James and Danielle work together as a team producing video and documentary work, primarily specialising in the natural world.
JAMES SHERWOOD is a director, cameraman and editor, who grew up in the film and television industry with the dream to become an underwater cameraman. James first started at the Sydney-based production house ZSPACE as a junior, and over a decade and a half has evolved with the industry performing the roles of a runner, tape operator, assistant editor, editor and cameraman. He has worked on and off on a range of jobs, which have included documentaries, music videos, show reels, commercials, promotional packages and a range of other content for all the major Australian networks, including ABC, Channel 7, Channel 9, SBS and Channel 10. His love of nature drove him to take a detour in his career, and so he left Sydney for a few years to graduate with a Bachelor of Marine Science from James Cook University in north Queensland. Now, he still freelances occasionally, while living his childhood dream of working on films to do with nature with Danielle. The highlight of his filming career was swimming with the manta rays in Ningaloo Marine Park with researcher Frazer McGregor. While filming the mantas at a cleaning station, a curious dugong came to say hello and playfully swam beside him.
DANIELLE RYAN is a director, producer, writer and editor. She has a passion for exploring challenging topics which people don’t know a lot about. She first undertook documentary and magazine publishing internships at high school. However, she felt the idea of documentary filmmaking was a pipe dream, until her introduction to broadcast began at Nine Network Australia where she trained with the news desks for six months. She went on to convince film and post-production expert James Sherwood to join her on her adventure, and led the way as a journalist and producer to secure a story about child labour in Nicaragua, which aired on Datelines SBS, 2011. Afterwards, she moved into speech writing and media working for the Australian Government, so she could learn how policy and politics works. She also used this time to learn how to edit and film for broadcast in Canberra and New York at technical colleges. Five years later, the duo has won eight film festival awards. She also has a degree in creative writing and a master of international relations. Like James, she loves the ocean and exploring the world. Locking eyes with the leopard shark was one of the most mesmerising experiences of her life. This graceful and usually shy creature, which looks very much like a miniature whale shark, might have collided into her, if she hadn’t snapped out of it and moved swiftly out of its way.
bluebottlefilms.com 