Alex joined UNIT in 2022 where he started as a senior MCR operator before finding his calling in online and VFX editing. Alex has years of experience in factual production as well as managing multiple technical I/O departments in both Europe and Asia. Some of his creative highlights include ‘Whitstable Pearl’, ‘War of the Worlds’, ‘Vera’, ‘Grantchester’ and ‘The Devils Promise’.
Q> What Inspires you and drives you as an online and VFX editor?
Alex> Overall the main thing that drives and inspires me is simple, it’s the work. I’m a massive fan of Film and TV and always have been. I love the idea of creating and building cohesively and everything that goes into the process of a great show. One of the highlights of my job is being able to be in the room with all the creatives that make the content. Asking them questions about the project and how they achieved certain shots.
When I was a kid some of the first shows that inspired me were ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ – My first love haha! ‘The Wire,’ ‘True Detective’ and ‘Scrubs’, not for the medical side but because it just felt so real with what they were going through.
Another huge driver for me is the amazing team I work with. Everyone is really supportive and overall we have a lot of fun together. Never have I had a job in which it felt cool and fun each day even with the occasional stressful situation haha!
We get to work on amazing projects at their rawest forms and all work creatively to bring it together. UNIT’s head of online and VFX Siôn Penny has been an amazing mentor and support to me in the early stages of my career. He always has time to teach and help me grow.
Q> What has been your proudest achievement in your professional life so far?
Alex> So far in my career as an online and VFX editor it has been working on the new season of ‘Whitstable Pearl.’ It has been an amazing experience so far getting to grow my skills and overcoming new challenges.
In my overall professional career one of my proudest achievements was being asked to move to Singapore to head the MCR team and train new talent. It was an amazing learning experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the three years I spent there enjoying new cultures and passing on what I had learnt to the team over there.
Q> What creatively do you want to do next? / Whose creative work do you admire most?
Alex> Next in my career I am excited to continue working with the amazing team at UNIT Film & TV, continuing learning and working on some more amazing big shows.
I’ve always admired the level of VFX and creative work that goes into shows like ‘The Witcher’. Although I didn’t get to work on ‘The Witcher’, I’ve always had a strong passion for other worldly things, I guess you could say it’s my slightly geeky side. Working on shows like The Witcher comes with its own challenges, especially on a VFX level. You have to try and sell a new planet when everyone has their own idea of the way it would look. It takes a lot of communication and a shared vision with your colleagues to achieve something amazing in this genre. One of the reasons I love being an online editor is because I love seeing the vision from the director and editor and bringing that to life together. The story is there in its earliest form and its your job to realise it on the screen, which is the best bit. I enjoy bouncing off of one another and working with them to get to what we all think looks amazing. So I guess what I want to do next creatively is continue to grow and expand my skills whilst working closely with the amazing team. Learning new ways to achieve great results and eventually have my name attached to something ‘other worldly.’
Q> What forced you to grow as a junior?
Alex> The VFX, working on projects like ‘War Of The Worlds.’ The VFX helps you grow incredibly as sometimes you run into a challenge where you have to paint something out and you have to find a way to achieve the goal in the most time effective way as there as other people are waiting for your part in the project. It teaches you many techniques and helps you develop your personal style as you can approach a situation 1000 different ways. Great mentors help you grow the most! We have an amazing team here at UNIT with Siôn, Ben and Fraser. They end up showing you their style which you can then use to morph into what makes sense to you and what makes you your own artist.
Q> What are you watching / reading / listening to right now?
Alex> Slow Horses, Emmy nominated spy thriller is now streaming on Apple TV+ and it’s amazing. The acting and writing is incredible! It’s shot on a really high level and the writing is really tight.
It’s one of those shows where you would love to be in the room with those creatives and see how they work! I think that about a lot of shows now. I would love to be in a room with everyone that created that project! I think I have a lot of appreciation for the craft and what it takes to make it look that good.