We love Busby Berkeley. Like really love Busby Berkeley. But it never occured to us to animate a Teasmade and Amerga joystick in tribute to his extravagant high-kicking Holloywood musical style. But then that will be why we’re not exciting new directing talent and Red Bee Media’s Matt Mcdermott is…

Get comfy on the couch and tell us about your childhood…

I was brought up mainly in Yorkshire but we did move around quite a bit (lived in America near New York for a year).

I come from quite a large, creative family. My parents were both designers (in fashion & TV), my sister is an actress and my brother a fine artist painter. I was always encouraged by my family to be creative and was inspired by my older brother who used to paint and draw fantastic cartoons. It was my ambition from a young age to earn my living doing something enjoyable and creative.

The work on your reel encompasses quite a range of visual styles and techniques – why do you think this is?
I’ve always had a wide interest in photography, music, fashion, illustration, design and animation, I love to experiment and combine these disciplines in my work.

I think it’s important to treat each script individually, use a lateral approach and not stick with one particular style or technique. I like to experiment and use a variety of techniques that can bring the idea to life.

What would be your ideal script?
I like concept driven scripts where the idea is clear and simple. This is where you can really have fun and create striking and individual work.

These are the kind of scripts that I love, they’re brilliantly simple and effective; Audi Stop Start Technology (Lightbulb Cars) and The Dead Weather “Treat Me Like Your Mother” promo.

We lo-o-o-ve the BBC Electric Revolution spot. Can you talk me through the challenges and what you were trying to achieve with it.
I wanted to create a film that was fun and engaging which playfully highlighted the transient and sometimes throw away nature of our relationship with technology.

I enjoyed the juxtaposition of placing a clamshell mobile next to a 80s joystick or a modern fridge/freezer with a Goblin Teasmade. It’s a strange combination but they seemed to visually work great together and all had key roles in the performance.

Many of the gadgets that have passed through our lives are much loved and nostalgic, I thought it was fitting to stage the performance on a white stage in the style of the classic old routines such as Busby Berkeley.

The Shirelles soul classic “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” was really our starting point and sparked the idea in the first place. It perfectly summed up what we were trying to communicate in the Promo and BBC Four’s technology season as a whole.

Stop frame animation was perfect for giving these gadgets believable life and character. Everything in the film is real, with no elements created in 3D, it was painstakingly filmed frame by frame over a five-day shoot. The only post-production used was to track the animations into the screens and compositing the final shot.

It was refreshing to use this process and not automatically give it a 3D animation treatment, I think the final film is much more charming as a result.

Your background is in motion graphics – how and why did you make the jump to directing?
Moving from motion graphics to directing was a natural progression for me.

I’ve always loved making my designs animate and was inspired by films and music videos from a very young age. So using live action and combining it with animation/visual effects and music was the logical next step for me.

I started directing at Art school and was lucky to get a job at Sky straight after I graduated. I had a great boss who trusted me and gave me lots of opportunities to direct as well as create motion graphics.

How would you characterise your work?
I think my work is bold, simple, graphic, photographic, fun and hopefully effective and memorable.

What piece of work are you most proud of and why?
I enjoyed directing the Japan Season spots for BBC Four.

It’s a culture that I’m really interested in and gave me an opportunity to create live action films that combined visual effects with a strong graphic treatment. I was attempting to capture the strange yet familiar aspects of Japanese culture that can often seem quite surreal to Westerners.

I liked creating the characters, an-overprotected daughter, a typical middleweight Japanese salary man and a girl with boundless energy and wobbly knees! We had a lot of fun researching Japanese phrases, culture and fashion.