Tom Staniford Breaks Down His “Creative Kung-Fu”
Photo: Richie Hopson
First rising to prominence as director of photography for the Hillsborough charity single ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’, which claimed the Christmas number one spot, Tom quickly carved a niche in the advertising world. His time as a freelance director and cinematographer saw him collaborating with iconic brands like Jaguar Land Rover, Fender, and Unilever, all while developing a signature style that blends narrative, mood, and aesthetics. This passion for pushing boundaries culminated in the launch of Gusto Film in 2019, where Tom and his team harness ‘creative kung-fu’ – more on which below – to turn ambitious visions into award-winning campaigns.
Whether mentoring emerging filmmakers through the Matchbox Film Awards or innovating on set with AI-driven techniques, Tom continues to prove that creativity thrives at the intersection of discipline, playfulness, and imagination. His story is one of relentless exploration.
LBB’s Zoe Antonov sat down with Tom to find out more about his years playing and creating music, his visions for Gusto, and more.
LBB> Tom, tell me about your background in music, and overall your start in creativity – how does this background affect your career today?
Tom> I’d been in bands, played session bass and eventually toured as a singer songwriter for my adult life up to age 30. This led me to making music videos and having a strong sense of direction in how I approach music in my film work, expressing myself in that department has always been very natural. During my early twenties I also worked for my dad’s corporate video company, this was primarily tape transfer, talking heads and conferences, pretty dry stuff but he used to let me run wild trying out other ideas and new technology with his clients and I had a lot of headroom to experiment there (as long as it brought money).
It was around the time the Canon 5D came out and changed the game! After a year there we both decided I needed to go freelance to chase the music dream and a more creative film route, but that early experimentation and grounding got me started for the rest of my career.
LBB> You gained prominence as a DoP on a Christmas campaign – a niche in adland that is easily gotten wrong. How did you do it and what effect did that project have on your career?
Tom> I think more than anything it gave me confidence, especially earlier on in your career we’re all looking for those big ‘made it’ moments, where you’re working with names that your mum might recognise. Being spitting distance from Robbie Williams and Paloma Faith in a vocal booth where you just get their raw accapella voice was epic, and that just gives you a buzz and confidence to fly closer and closer to the sun in some ways. A lot of what we filmed was super lean from a production POV, turning over very quickly with minimal notice or setup time and zero retakes. So I think that made me realise the absolute priority is about what’s happening in front of the camera and that raw talent trumps elaborate lighting setups and complex camera moves.
LBB> You also spent quite some time freelancing. Tell me more about this time in your career and some of the most memorable projects you were on? What challenges did freelancing come with, and what was the most rewarding part of it?
Tom> My freelance career was really fun, it was super varied and took me all over the place. One of my most memorable gigs was being a director of photography at a Manchester United shoot. We were filming some poses and ball skills in the locker room, and we had each player for precisely eight minutes with a ten-minute lighting setup and angle change between each player and a four-man crew.
The pressure was intense and kind of hilarious but we got some great stuff (but still not allowed to put it on our showreel, bloody shame). I also had a fun gig out in the Caribbean filming a 60 minute doco in St Kitts and Nevis. It was ten days on the island with a small crew, filming a very stern but very athletic 90-year-old lady storming up and down mountains presenting to the camera.
I think the biggest challenge with freelance life for me was not letting it dominate my entire life, it’s a very addictive thing, you’re getting that dopamine hit of being in demand, you’re getting paid well for it, you get to play with exciting toys and all sides of your brain is firing off. So this is the challenge…but also clearly the reward.
LBB> During your freelance you were also nominated for Agency Partner of the Year. What did that mean to you and how important was it for your progression?
Tom> It was a really big deal, I think it was about one year into launching our little production agency when it was just my producer Dan, our editor Mitch and myself. We worked our asses off to create a series of animations for Unilever and we poured our heart and soul into it and got super chummy with the client. They trusted us to push the envelope for them creatively and we really took it to an extraordinary place. Then out of the blue we got a formal letter in the post from the executive vice president saying we’d been nominated for Agency Partner of the Year, we didn’t win but it was still a huge validation. What I hate the most is that in one of our office moves we lost the letter! I wanted to frame it.
LBB> Over the years, how did your storytelling style develop and what informed your creative voice? What defines it today?
Tom> I wouldn’t say I have a fixed storytelling style but I’ve always been drawn to leave something, and sometimes a lot, to the viewer's imagination. I don’t like giving away the punchline, spelling out the resolve or telling someone how to feel or what action to take at the end of a film.
