PETER HEATH
13 Milford Court, Lymington
SO41 0WF (H) 01590642474 (M) 0758 3864506 peter@allatsea.com
SUMMARY
Extract from 'spotlight', an industry
magazine in the US:
Talking to
Peter Heath, you begin to think that if you never went to sleep again you might
possibly achieve a small percentage of his output. No doubt about it, Peter has
lived an extraordinarily productive life. He has made over 500 commercials
(only the latest are on his reel). He is a director, lighting cameraman,
documentary maker, writer, editor, music video producer, CD-ROM designer,
computer programmer and sometime actor. And most of what he's done has won
major awards.
All of which
at a certain point became quite stressful. So he decided on a brief sabbatical,
which turned into a seven-year, 100,000-mile sail aboard his glorious 43' Swan
- enabling him to hone his other talents as skipper and navigator.
Of
course, for Peter ‘sabbatical’ did not mean 'rest'. Wherever a suitable job
opportunity arose, local sailors were reverse press-ganged into
becoming crew of a different ilk, resulting in a dozen or so
commercials, and a meticulously planned and executed CD-ROM about diving for
the St. Martin Tourist Association. (Taking a busman's holiday from his
busman's holiday, Peter operated the Industrial Light and Magic Vista-Vision
camera for the feature Speed 2, starring Sandra Bullock.)
A resourceful
problem-solver himself, Peter sees nothing remarkable about his 'crew'.
'Sailors can maintain everything on the vessel, and these days that means a lot
of electricals. “Live-aboards
are a self-reliant lot”, he says. “If you break down at sea, there's no one to
come and fix it. You have to do it yourself.”
SKILLS
·
Budgeting and financial control: Budget control is an integral
requirement of film production and ship management
·
Production management. Each day is planned by the minute.
Sunrise may never be missed as it provides excellent natural light, once.
Sunset is also another time that crews have to be at the ready. Again, there is
only one each day.
·
Media production: cinematography, digital photography,
videography, multi-media production, computer and
mobile phone sites
·
Computer literacy: Excel, Access, MS Word, FTP, Bridge,
Photoshop, Premiere, site architecture, design and content management..
·
Team leadership. Film, ship and creative crews
have to work together seamlessly in order to achieve excellent results.
·
Navigation: Ocean sailing vessels navigate to a
particular course and timetable, and obey particular rules to avoid collision
and adverse weather conditions.
WORK HISTORY
October 1995 to October
2014
Captain/Navigator Sailing Vessel
'Triptych', Sint Maarten, Dutch Caribbean
·
Sailed
and navigated the sailing vessels 'Aldebaran' and
‘Triptych’ between New York and Venezuela calling at Bermuda and the Caribbean
Island chain from Tortola in the British West Indies and Antigua in the west,
then south down the Lesser Antilles chain to Grenada, Isle de Marguerita in Venezuela and east as far as Isla Blanquilla and the Islands of Los Roques
archipelago.
·
Studied
Cold Fusion 2 programming language and became proficient.
November
1990 to October 1995
Director/Cinematographer Peter Heath & Co, 101 Fifth Avenue, New
York, NY 10003
·
Worked
directly with advertising agencies and clients to direct, produce and
light television commercials for specific products.
·
Client
list included General Motors, Honda Motors, Lands End, Dodgeville, Computer
Associates, Long Island, McDonalds, Burger King, Elizabeth Arden, Ford Motor
Company, Toshiba, Generra Clothing, Clairol, Sony,
Harris Tweed, Israel.
September
1987 to November 1990
Director/Cinematographer Picture
Music, 14 E 23rd Street, New York NY 10010
·
Responsible
for creative design for Music Television Videos for Capital Acts, including
Robert Palmer, John Taylor, Stray Cats, De Barge, Yes, Roxette,
Anne Murray, Missing Persons and others.
·
Reached
top of the charts 6 times. Won Kodak Award for night cinematography (De
Barge/Rhythm of the Night) and nominated at MTV awards for special FX (Robert
Palmer/Get it On, Bang a Gong).
April 1983
to August 1987
Director/Cinematographer
Peter Heath & Company, 258
Broadway, New York, NY 10007
·
Represented
in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago by Film Fair, Jenny & Co, N Lee Lacy
& Shooting Stars
·
Won
awards from New York Art Directors Club for Chevrolet, Generra Clothing,
December
1982 to March 1983
Captain/Navigator Sailing Vessel 'Omuramba', Cape Town, South Africa
·
Sailed
and navigated across Southern Atlantic Ocean between Cape Town and Antigua via Islands
of St Helena, Ascension, Fernando de Noronha, St Lucia and Guadeloupe.
·
Studied
celestial navigation and became proficient.
May 1977 to
November 1982
Director/Cinematographer Peter Heath and Gang (Pty) Ltd., Noord Street, Johannesburg
·
Produced
and directed television commercials for advertising agencies in South Africa.
·
Wrote,
produced and directed documentaries for SA Wine Growers Association (KWV)
·
Won:
Awards in South Africa for Elna Press, Flymo Lawn Mowers, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. Won Bronze at
Cannes for Anglo American with Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes
June 1973
to May1977
Director, Creative Services Lintas
International Advertising, South Africa
·
Achieved
growth targets and improved creative standards dramatically.
·
Introduced
new briefing and execution systems that simplified effective internal traffic
control.
·
Improved
creative staff morale and increased individual output of staff members.
·
Won
world wide recognition for Close-up Toothpaste television campaign.
·
Clients
included Lever Brothers, British American Tobacco, Barclay’s Bank, and many
others.
April 1971 to May 1973
Senior Television Producer, Y & R
London
·
Worked
with Copywriters and Art Directors to produce storyboards for clients
·
Liaised
with outside production houses on costing
·
Supervised
the production of television commercial to the highest possible standard.
·
Clients:
Grandee Cigars, Smirnoff Vodka, Lyons Maid Ice Cream.
March 1966
to December 1970
Copywriter/Team Leader. Lintas International Advertising, South Africa
·
Improved
overall creative standard of team
·
Won
Loerie Awards for Natal Building Society, Anglo
American Property Services, Pepsodent Toothpaste,
Cameo Cigarettes, Walls Ice Cream, Luyt Lager.
EDUCATION
·
1965
Bachelor of Arts Music & Drama, Natal University Durban, South Africa
CERTIFICATIONS
·
Member
of Directors Guild of America.
·
Member
of South African Society of
Cinematographers
·
RYA
Captains Licence