On My Radar: Toby Conway-Hughes

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

I really enjoyed Widen+Kennedy’s Honda Dream Makers [below]. As an editor I’m always keen to get involved in a job as early as possible. I find the storyboard stage so important for exploring opportunities in an idea as well as for planning, technically, how an idea can be executed. I thought the guys at Time Based Arts did a fantastic job at showing us the process of film making from idea to script to screen.

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

BBC Sport and BBC News. Too much.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

A Bose Revolve speaker that’s great for outdoor parties and annoying neighbours! It's even water resistant so perfect for being outside this rainy summer.

Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?

Facebook at a push, but I’m not a really much of a social media user.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

FaceApp - so I can see what I would look like as a girl. It’s not a good look.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

Long term, any of David Attenborough’s Life series win hands down for me. The photography and content are groundbreaking every time. More recently I loved last years The Night Of. It’s brilliantly crafted and Riz Ahmed and John Tuturro are both so good in it.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

When I was about six-years-old, my eight-year-old brother and I went to stay with our grandmother for the week. We managed to persuade her to rent Gremlins and Raging Bull for us on VHS. I know we told her that Gremlins was about cuddly toys but I still have no idea how we got Raging Bull past her.

Anyway we watched Raging Bull when she was doing the gardening and those fight scenes have stuck with me ever since. It’s brilliantly edited by Thelma Schoonmaker. Apparently Scorsese wanted LaMotta’s fight scene with Sugar Ray Robinson to feel like a horror movie, so based the quick cuts on the Psycho shower scene. It’s a great film but maybe stick to Disney for six-year-olds!

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

Like a lot of editors I’m dyslexic. My inspiration often comes from reading things and getting  a few words mixed round in my head which then turns into whole a new idea.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

It’s so much easier these days for anyone to pick up a camera, film something, edit it and get their film out there. I’m a strong believer in being the master of your craft rather than a jack of all trades when it comes to professional filmmaking, but at the same time the more people that have the opportunity have an idea and put it onto film the better.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

I’ve always thought we should enforce everybody to wear slippers at work. Life is always good when you’re wearing slippers and you are always more creative when you are relaxed.

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

Probably my school and my mum. My mum is creative and always had me painting, drawing and making things as a kid. I went to a school that really pushed for you to be good at what you are good at rather than just pushing for you to do maths, science and all the mainstream subjects.

So, for me, that was art, graphics and design technology. I also owe my career to a lady on my road who, when I was a runner, suggested I was crazy wasting my time pursuing such a competitive job. It's always driven me to prove her wrong!

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

The first film I ever attempted to make was me filming myself purposefully falling about 20 feet, head first, out of a cedar tree to get 50 quid on You’ve Been Framed. I must have done about 50 takes. Jeremy Beadle never called.