run on cocaine and bubbly – instead it’s fuelled by the humble cup of tea. Rob is one of tea’s greatest advocates, and if you’re ever in the office for more than five minutes it’s likely that he’ll either offer you one or demand you make him one – and if it’s the latter you’d better be quick because when it comes to hot liquid refreshment, Rob lacks patience.
“I give people a ten minute window – which I think is fair – and if my mug’s still empty at the end of that ten minutes I’ll beat them around the head with it. If the mug breaks before their head does, they get to live.” He told me menacingly as I stared at the kettle waiting for it to boil (which it eventually did – Blog 1 vs 0 Proverbs).
So, as my quivering hand spilt hot tea all over my trousers, I asked Rob if there was anything that mattered to him as much as tea. After a prolonged and, quite frankly terrifying, silence I got the answer I had expected:
“No! But quality animation comes close.” Which I suspect was an afterthought to prevent this presenting him as a PG Tips obsessed psychotic. “Now be a good lad and stick the kettle on.”
He takes it white. And swiftly.
Check out Rob’s hand drawn comic strips here.
Beautiful, intelligent, talented and ambitious – these are just a few of the words that our brand new Production Assistant Corrina can spell (except for ambitious – she spelt that ambishoes). Although she was hired mostly for her spelling ability, Corrina reckons she can bring a lot more to her role…
“I’ll get those t-shirts shifted in a minute.” She said after the recent delivery of some Casual Films polo shirts.
Whilst Casual Films might be Corrina’s first venture in to the world of paid work, she’s no stranger to the graft involved in film production. Many of you will remember her stellar appearance on CITV when, at just 14 years old, she interviewed the cast of The Worst Witch, it was an experience that left her hungry for more… “ I’m heading to Byker Grove to interview them bastards,” she may have thought at the time.
But she had to wait until attending Loughborough University before she could satiate her desires, putting aside the traditional tea dances and wine tasting of typical student life to play a vital role in the production team of the Student Union TV Channel – one of the top student lead TV channels in the whole of the Leicester area. That extra-curricular activity helped propel her to a BSc Hons (2:1) in Communication and Media Studies and subsequently into our office and our hearts.
Outside of work musical-theatre-lover Corrina loves musical theatre and has seen French Revolution love triangle epic Les Miserables more than 3 times – and she’s not averse to seeing it more than 4 times…if the right offer comes along…
“ I’m looking for a man at the minute, pretty much anyone will do as long as they’re clean and enjoy Countdown,” I took her admission of singledom to mean.
So if you fancy an evening of dancing (Corrina passed her Dance GCSE (yes, Dance GCSE!) in Year 9!), songs about French people and the possibility that she might tell you the story about the time she ate cat food then drop us a line. You’ll have to pay though, we don’t pay her enough to have a social life.
