On My Radar: Fergal Costello

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

I really loved Daniel Wolfe’s commercial work for the video game Assassin’s Creed: Origins last year. It was like watching a work by Ridley Scott by way of Shane Meadows; really stunning imagery with a real authenticity in its naturalism. I hope that’s a pretentious enough answer.

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

Probably Vimeo; uploading and managing my own work as well as looking other peoples work and getting jealous and depressed. Also, messaging people “Fuck you!”, who leave bad comments on my videos, that sort of fun stuff.

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

I just bought a Wacom Tablet that’s proven invaluable for speeding up my time in post production on a project, and it makes scrolling through YouTube cat videos a lot easier.

What’s your favoured social media platform?

Probably Instagram. You get visual inspiration from others and you can get your work out there a lot easier thanks to the specific hashtags, so you can find your particular audience quicker. And you get to stay on top of who’s got beef with who in the rap game so that’s another plus.

What’s your favourite app on your phone?

My voice recorder. If I get an idea, good or bad, I’ll record it and listen back to it later to see if there are any diamonds in the rough. And I love the sound of my own voice.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

Game of Thrones. It’s just epic in every sense, with a real cinematic artistry. Some episodes are just unprecedented with the scope and ambition they present. And there’re dragons. Everything’s better with dragons. Imagine Annie Hall with dragons. Yeah.

What film do you think everyone should have seen and why?

Goodfellas; the kinetic camera, the editing, the lighting, the performances and the energy. It’s untouchable and depressing to be honest, I’ll never make something that good, but I keep making stuff because I’m a masochist.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

Sitting in my apartment on a Sunday watching Netflix. I was so bored I decided to make a 20-second short on my phone instead of doing nothing, and it was, bizarrely, a big success on Facebook!

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

I think people are becoming wise to the idea that you can go out and make things happen for yourself far more thanks to the democratisation of software. There’s more spec work happening now that’s very impressive where you don’t have to compromise as much. If it’s good it will get noticed, so you can help yourself a bit more than you perhaps were able to previously.

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

I haven’t worked in the industry long enough to start suggesting changes! But maybe take a few more risks on young talent and help them get a leg up the ladder. Like me. Take a risk on me!

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

Peter Jackson’s ‘can do’ attitude and doggedness at the beginning of his career. His refusal to accept 'no' for an answer in the early stages of his filmmaking is a constant inspiration. He’s got a perfect beard length too most of the time so that’s also admirable.