Just the facts: Age - 34; Hometown - Lancaster, England; Education - film studies, Sheffield University; Employ - with The Whitehouse, London since 2002, promoted to editor in June 2005.

Previous experience: Marshall became enamored with editing while taking film studies and watching someone edit a short film he'd worked on. "Seeing that the film was shot rather haphazardly, I was amazed that he could make the story work," he recalls. Months after graduating, he made the move to London, getting a job as a runner at OBE. It was there that he met his mentor, Neil Smith, working his way up to assistant editor and going with Smith to The Whitehouse in 2002.

The best editing advice he's ever received: Marshall credits Smith (who recently co-founded post company Work) with teaching him the finer points of sound design ("I naively thought editing was just about sticking pictures together, but it's not"), as well as providing him with a "sense of professionalism - you should treat all jobs the same regardless of how big the brand or the budget is."

Best work: Marshall's partial to the cutting he did for Nike's Joga Bonito TV campaign featuring Eric Cantona and a host of football's top players. "Nike was the biggest brand I'd ever worked on, and you can't fuck up," he says. He didn't, of course - his seamless, fluid cuts effectively capture the acrobatic beauty of the sport's finest. And being a major footie fan (he's a Liverpool supporter), it was a labor of love. "When I got into editing it was always an ambition to work on a big Nike or Adidas football spot. So it's nice to be able to tick off that box."

Best part of the job: In discussing his craft, Marshall comes across as part alchemist, part sculptor. "I just feel privileged to be able to create something out of nothing," he says. "I like coming in every day and chipping away at something - seeing something take shape and hopefully become quite beautiful." He also likes projects that veer towards the stranger side. "I like getting quite dark, a little bit arty - maybe too arty at times."

His dream directors to cut for: Frank Budgen or Jonathan Glazer. "If I get to work with them, I might as well retire."

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