After studying Astro-physics at Durham University, Dougal joined the Leith Agency in Edinburgh as a copywriter. He wrote ads, won lots of awards and started to direct. Three years ago he joined Blink in London. His ascent has been nothing short of meteoric.

He has won Best Music Video Director at the CADS for two years running. His eclectic slate of videos has included work for Dizzee Rascal, Will Young, The Streets, Basement Jaxx, Badly Drawn Boy and Benny Benassi through Colonel Blimp.

The last year has also seen Dougal show the full range of his talents as a commercials director. His most recent work includes Becks (for Leo Burnett), Vodafone (for BBH), Amnesty International (for Mother) and Orange (for Fallon). He has recently featured in Shots, Creative Review, The Face, Dazed & Confused, Boards USA and Promo Magazine where his work made the front cover three times within the last year.

Dougal's awards so far include numerous entries in the D&AD Annual, a nomination for Best New Director at the British Television Advertising Craft Awards, several CADS Awards and the Best Video at The Rushes Soho Shorts Festival for two years in a row. Dougal is the renaissance man of Blink. His work is always strongly idea driven.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON AND WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE REST OF 2006?
Well, I’ve only just finished two music videos - onefor Basement Jaxx - 'Take Me Back to Your House'and one for Badly Drawn Boy - 'Nothing's GonnaChange Your Mind'. I think they're just about togo on TV. The Basement Jaxx one has Cossackdancers in it, and the Badly Drawn Boy one has himdriving a car which has a piano keyboard insteadof a steering wheel. Colin MacIntyre from TheMull Historical Society kindly gave me the idea forthat one. Colin has a new album coming out soon,which everyone should buy. Now I’m "pitching"on some new jobs - a new music video, and someadverts. This involves me listening to a track andtrying to think of an idea for it, or getting an advertscript and deciding how I would film it.

ARE THERE ANY MUSICAL ARTISTS/BANDS YOU ARE A FAN OF AND WOULD LOVE TO WORK WITH?
I've been listening to Midlake and would love to do a video for them. Would also like to do a Teenage Fanclub video. And Bjork. I think I'd be quite nervous making a video for a band I was a huge fan of, in case I messed it up and it ruined everything. I had a chance to do a Brian Wilson video once and I completely squandered it because I was so busy doing something else but also because I was so nervous. I'm not sure Brian was going to be in it though. The Durutti Column have always been one of my favourite bands, but I'm not sure they'd ever want a video. I’m a big fan of Tunnock's Caramel Wafers so I’d love to do a nice advert for them.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU COLLECT OBSESSIVELY? WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING YOU HAVE COLLECTED?
I'm not really much of a collector. I used to be very into old synthesizers - I had a Roland Juno 60, a Jen SX1000, a Realistic ConcertMoog, a Wurlitzer electric piano and a Roland SH-101. Quite a few. But they took up too much room, so I sold them all. I still have a Casio VL-tone which I've had since I was nine and is what Trio used on 'Da Da Da'. I take quite a lot of photos, so I suppose that's a bit of a collection. I've got quite a good collection of Joni Mitchell vinyl. One of my favourite things is The Durutti Column LP called 'Without Mercy', which has a beautiful cover.



DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITE PROJECTS YOU’VE WORKED ON OR CLIENTS YOU’VE WORKED WITH?
I really enjoyed the video I did for Klonhertz (which no one has heard of). We made everything out of paper. I also enjoyed the Dizzee Rascal video shoot because the giant puppet costumes were quite amusing. One of my friends is pathologically scared of puppets and I would have loved her to be there. I really enjoyed the Basement Jaxx video because we shot it in Kiev (where the Cossack dancers were) which was very different and interesting. They had a real Soviet T-34 tank which we drove through the wall of the set.

WHO DO YOU SEE AS YOUR CONTEMPORARIES AND WHO DO YOU RATE?

I saw Matt Kirkby's new short - Hard to Swallow - the other night which I thought was great. I also really like Keith Bearden's short.