About Stuart Mccrum

My dad loved Donkey from Shrek. He was an animator in a previous life and took myself, my brother and sister to any new animation the week it came out. We filled the car ride home with stories of our favourite scenes, reenacting the lines of characters, and as I got older he began to peel back the curtain of the effort it took to make the same films come alive.

He is a financial advisor now but I fully give him credit for getting me hooked into the world of digital media. I put my passion for film on hold briefly when I went to study Photography at Norwich University of Arts with the promise of ‘Unlocking your own creative niche and how it fits into the business world’. My studies dived me head first into the historic complexities of lighting, choices of lenses and every intricate detail of research that pulls a project to life. When I surfaced and watched films with my Dad again we joked about how the roles had so quickly swapped. We now spoke about the cinematography, the visual effects, and the unique choices the director made so that the narrative beats hit home.

Fast forward to the week before a national lockdown and I made plans to start my freelance career. It had a rocky beginning. After some time I had my feet under me and was regularly taking photographs of luxury holiday homes around Norfolk and Suffolk. Often when I got home and showed my wife the photos she became giddy with new DIY project ideas far beyond my skills for our flat (but I can proudly say we made a fake wall for some extra storage). All the while I was still shooting video and regularly looking to expand my freelance to have a foot in both camps of still and moving image.

2 years of freelancing led me to the doors of Trendy Grandad. I had slowly come to realise my own ‘creative niche’ was difficult to pin down. I was fascinated with everything from the ideation of videos to the end of post production, and TG was after someone that had a wealth of experience in doing everything from beginning to end. Match made in heaven.

When I’m not knee deep in shooting or colour grading I am likely cooking dinner for friends and convincing them to play a new (or a few) board game I have bought.