On My Radar: Christian Knowles-Fitton

Christian Knowles-Fitton is managing director of Leeds and Manchester-based motion design studio Bark & Bite, the largest post-production facility in the north of England, whose client roster includes the likes of betmaking giant William Hill, Nike and Ferrari.

Below, Knowles-Fitton talks about his creative inspirations and shares his thoughts on the industry as a whole.

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

It’s not a campaign as such but O’Neill’s Waveform, directed by Stefan Nadelman, is a stunning piece of work. I can imagine the brief for this and it could have seemed quite restrictive to do anything majorly creative with surfing footage, but Stefan managed it spectacularly. Also Rankin’s film X for Coco de Mer: it's edgy, rule breaking and a great edit.

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

Both FFFFOUND! and Airows are great sources of visual inspiration for me.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

DJayPro. It’s an app that connects CDJs with Spotify so you can mix using Spotify tracks in real time.

Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?

Instagram. It’s a visual experience, which is what we’re all about.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

It’s a toss up between Shazam and LightWaveRF. Shazam, as everyone knows is brilliant and the new Spotify integration is amazing. Lightwave allows me to control elements of my house from wherever I am in the world, which means I can freak out my family and burglars whilst I’m away.

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

The original French version of Les Revenants, or The Returned, is beautiful; the pace and cinematography is right up my street. In stark contrast, I religiously watch a lot of trashy TV including Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Fast & Loud and Storage Hunters. If it’s got a bad title and a lot of stock audio, there’s a strong chance I will have given it a go.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

It’s a toss up between Rust and Bone or Tell No One, which are both brilliant. I’m a massive fan of French cinema so Studio Canal can do no wrong in my eyes.

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

Sat in an Eames chair in my Dellekamp designed pied a terre… no, not really!

I get a lot of inspiration from magazines actually. My favourites would be Apartemento, Desillusion and Travel-almanac. When you read something physical, it has your sole focus and I think it’s important to have time away from screens. If you only look at content via your computer, phone or iPad, you can easily be doing something else at the same time; meaning you’re not fully absorbing what’s in front of you. So, probably at one of my son’s swimming lessons, where I get a full 20 minutes to read without interruption!

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it?

Probably the change of the traditional agency model. It’s great to see smaller specialist studios now joining forces with other independents to achieve collaborative results. Whether it's illustration, motion, 3D, or photography, everyone is open about bringing in other people; whereas in the past, this practise was all hush-hush with the bigger agencies taking all the credit.

As a result, brands are also more open to engaging direct with smaller studios which is great.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

The way the awards system works.