When a universe is created, a star falls to the earth and becomes a Fire-Sprite. This Sprite discovers its power to destroy and opposes the creation it sees around it. When it confronts The Creator and understands its responsibility, it joins with The Creator to build a new, balanced universe. Shakuru is a mixed-media film that confronts the influence of myth and the composition of the flat cinema screen.

Shakuru seeks to engage the audience on many different levels; it presents an strong, simple and universal narrative, engages the viewer with dynamic, colourful and abstract imagery and, at a deeper level, explores issues relating to cinematic construction and metaphysical reality.

Shakuru featured and won best 3D animation at the first Golden Pixil Awards 2003.

My graduation film from the University of Newport (or International Film School of Wales depending who you speak to), co-directed by Barnaby Dicker.

This section also contains all the archive material related to Shakuru which had to be written for submission along with the final version of the film. As you might expect with an arts-based university course, a lot of it is rather intense, somewhat pretensious (intentionally in places) and throughly useless in the real world. Nowadays, I'd do something a little more commercially-minded and not bother broadcasters with waffle about 'mythic themes' and 'the symbolic meaning of the clouds'. That said, I wouldn't be where I am today without it and for that I'm grateful.

I'd also like to mention again that Barney and I co-directed this film, and indeed we collaborated on most of our projects throughout university. Without his input and lively creativity, my three years at Newport would have been definitely less interesting.