Alumni Stories - Leo Woolcock
We spoke with Leo Woolcock, who graduated from our BA (Hons) Theatre Practice - Production Lighting course in 2010, and is now Creative Technologist at Swamp Motel, an immersive entertainment company that specialises in producing experiences that blurs boundaries between theatre, film and gaming.
What does a Creative Technologist do?
My remit is pretty broad - ranging from specifying and deploying “traditional” theatre technologies through to web application development. I help the creative team at Swamp Motel to explore technical possibilities and feasibility of ideas, and then bring them to life.
How did you get started at Swamp Motel?
Will Herman, Swamp Motel’s Head of Production, reached out to me during the pandemic when he was looking for someone to assist with a new online immersive experience. I’d just turned my hand to web development when the pandemic hit. It was a natural thing to learn as EVERYTHING was suddenly online, and audiences were suddenly so much more open to using the web. It’s hard to imagine that most of us hadn’t ever done a video meeting pre-2020, but now it’s second nature. This opportunity was a chance for me to put my new skills into practice and eventually led to the offer of a full-time role at Swamp Motel.
What does a typical working day look like for you?
I am usually juggling 3-4 projects which are all at different phases. At the moment these are mostly web based so much of my day is spent on video meetings, writing code or typing into a terminal - not all that different from programming a lighting desk, but at least now I have a nice chair.
I’m now currently in R&D stages of a couple of online projects, so I’m getting to spend some time using new software libraries and experimenting with a few things - probably my favourite part of the job. I always used to enjoy making practicals and weird things for theatre shows, I guess this is the online equivalent of that!
What projects have you recently been working on?
I’ve recently been working on design, development and deployment for The Alter, an interactive short film created by Swamp Motel, which was developed as part of the Lowry’s Live Now commissioning programme. We had the idea that you could be watching one film and see it from two different points of view simultaneously. The creative team developed the story of four city-dwelling friends who unite at a remote country house for a weekend away, and to reconnect with nature, but when they find an old map, a nocturnal hunt for treasure begins. Every time you click you flick between the night before, or the morning after, and you’re able to piece together the narrative yourself.
That sounds great, how can people watch The Alter?
The Alter is live and we’re getting excellent reviews - it’s free to watch (or pay what you can) on our website. It’s best watched on a laptop but also works superbly on your phone and is ten minutes long.
What particular challenges have you had to overcome when working on The Alter?
I’d never worked with delivering video content online before, so I had to do a lot of homework around the technologies which make The Alter possible. Building the first working demo version was the easy bit - refining that and making sure it would work across multiple platforms and for a potentially large number of viewers was much harder.
What has surprised you most about your experience working at Swamp Motel?
As with many of Swamp Motel’s projects, many of the assumptions one might make about how a production process works soon go out of the window. We’ve had to develop new ways of working which bring in techniques from film production, theatre, escape rooms and software development. With everyone working remotely for the majority of the time, it’s so important to find methods to keep people up to date and get the right conversations started. Slack, Google Meet, and Google Workspace are now the most important tools of our trade.
Is this what you planned to do after Graduation?
After graduation I’d hoped to become a lighting designer or programmer, and I did spend 10 years doing that, eventually to quite a high level. I’d have happily carried on had this opportunity not presented itself - it was brilliant and I really miss all my old freelance friends who I don’t get to see as often now.
What advice would you have for those looking to follow in your footsteps?
Invest in yourself and your career. For example, you need a great website so that when people are recommending you to others they have something to instantly demonstrate your talents. If that means paying for it, so be it. Go on training courses and get qualifications so you can learn to do things properly and professionally. Take the time to learn new skills in a structured and paced way - you spend years at school and then university sitting down and properly learning things, why should that stop when you are an adult?
Watch The Alter, and follow @leowoolcock and @swamp_motel on Instagram and @swampmotel Twitter for more updates.
