Biography
Director Martyn Pick is recognised for his distinctive fusion of live-action and animation, and the fluid, painterly style of his film-making. Martyn studied film and fine art at St. Martins School of Art and the crossover of painting and cinema has driven his work ever since. Since then, he has moved on from pure hand animation, to using the skills of storyboarding, composition and art direction to direct the different media of CGI and live action. He has also expanded from short form to feature films that incorporate these eclectic techniques. As a commercials director, Martyn’s credits include the celebrated BBC promotional trailers for Euro 2004, Budweiser, NBA and ADM. He has directed adverts, indents and pop promos for many clients (including Mick Jagger, Gillette, Aquafresh, Gallo Wines, STV, UK Gold, Tennents Lager and American Express). He was also awarded with the Gold Plaque for Animation at the Chicago Film Festival and the Silver Promax Award. And he has developed his distinctive directorial style in short films commissioned by the BFI, Film London, The Arts Council, Channel 4 and Film Four. Martyn worked as animation director on Franny Armstrong’s climate change documentary feature “The Age of Stupid” (Passion Picture/Spanner Films) 2009. In 2008 he was commissioned by Film London and the London Development Agency to make “London” a five minute film that premiered at the Beijing Olympics, celebrating the capitals edge and diversity in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. More recently, Martyn directed his first feature film "Ultramarines:A Warhammer 40,000 Movie" It is a tense science fantasy action thriller using CGI animation and facial capture. It is the first-ever feature length movie interpretation of the internationally successful Warhammer 40,000 universe from Games Workshop. The film stars the voices and facial acting of Terence Stamp, Sean Pertwee, and John Hurt. The film has a dark painterly look in keeping with Games Workshop's aesthetic. Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2013, it was produced in London, Cardiff, Santa Monica and Montreal. Recently he completed his first live-action feature: the supernatural thriller “Evil Never Dies” which was released in January 2014. Recent commercials include Zip Firelighters, NGI Turner, “Body Paint” and Thatchers "Gold". For the animation sequences in "Women of 1915" he was nominated for an Emmy. He was Head of Story and Voice Director on 40 half hour of Episodes of Robozuna for Netflix/ITV Studios (a kids sci-fi cgi series). On the feature documentary Coup 53 (Director Taghi Amirani, Editor Walter Murch) he is creating the painterly animation sequences. He is directing a live action horror feature film: Heckle.