It’s a bit like therapy, but I think it’s important for the viewer to have the ‘Aha!’ moment in their own head. I think that’s more powerful and at times gives them a little more respect (and so hopefully there’s a two-way respect between the brand and viewer.) This is certainly how I make music selections; I’m repelled by tracks that, in a no-unclear way, just tell you, ‘You should feel like this!’. There should always be something left for the audience to complete in their own mind.
My creative voice certainly leans more towards the playful and the over-the-top. I adore witty, ridiculous, and outright nonsense. But on the complete other end of the spectrum I have a huge affinity for going into really tough, difficult emotional spaces, the deeper human side of things, and as a result we’ve always been popular with charities. I’ve always described my creative voice as sitting on either side of the see-saw.
LBB> In 2019 you launched Gusto Film – why was this an important step, and why was it the right time to take it?
Tom> Up to this point, it was a little old me directing, filming, editing, animating and servicing all my clients, and it was getting silly. My band and music days had just come to a natural end and I wanted a fresh start and to get rid of my former juvenile, long winded company name Major Minor Media. I knew I wanted to create another form of ‘band’, so hired my ex-band manager Dan Hills to come onboard as an assistant, producer, writer, all rounder. Both of us being fresh to the high-end commercial world we were full of beans – this is how the name Gusto just felt right. He was my right hand man for four years and has now moved on to The Mill as a senior colour producer, I’m very proud. We still work together now.
LBB> Tell me about the 'creative kung-fu' that Gusto Film lives by. What does this philosophy of creativity mean and does it lend itself to more adventurous processes?
Tom> These words don’t typically belong together, I love a weird word pairing… and to be frank this one really rolls off the tongue. When we coined this phrase it just seemed to fit, there’s such a parallel between these words. It’s an art form, it’s shrouded in mystery, it’s precise but when applied effectively it can be so powerful, it’s also about discipline and harmony. These are all really important aspects that contribute to the creative approaches that come out of Gusto.
LBB> Tell me about some projects that benefited from the 'creative kung-fu' Gusto Film performs, and that perhaps required some more robust problem solving?
Tom> We needed to shoot ten talking oven gloves for a Morrisons’ campaign last Christmas. Each of these needed to be shot against ten unique home backgrounds, all that aesthetically tied into the main hero ad. Set builds were out of the question and printed backdrops were suggested by the agency.
We knew the size of paper rolls were going to have to be massive to be set back far enough to not catch glare from the foreground lighting, and we had no flexibility to experiment with them on the fly as well as having to then strike vast amounts of paper waste at the end of the shoot. So instead we used photos of the hero ad set and AI to generate our different backgrounds, adding in various tweaks with generative fill then used an 85inch OLED screen on set to display the backgrounds. It was such a flexible way of shooting that meant we were able to manipulate the virtual sets, add in little touches and warp the perspective to match our camera all on the fly, not to mention provide a really rich vivid background.
We’re always looking for hacks to level up our productions without having to go to the client cap in hand for more budget. It’s about being as potent as possible with less, that’s the creative kung-fu.
LBB> What sparks excitement in audiences these days?
Tom> I don’t think it’s about creating FOMO, I think it’s about creating a sense of ‘I could’ in a viewer. I’m big into commercials that either give the audience a sense of wonder, of life amplified, or show the everyday moment that we all recognise but in a wild and wonderful way. I think showing perspectives that we wouldn’t normally see in real life spark excitement. Rollo Hollins and Josh Cohen do an amazing job of this. I’m a big fan of their work.
LBB> Gusto's expertise is a mix of narrative, mood and aesthetics – would you say that's reflective of your own expertise? How do these mix? What brands does this blend attract mostly?
Tom> I wouldn’t say it’s entirely reflective of my own expertise, my strong points are mood and aesthetics. For me those are driven feelings and I’m pretty good at expressing those instinctively. I mostly hand over the narrative to our directors and editors who have more brain space and patience, and I’m totally fine with that!
I believe narrative, mood and aesthetics are the only building blocks for a commercial. It’s the story and the why, the overall sentiment or feeling we’re trying to inspire and it’s the look. Having a clear and compelling direction for all of these, and having them working as a symphony together is attractive for any brand. The magic comes from which of the many elements of production we then call upon or emphasise to shape that narrative, mood or aesthetic; it’s a puzzle with a million possibilities. I think how we put that together is how a production company gets its own voice.
LBB> What is the most exciting thing in the future right now?
Tom> The most exciting thing for me right now is the very act of being excited about the future. The progression of the company, the hires we’re making, the briefs we’re winning, the whole team feel it, the office literally vibrates with it some weeks. We’ve come a long way in the last few years but we have so much room to grow, we haven’t peaked too early and I think that’s an exciting blessing.
