About us
Grain Media started life when two chaps from 'extreme sports' backgrounds met and decided that, like Voltron, they should join forces. They swiftly picked up their first contract in 2006 producing the Extreme Sports Channel's flagship show Genex, a 14 part TV series.
Since then Grain's gone from strength to strength, we've produced a huge variety of content from hard-hitting investigative documentaries and action sports films/series through to promos and music videos. We even do regular youth-work, training and pro-bono work for charities, just so our Mums love us a bit more.
We've filmed all sorts of stuff all over the world from Death Valley to the North Pole. In 2008 alone we filmed in 24 different countries and produced over 300 edits.
Recently, Grain has started to specialise in online content and has carved a name for itself as leading web content providers from high-end webclips (which we hope go 'viral'), to fast turnaround web features from all corners of the planet.
The future for Grain looks bright. We are producing more documentaries and higher-end promos, we've started dabbling in comedy and eventually we'd love to produce feature films.
So, welcome, have a look around, and if you like what you see, give us a tinkle and we'll come make something for you.
Field Marshal Drever, the housewives favourite, is an award-winning TV director/producer. He started his career making skateboard films, which he's been doing for years. He founded UKVM, the UK's first quarterly skateboard video magazine in 2001. Since then he's done lots of TV stuff for a whole heap of channels, lots of promos, a few docs and founded Grain Media with the hairy hippy who lives down the road. He's even had work in the ICA and the Helsinki Museum of modern art, but he is categorically not an artiste and he definitely doesn't own any brogues. He likes to quell his extensive dark side by doing bits of youth work and occasionally runs film workshops 'for the kids'. Although predominately grumpy, if you give him tea he'll be nice.
jon@grainmedia.co.uk
Count Orlando von Einsiedel, a human exclamation mark, is a film maker, ex pro-snowboarder and the most excited man on the planet. He has produced and directed several acclaimed and award-winning documentaries, promos and short features for a diverse range of TV networks and brands. He's even written for lots of publications, although if you were to meet him you might think he likes to communicate using only expressive dance routines and the universal language of hugging. He's the co-founder of Grain Media, and by far the hardest working.
orlando@grainmedia.co.uk
Able Seaman Christopher White. Chris White heralds from Tasmania, which, amazingly enough, is actually a part of Australia. The old man of the office, Chris is a genius in the edit. Where he fails in social skills he makes up for in sheer technical ability. He's got us out of many a scrape in the past and we're very happy to have him on board as a full time member of staff. And yes, he can count to 10 and no, his mother isn't his sister.
chris@grainmedia.co.uk
Fraser "The Rat" Byrne. Least likely to say "anyone for a cuppa?", most likely to say "mmmnngghh, it wasn't me", "Put a rattle on", "I need a reset", "I'll have a nibble" or anything else that makes little sense. Total emo steez, Fraser is the rat amongst monkeys. A dab hand with graphics, an awful tea maker, a great producer of promos, Fraser has his finger on the pulse more than most. He's got more TV show ideas than tight, ill-fitting, girl's shirts (and that's a lot), he will one day create the uber TV format of the 21st Century and Grain will be there dragging him all the way to success, the lazy *%&!. Past projects include the Grain-funded Vagabondz. He's currently masterminding the lastest Grain project: Blag A Million. With Fraser at the helm, what could possibly go wrong?...
fraser@grainmedia.co.uk
Amelia "F@%k Off" Franklin. Officially the newest member of the team, Amelia had been hanging around Grain for months before we finally gave in and started paying her. Her job is to make sure everyone in Grain knows what they're doing and to keep the ship sailing straight. Amelia's got a glowing heart of gold. She just keeps in the freezer to make it last longer.
amelia@grainmedia.co.uk
Pad "The Sloth" Vernon. Our in-house researcher. Pad can mostly be found on the Grain sofa eating sweets and doughnuts. However don't let his unorthodox diet give you a false sense into his persona. Sharp as a knife and able to sniff out the hidden stories behind every situation, Pad makes sure that Grain's roving eye covers all angles of an investigation. Currently heading up research on our documentary about forced marriage, with him at the helm we know its going to be a good'un.
