Simon McKeown: School

Simon McKeown, originally from Middlesbrough and now living in Leeds, lost a great deal of his hearing during the course of his twenties. Now 35, Simon is a professional animator.

'I completed a degree in fine art and media studies at Newcastle,' Simon told VEE-TV. 'I was introduced to 3D animation in 1987. I started work soon after in London in the video post-production world. During this time I produced work for ad agencies and TV companies all over the world. For the last three to four years I've been working in the games industry on products such as the "Driver" series.

'I love interesting, quirky films, a great deal of which are shown on Film Four. Repo Man was one of my early favourites, not least because of its sense of fun.

'My film School came about after I was discussing deaf jokes with my friend – and the writer of the piece – Kathy Robinson. It's based very loosely around a deaf joke, which sums up some of deaf people’s experience with regard to education and medicine, where historically you could say they have been treated very cruelly. It was made for the West Midlands Disability Arts Forum with Kevin Kirkland, who also made the eerie, strong sound that accompanies the visuals.

'I'm continuing to make longer 3D animation films. School is a very dark hard film, so my next idea is in contrast.'

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