TSS / Fiona's Profile

TCH
Studios Manager
hargreat@lsbu.ac.uk
0207 815 6720

Trevor is responsible for running the broadcast studios, planning and organising their use on a day-to-day-basis, overseeing maintenance, risk assessment and compliance with health and safety regulations. He co-ordinates studio technicians to make sure broadcast spaces are kept in order and prepared for use and is the first point of contact for internal or external clients looking to hire the facilities. He also offers guidance on the development of workflows and processes, in keeping with industry standards.
Trevor brings a wealth of personal experience to the role. He is an expert in film production, on both the technical and artistic fronts, with a BA in Art, Design and Media, and MA in Film Production plus a post-graduate qualification from the National Film and Television School.
He has passion for innovation and live broadcast, having worked as a cameraman on countless multi-camera music events, as a live gallery TV director and as an international videographer. Trevor is also an experienced documentary maker. He worked as a cameraman on a feature-length documentary about musician Adam Ant and his own project, ‘London Vampires’, was Time Out magazine’s ‘pick of the day’ when it aired in 2012.
In his own time, he paints abstract art. His fine art, video installations have featured in the Tate Modern, Saatchi & Saatchi and at various British and international film festivals.
IN CONVERSATION / READ MORE

Having worked behind-the-scenes in live broadcasting for many years, Studio Manager Trevor knows only too well the knife-edge tension of being in a situation where anything could go wrong at any minute. But none of this compares to the adrenaline rush he got when, as an undergraduate at Portsmouth University, he undertook his first parachute jump.

“My parachute only opened halfway, sending me into a spinning descent for about 1000 ft. I later found out this is known as ‘A Roman Candle’,” he recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘I knew this would happen!’ When I finally made it down safely, I smoked a cigarette in about two drags to calm my nerves – and I don’t even smoke!”

The incident amused his granddad, George, a celebrated, wartime paratrooper. “He was an Arnhem veteran who’d twice escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp” Trevor explains. “He enjoyed telling his mates about it at his local para club in Romford!”

Even so, Trevor has clearly inherited George’s gung-ho attitude as, after graduating with a BA in Art, Design and Media, he set off for Canada where he worked as a film runner and then a projectionist at the Toronto Film Festival. Bizarrely, he found himself living in a hostel where sixteen of the eighteen residents, including himself, were Geminis.

His next job was as a videographer on cruise liners touring the Caribbean and Scandinavia where he worked 16-hour days running live TV shows and filming and editing footage of the passengers’ escapades – and again found himself surrounded by Gemini colleagues!

Since returning to the UK several years ago, Trevor has zig-zagged between studying – he has an MA in Film Production from Canterbury University and a post-graduate qualification from the National Film and Television School - and freelance work filming live events and music videos, and also producing, directing and lecturing. He’s worked with acts such as Goldfrapp, the Manic Street Preachers and Primal Scream and also wrote, filmed and directed a documentary called ‘London Vampires’. His video art installations have been featured in the Tate Modern, Saatchi & Saatchi and British and international film festivals.

In his own time, he has recently rediscovered his love of painting and drawing, producing abstract images in oils and acrylic. As neither of his parents were interested in the arts, Trevor didn’t know where his creative streak came from until one day, his mum showed him some of Granddad George’s line drawings and the penny dropped. He also discovered that George had been to art college before the war.

“He was definitely a character,” Trevor laughs. “In his later years, he was out with a lady-friend when a speeding car came towards them. He threw her to the side of the road, out of harm’s way, but the car hit him instead and he lost half his leg. He didn’t let it interfere in his life, though. He kept on doing parachute jumps!”

Having been successful in a notoriously competitive industry, what advice does Trevor have for today’s creative graduates? “Don’t play it safe,” he says. “Work harder than everyone else and find your own path.” In other words, be like George.