1. Who are you?
I'm Bob. I direct music videos and I work a lot with young people, mainly working with video and animation. I teach Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, I'm good with a frisbee and so's my dog.

2. What's your creative mantra/motto?
" Its got to be clever, and if its not clever its got to be funny. "

3. Who or what inspires you?
Films, books, comics, music, dreams.

4. How did you get the idea for your featured project?
The band The Cedar approached me about doing a video for their song, Room to Beat. They said that they had the image of their heads in boxes singing the song, and I went from there. The last line of the song, "and your heart beats out your chest" reminded me of a story I'd read about an Aztec demon/god called Smoking Mirror or Axe of the Night. The story goes that if you're out late in the forest you'll hear the sound of an axe striking the roots of a great tree, but it's actually the sound of Smoking Mirror's chest opening and snapping shut. If you're brave enough and fast enough, you can reach in and grab his heart. If you're too slow he devours you, but if you steal his heart he will tell you secrets and show you magical lands.

This started me reading a book about the Aztecs, which threw up loads of interesting imagery, including their combinations of human and animal forms. There was an amazing photo of a Turtle man, carved from stone. He's like a human face and hands poking out of a turtle shell, and I could instantly see it as an amazing mask, which is what inspired the transformation at the end of the video.

I also had loads of syncronicity crop up around the idea, for example the first day I started looking for props I found a tiny wax turtle next to tiny carving of an Aztec god in a thrift shop, and this sort of coincidence went on for the duration of the project, which I took as a very good sign.

5. What's next?
I'm working on a 5 minute version of Macbeth, set to music, with a group of deranged young men.

6. Apart from your Seagate FreeAgent hard drive, what's your favourite creative gadget!?
My camera, a Sony V1E, which has among other things a beautiful slow motion setting.

7. What's the most precious thing you store on your Seagate FreeAgent hard drive?
My current work and the master clips for my films.

To find out more about my work click below

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=m0DybcV0tSA