A Celtic Knot: educating for a future in corporate film-making - a practitioner's perspective

In this critical engagement, I attempt to link my professional practice and academic knowledge with the key socio-economic, cultural and political factors that have shaped who I am, what I do and the way I do things in a context of rapid technological change over thirty years.
Combining autoethnography with a critical autobiography, I explore the key themes and threads that, like a Celtic knot, connect my personal self with my work as a film-maker and lecturer. This exploration has revealed personal skills and values that I had previously failed fully to comprehend or even acknowledge; it has helped me realise the significance of storytelling and innovation in my public works; it has improved my articulation of what I do and how I do it; and it has convinced me, a former research-cynic, that practice (action) and academic rigour (research) are opposite sides of the same coin: interlinked and of equal importance.
From international disease prevention and motorcycle safety awareness, to online social networking and citizen empowerment, this statement connects what at first appeared to be disparate threads into a more cohesive whole. The audience is, in the first instance, myself, to inform further public works. Others who may find it useful are students looking to know what is required to make change in a sector that is rapidly changing, and colleagues who come from strong practice fields thinking of developing themselves as professional practitioners in higher education teaching. This doctoral undertaking has changed the way I think and work both as a professional practitioner in film-making and in higher education teaching.