Showreel





Strange worlds / Relatable relationships

Recent Feature Films


Sea of Thieves: Voyage of a Lifetime
Rare / Microsoft - 2023

Chart the course of SoT, from earliest prototype to fifth anniversary, and hear from both the people who brought this pirate sandbox to life and the community that calls it home in this heartfelt documentary!

Trailer above / full film to the left
A Symphony in Stone - 2019

Feature length documentary on Glasgow Architecture from Greek Thomson through to Mackintosh.

Featuring interviews with architects and academics, shots of Glasgow, archive footage, animation and helicopter footage I directed over Glasgow. Narration by Bill Paterson with an original score by Scottish Opera.





Best Documentary Feature
Malta Film Festival 2020

Best British Feature
Kyiv Film Festival 2020

Best UK Documentary
Atlanta Award Qualifying Film Festival 2020

Official Selection
Architecture Design Art Film Festival 2021
Stockholm City Film Festival 2020
Recent Short Films




I created the above 2d animatic to get buy in from Kapil & Creative Scotland
Rupture of The Wheel
Kapil Seshasayee - 2022

Official music video for Rupture of the Wheel by Kapil Seshasayee. Rupture is a track about the dangers of nationalism gone too far so I devised a film to back up the message of the film in an abstract way.

The film was funded hald and half between Creative Scotland and Production Attic and features 3D and 2D animation in the style of old fashioned zoetropes and phenakistiscopes.
Esc - 2020

Enough is Enough. If you found the easy way out what would you do to keep it to yourself?

Esc(ape) is a live action film created by animators. I wanted to combine my live action and animation experience so wrote a non dialogue film that was fully 3D Prevized before shooting.

Previz below





More shorts
Recent Commercials


Galaxy Fight Club Trailer
Interference Pattern - 2022

CG game trailer I directed for the amazing team at Interference Pattern and their client Galaxy Fight Club.

My challenge was to devise a fast paced battle sequence featuring two opposing players including a number of specific characters and weapons available in the game.




It's Time
OVO Energy / SEC - 2021

A suite of films to announce that The Hydro is back post COVID and introduce OVO as the new sponsor.

Above: One of several short edits,
Left - Top: Mid length film,
Left - Middle: Full length film,
Left - Bottom: Previz


Client needed to turn around this incredibly quickly to get ahead of COP26 so we had only 3 weeks from initial enquiry to delivery to develop and get the creative approved, cast, schedule, shoot, edit and create original score, sound design, animation and VFX.

The creative challenge was to build excitement for gigs returning without mentioning the C word. There was no opportunity to film a gig in the production window so we filmed drama sequences with actors in an intro section, playing audience members and in several scenarios which we padded out with old SSE footage and crowd stock.

As there was so little time I created a previz using stock clips and temp music in order to quickly work through drafts of a story with client so that we could have that approved ahead of filming and music composition beginning.
Let's Really Ban Fox Hunting
The League Against Cruel Sports / Union Connect - 2021

A series of films to illustrate that Fox Hunting is sill not actually illegal.

Client goal was to show a journey from suburbs, through city to the Parliament capturing reactions of shock and anger at an incredibly smug huntsman.
Start Something - Interactive
The Prince's Trust - 2021

An interactive choose your own adventure style film series.

Client goal was to put viewers in the shoes of young people to teach soft skills for employability. I proposed and designed this interactive player with a POV framing to get maximum engagement.




More commercials
CV


I love stories about relatable relationships in bizarre situations. I use performance and camera movement to make the everyday feel cinematic and make the extraordinary feel grounded.


2020-Current - Freelance Animation Director

Clients include Interference Pattern and personal projects funded by Creative Scotland



2011-Current - Creative Director // Production Attic & Salt

Commercial: RBS, The NHS, Microsoft, The Scottish Government, Airbnb, SKY, Diageo, Irn-Bru and more

Personal: 2019 award winning feature length documentary A Symphony in Stone and various shorts


2019-2020 - Producer // Axis Studios

Skydance: The Walking Dead and Wizards of the Coast: Magic The Gathering


2005-2010 - MA Film & Television Studies // University of Glasgow
Other Films


Let The Bells Ring Out - 2017

What if a John Lewis ad became a horror movie.

Post apocalyptic Christmas road movie (trailer above & film to the left). Years after wishing it was Christmas every day Joe is on a hunt for Santa, the only person he believes will reverse the wish.
Wanted Alive: 48 Hour Film - 2018

One of around a dozen 48 hour films I've directed, great for trying out ideas and breaking stories quickly to a defined brief

Required genre: Western
Character: Jessie Cutler (entrepreneur)
Prop: A marble
Line: "Is it supposed to be purple?"
Indiscriminate
The League Against Cruel Sports - 2021

One of a series of animations created in the run up to Welsh elections.

The main challenge here was to design an illustration of the Welsh Dragon that would work for the end frame but not be instantly recognisable in earlier close ups.
John's Story
Police Scotland - 2020

Short film to warn young footballers about the dangers of fraudulent football agents.

I wrote the film as a talking head interview which was scripted and performed by an actor. The actor is anonymised to make it feel more real.
Personalised
The Glasgow Distillery - 2020

Short animated advert using client's assets.

We took 2D renders and added atmosphere and depth.
Features /
Shorts /
Commercials /
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Contact
Matthew Cowan // Director