Mat Sunderland

The original hands on Director Mat began working as a runner at the Jim Henson Creature shop working on projects such as Lost in Space and Buddy before moving into camera assisting and operator in house for Metro Broadcast, directing short pieces on cameras at work. Ever the “cocky bastard with a camera” he decided to get his feet wet by directing a feature film. “Draining Lizards” was the first kung fu feature film made in the UK and has received worldwide distribution. With access to HD cameras and equipment through his operating skills, he directed a number of high quality promos, short films and documentaries. These were all well received and have been shown at a number of film festivals. In 2000 he worked as head of production for Digital Holdings but after six months decided he could do it better his own way and set up Sunipa Pictures and began producing and directing corporate work and live DVD production. He then decided it was time to earn some real money and after a brief stint in true crime with Psychic Private Eyes, where he attracted the attention of Cutter and Savage, who took him on board as their head of production and director of their launch campaign, he began producing virals and TV campaigns, first with Spacebar Media and then at Hero Media. Here he was responsible for the launch campaigns for Wink Bingo, Posh bingo, the hugely successful Tasty Bingo and more recently Red Bus bingo. Though small budget the Wink Bingo campaigns have had a huge impact changing bingo ads from simple low budget affairs into the classier productions that now dominate the gaming scene. By working with animatronic gorillas, 3D animations, Costume drama and 2D effects they stood out from the run of the mill bingo commercials around at the time and forced other bingo advertisers to up their game. These campaigns brought Wink and Posh Bingo from being small sites to becoming the third largest online bingo sites in the UK. It was a firm understanding of the demographic in the production, which meant they fitted with the clientele of the sites. In the Promo world he created highly visual and simple pieces for Pest and the Duel and more recently the Split screen Bodymachine, City Lights, which was featured in several festivals in the UK. 2012 has been a busy year so far, with medical documentaries, filming in Dubai for Speedo and Italy for Ellesse and creating a continual stream of new projects from editing the XFactor Live DVD to shooting at high altitude and beneath the waves. Looking forward he has several new commercial and corporate pieces as well as being booked to create memorable documentary work during the Olympics. But features are still bubbling through. First JNC productions with the IRON MONK project which places Mat at the helm of a UK, Hardcore, Kung Fu Film as well as Yokon films first venture into horror with its film Scrublands and Sunipa Pictures own The Game, a tale of kidnap and death in Kashmir based on the true story of a personal friend and the politics of a divided valley. Finally the fantastic Fifi La Belle script from Rainemaker Productions. It is this understanding of all aspects of film making and storytelling which gives Mat the skills to produce films of a depth and visual quality. RECENT WORKS COMMERCIAL SPIN AND WIN DRIVE - RED BUS BINGO – TASTY CHEF – POSH HEN NIGHT – WINK WINNER EVERY MINUTE – HARRY HILLS TV BURP IDENTS – ITV2 DAYTIME IDENTS CORPORATE SPEEDO INTERNATIONAL FS3 LAUNCH VIDEOS ELLESSE AW 2012 UNE FINE SETTIMANA - SPEEDO INTERNAL LAUNCH TRIATELITE – BOXFRESH BRAND VIDEO – ELLESSE AW 2011 – SPEEDO MARY MCCARTNEY SHOOT VIDEO PROMO BODYMACHINE CITY LIGHTS – THE DUEL THE TIME HAS COME – PEST OGRES – UGC RAPSTAR – MOSES FRIDAY NIGHT – NORTHSTAR ON A RISE FEATURE IRON MONK DOCUMENTARY NEWTON TV – PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR ALL 2011 CONTENT