patrick@grainmedia.co.uk
Simon "The Mushroom" Balch. Kung Fu Expert. Yeah, he's a funghi to be with. We started working with Simon on the Job Done projects. We got on so well (or we were all so desperate) we started working together a lot. We're working pretty solidly together to launch a new comedy website in the near future.
simon@grainmedia.co.uk
Lieutenant Richard "Tiny" Frazer. Tiny is by far the smallest member of Grain. Sometimes he gets lost between the floorboards, but when we find him - and we always find him - he'll be there, sitting on a tiny thimble, typing away with his tiny fingers on the smallest computer in the world. But what he can create with those tiny, tiny, pudgy, little fingers is simply amazing. He's our graphics whizz kid, our keeper of the interweb and our designer-in-your-pocket. He's a dab hand at editing too. Never cross him though, his Tiny body hosts a dark dark core.
richard@grainmedia.co.uk
Brigadier Paz Mustachio. The man who launched a 1000 ships. Ex-Creative Producer at Warner International, with a strong background in entertainment, comedy, music and documentaries joins Grain's Special Ops Unit and is ready to move the company into defcon 4. Loves tank sized riffs and wears bright neon pants. What he lacks in his BMX size he makes up by his facial hair. He thinks he looks like George Clooney but we think he looks like Jean Claude Sad-Dam.
paz@grainmedia.co.uk
Peta "Mrs Tiny" Ridley. Colourist / Editor. We've worked with the formidable Ms Ridley on many music videos, promos & short films. Where she really shines is in her grading skills. She worked on Snap, turning Bolex 16mm footage into shining pearls of gold and has also worked her magic on Manland and Skateistan. Peta (yes an Aussie with a boys name) she likes tea, really really likes tea. Peta is single handedly keeping up the monkeys tea intake, and yes, we are very greatful.
peta@grainmedia.co.uk
Without our trusted freelancers we're just little monkeys with big ideas..
Princess Lucile Weigel. Production Manager. Growing up on a sun drenched and palm fringed island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Lucile has somehow found herself living in London and working at Grain Media. Perhaps not the world's best decision. Although inately surly, her winning attitude will eventually shine through. An excellent production manager. www.lucileweigel.com
Matt "Man Mountain" Fox. DOP. Matt has worked with Grain for a number of years, and although he is terrifying, he is an excellent DOP who constantly and consistently delivers just what is in your mind. he loves to shoot on films and is our go-to-guy for 16mm. He shot Canon Colour Trails, New Balance Promo, Barclays Spaces for Sport and Lexicon "Snap" for us. He's trying to convince us to make the leap to 35mm. We're game. www.mattfoxshowreel.com
Will "Award Winner" Bridges. Director. Will first crossed paths with Grain many years ago when he applied to be an editor with us. Since then Will went on to win many plaudits for his short film The Apology Line and has helped us out with a number of projects. Will wrote and directed Grain Media's first short film, Dead Hungry which was funded by the UK Film Council. A very talented film maker, with a brain hard-wired into IMDB. We've got lots in the pipeline with Will.
Donal "Flat-top Mullet" Coonan. Presenter. Donal is working out of Grain on the Blag a Million project. A well-rounded presenter, Donal is just as happy interviewing the rich and famous as he is locked in stocks having eggs pelted at him. He's also proving to be a dab hand at production. www.donalcoonan.com
Daniel "Chu" Owen. Sound Recordist. Chu's a sound guy in every sense. He's got ears like bats, which makes people look at him funny, but he's cool with it. Chu supplied aural delight for Canon Colour Trails, the Nike Ignite project and Dead Hungry.
Richard "The Geezer" Mason. Gaffer. Rich will put a light pretty much anywhere you want. Yes, anywhere. He lit Canon Colour Trails for us and the Lexicon promo Snap. Where does he get his lovely tan from? www.STAGELiteLTD.com
Rosy "Magic" Thomas. Production Designer. Rosy truly is amazing. If it's in your head she can make it. And if it's not in your head, she'll make it, show it to you, then it'll be better than what could have been in your head in the first place. She did the production design on Dead Hungry and is stepping into the breech once again for Manland. Hooray.