Reuben Skinner
“My Mother, now long retired, worked in the BBC as a producer for local radio, she was a real go getter and worked tremendously hard. My father works in Marketing, he has been selling products for 40 years very successfully. He hopes to retire soon. I think I have taken elements from both of my parents careers, having been primarily involved in commercial film making. I got my dads marketing insights and my mothers creative media mind.”
“I was educated in a private school in Belfast, in fact the same school that world renowned author of the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S Lewis was also educated. I loved school and the amazing extra curricular activities on offer, but my focus was always art. As great as private education sounds I was very resentful of the privileged schooling I had. I was desperate to prove on my own that I could make something of myself, not just have my stable background pave the way for me.”
“In a moment of adolescence and stupidity I decided to study teaching at university because my then girl friend was going to do that, I didn't want to be apart from her so I just tagged along to her dreams. Needless to say the relationship didn't last and nor did my interest in teaching.”
“My teaching degree randomly opened up the opportunity to work on a film set, as term was closing for summer in my third year I got an email asking for people who were interested in working on set as a chaperone at a film. I immediately replied as my Mom had gotten me work experience in the BBC years before and I feel in love with the production world. After working on the set for a few weeks I got moved into the stunt team and after the 4 month shoot I knew it was the industry I wanted to be part of for the future.”
“I was always very much encouraged by my parents to enter into the industry, however I really did have to find my own feet and make my own career. I started in weddings, I actually was really successful in wedding videography, but it was only to get me started. I quickly began to hate the work. As luck had it a jewellery company contacted me to purchase some of my wedding footage for a commercial they planned on running. When they offered me a few thousand pounds for me shots of brides and grooms I told them to give me a week and I’d get back to them with a different concept to consider. I wrote a script for a short film and after sending it back to them, they commissioned the concept. It was my first major commercial project and was a massive success in Northern Ireland.”
“There are dozens of great film makers, directors, DOP’s and photographers who have been amazing role models and influencers in my career, but the one person who I owe all credit to for any of my success is my wife, Estelle. She has stood by me when I was doing projects for free, travelling and leaving her at home with two babies to deal with, taking out loans for gear and putting us under financial pressure and the list goes on. She always supported my dream and always did it with a smile. I owe her everything for not only supporting me but also for inspiring me to make better work.”
“I am primarily working as a DOP on music videos, promos and I even have a tv series role coming up this summer as lead camera op. Outside of work I am a husband and father, life is fun and action packed. My family mean everything to me and I try desperately hard to get a balance of time between work and home life.”
“I suppose my dream for the future is that I would start to get more job with big brands and music artists. I love telling stories, so working on brand films or creative music videos is definitely what I am setting my sights on. I am always working hard at becoming a better director of photography, I hope I continue to learn and develop my skill set.”