JUF

Who is JUF

My name is John Urquhart Ferguson and I like to explore my own creativity. I enjoy writing, making films and taking photographs. I enjoy other things as well, but that's enough to be going on with. Have a look around and let me know what you think.

This site is mostly a place for me to put my writing. If that's the sort of thing you're interested in, you can scroll down to find out more about it or jump straight to my blog and stories sections.

Or if you want something visual thats not too abysmal, you can also scroll down to find out a little more about my efforts to make films and take photos. You know ... if that's your kind of thing.

If you'd like to contact me for any reason, you are best using keybase. If you just want to follow along to my nonsense outside of this site, you can click the links below.

Writing

I have grown to enjoy writing a great deal over the years, though I used to have a love/hate relationship with it. I liked planning for writing and I enjoyed typesetting what I'd written, but I didn't particularly enjoy getting the words out of my head. However, as the years have rolled on I've come to enjoy the process more than anything else.

In my spare time I like to pretend I'm a novelist. I have a few book ideas on the go and I'm sure one of them will be out any decade now. The only work of mine you can buy at the moment is my non-fiction PhD thesis: Mutually Reinforcing Systems. Though you can also read it for free and download it from the University of Glasgow.

I've also written a few short stories which you can read on this very website.

Please do read some of the things I have written. If you like them, let me know. If you hate them, let me know. If you think it's all pretty middle of the road, let me know. But, most importantly, let me know why.

Film and Animation

I seem to be spend a great deal more time working on films and animations than I do completing them. However, I have had some small measure of success in working on music videos and I have listed them here for your entertainment.

If you would like a full run down of my music video credits, you can find most of the information at my page on the Internet Music Video Database.



Belle and Sebastian - "Your Cover's Blown (Miaoux Miaoux Mix)"


Director: Graeme O'Hara

Producer: Graeme O'Hara

Cast: Hannah Murray

Visual Effects Supervisor: John Ferguson


I was lucky enough to be the visual effects supervisor on this great video from Belle and Sebastian. It was shot in Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland over a two day shoot and my post-production work then took a fairly solid month of seven days a week, all waking hours effort.

This video also stars Hannah Murray, whom you may know from her roles in Skins and Game of Thrones.

Deacon Blue - "A New House"


Director: Graeme O'Hara

Producer: Graeme O'Hara

Visual Effects Consultant: John Ferguson


Deacon Blue are a fun band and I got to do a little work on the visual effects in this video. It's a great song too. I think Graeme O'Hara did a fantastic job with it.

Something, Someone. - "Take to the Sky"


Director: John Ferguson

Producers: Emma K. Fitzgibbon, Bob Rafferty

Visual Effects Supervisor: John Ferguson


This was my first time directing a live action music video. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it and 'Something, Someone.' were fantastic to work with. You can hear their lead singer and composer performing now as Emme Woods. It was shot at Whitelee Wind Farm and Seamill in Scotland for a budget of around £50.

I will be forever indebted to Bob and K for giving me so much help with this. I really don't think I could have done it without them.

Jo Mango - "The Black Sun"


Director: Graeme O'Hara

Producer: Graeme O'Hara

Visual Effects Supervisor: John Ferguson


My favourite musician in the world when I was at University was Jo Mango. She still is actually. That's why it was such a dream to be asked to do the visual effects for this music video.

Bitter Ruin - "Pushin' Out The Light"


Director: Graeme O'Hara

Producers: M.C. Lagan, Graeme O'Hara

VFX Consultant: John Ferguson


I only really did one shot for this music video by Bitter Ruin. However, it's such a nice wee song and such a cool wee video that I'm still pretty proud to have been involved. Also, that one shot took forever and had to be done frame by frame.

STATIC UNION - "Turn Out The Lights"


Director: Bob Rafferty

Producer: Bob Rafferty

Cast: Joanne Pirrie (Dancer)

Assistant Director: John Ferguson


This video, folks. I mean, you gotta watch it. It's like... wow. The music is awesome, but Joanne might be the most mesmerising person alive. STATIC UNION really bring it. We filmed this in Glasgow at various public and secret locations.

Zoey Van Goey - "My Aviator"


Director: John Ferguson

Producer: John Ferguson

Everything Except The Music: John Ferguson


Zoey Van Goey were a superb band. They once ran a competition to see who could make the best video for their song 'My Aviator.' I did not win, but this was my entry. It was the first music video I ever made and was made in just over a week with a budget of £0. Despite not winning the competition and having a lot of rough edges, I've always been rather fond of it. Hopefully you like it too.

STATIC UNION - "Accelerator"


Director: Bob Rafferty

Producer: Bob Rafferty

Assistant Director: John Ferguson


This video is something of a sibling to STATIC UNION's "Turn Out The Lights" video as it was filmed in similar locations and around the same time period. We went for quite a dense visual style and tried to highlight the complexity of Glasgow. I think it came out really well.

STATIC UNION - "Finally"


Director: Bob Rafferty

Producer: Murray Buchanan

Cast: Emmi Keane (Runner)

Assistant Director: John Ferguson


Shot in Troon and Glasgow, I was lucky enough to work again with the guys from STATIC UNION. There is a great driving force to this video which the guys and Emmi Keane sell very well.

Photography and Illustration

I very much enjoy drawing and taking photographs. I've tried painting as well but I'm not very good at it. I rather hope that I will get better if I learn to use my graphics tablet instead of real paint, but the results of that will have to wait.

A select number of my photographs and drawings can be seen in the cute little widget there. Click on a photo to embiggen it and start the slideshow, or you can head on over to my flickr page to see more.