James "Krispy" Cornwell

Just the facts: Age – 25; Hometown – Ely, a small town near Cambridge, England; Education – graduated from Ravensbourne College in London with a foundation degree in Post-Production; Employ – joined Absolute Post’s London office in 2006 and is now based in New York.

Previous experience: After two years working his way up as a runner and encoder, Cornwell became a full-time Flame operator for Absolute. His first project was The Stars Don’t Twinkle in Outer Space, a short film directed by Peter Thwaites, which premiered at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. He’s also worked on spots V8 “Broken Romance” and Verizon “Tarmac”.

Best work: Cornwell’s favorite job is The Valley Lodge video “All of My Loving” in which the singer arrives home to a house full of furniture constructed entirely out of naked men. He led the job, compositing together a naked men bookshelf and erasing modesty thongs from 60 shots.
“I just love being able to take a shot and completely change it,” he says. “I like focusing on small sections and see all the elements come together and composite other elements into it. That’s something I really love and am passionate about.”

They call him Krispy: Cornwell is something of a legend in Absolute’s offices. When a client failed to polish off a box of 22 Krispy Kreme donuts, Cornwell joked he would finish the remaining 18. He immediately found himself the subject of a bet. An office collection netted a pot of money in the hundreds of pounds and, with head of CG Richard Nelson egging him on, he managed the feat before 1pm that day.

“I realized after a couple of mouthfuls that it was not a good idea,” he recalls. “But I made my way through the 18 and since that day, I’ve been known as Krispy both in London and New York.”

www.absolutepost.com