FILM
Passionate about cinema, John has been making films since his school days. He studied Visual Arts and Literature at Staffordshire University, leaning heavily into modules on cinema, and in the early stages of his career, worked as a storyboard artist and art department crew member ( including a season on Teletubbies ). In the last decade John has made films in conjunction with 20th Century Fox showcasing the production process behind his cutaway art for their ALIEN franchise, before making the move back into film as a writer, producer, director and editor.
A passion for the relationship between film-making and music is evident in all of John’s work. Last Picture Show, the band John formed with close friend Matt Robinson, have made several music videos. Their film ‘The Joy and The Wonder’ - an ambitious music video written, produced, directed and edited by John, won BEST MUSIC VIDEO at the 2021 Hollywood Art and Movie Awards film festival.
John has been an active environmental campaigner with SOAR producing several short films which were instrumental in securing a landmark decision for his local community of East Reading in 2018, protecting the Thames Path from development. In partnership with fellow film-maker Rob Smith, he is currently researching and writing his own screenplay which expands The Joy and the Wonder into a feature length concept.
THE JOY AND THE WONDER (2021)
APC CUTAWAY - SPECIAL EDITION ( 2015 )
Watch John’s incredible film documenting the creation of his cutaway art of the APC vehicle from 'Aliens'. This extended special edition cut features a reference material sequence, a digital techniques section, 13 minutes of original soundtrack by Last Picture Show and a gallery of all the artworks John produced for Insight Editions' book 'Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report' in collaboration with Alien blueprints artist Graham J. Langridge. The soundtrack was also composed and recorded by John with Last Picture Show.
The four minute promo cut of APC Cutaway can also be seen here.
ALIEN EIGHT: TIME LAPSE (2022)
John creates eight artworks of iconic ships and hardware from Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Incredible time-lapse photography captures the entire process: using a lightbox to set up each artwork, then refining and detailing each piece with pencil, before inking and applying multiple watercolour washes and gouache to achieve the highly-detailed end paintings.
EEV : MAKING THE ARTWORK OF (2017)
Short film showing the production process behind John’s artwork of Alien 3's EEV.
S T A R S H I N E by last picture show ( 2017 )
John shot and edited this intimately lo-fi accompaniment to Last Picture Show’s 2017 release ‘ Starshine ’ .
SOAR CAMPAIGN FILM ( 2018 )
An active environmental campaigner in his hometown of East Reading, John has produced several shorts including this illustrated accompaniment to a powerhouse speech given by local Green Councillor Josh Williams challenging Reading Council’s plans to build a road which violated every environmental policy in the book. Thanks to the tireless work of the campaign group and the support of a 4,000-strong local community, the proposed road was ultimately rejected by neighbouring borough Wokingham.