Our ‘Best Hair’ at ICE top three finalists got off to a fairly standard start. We had Bethan from Tree Top Films and Hannah from House of Zinthos both shortlisted.
And then we had founder of Tree Top Films, Owain Hopkins…
Guess who won?
We sat down with Owain to talk about his award win and find out a little bit about what Tree Top Films does.
What does Tree Top Films do?
We do all sorts video production, usually for small businesses. For example we recently filmed a short film for a nature reserve. We also do animations and recently got a lot of work off the back of doing a short animation for fellow member Wize Virtual Admin, which was great.
Have you always wanted to go into video production?
Definitely. As soon as I left university, about sixteen years ago, I assumed the jobs would come flying but what I didn’t realise was that there wasn’t much out there. I graduated with a 2:2 so felt I was automatically at a disadvantage as it seems that many employers will disregard you unless you have a First.
After ten years of looking for work, I realised that this wasn’t happening and that my showreel was pretty rubbish. I got to thirty and had a bit of mid-mid-life crisis and thought to myself that I had to start doing this properly otherwise I was never going to do what I actually want to do. I decided to start small and saved up for a camera. The first few jobs were terrible pay but slowly I could use that money, get better lenses, get a better camera and eventually get an office (at Welsh ICE). Now I’ve even got my first employee!
Onto the award.. were you surprised to win ‘Best Hair’ at ICE?
Surprised is probably the wrong word, maybe offended? Nah, to be in with Bethan and Hannah, was funny as they clearly had the best hair. I think a while back I made a joke on the ICE Facebook group which seemed to catch on and get a little out of hand. It’s a bit like when Arnold Schwarzenegger was voted Mayor, it started out as a joke and suddenly he’s won. I’ve got a sneaky suspicion about a certain group of five, all working for the same company leading it a bit.
When we first added up the votes to find our finalists, you made top three but were definitely trailing behind Hannah and Bethan.
So there you go, I was surprised, but honoured as well. I like to think that people may have voted because of my personality and that they believe that naturally if I did have hair, it would be amazing. So… maybe they weren’t voting for my hair as it is now, but for the hair I could have had…
That must be it. Is there any bad feeling in the office, Bethan (your co-worker and fellow finalist) isn’t bitter?
Beth’s not bitter, no. I gave her the hairspray because as lovely as the prizes were, I wasn’t going to be using the hairspray for stubble. I’ve still got the gel, so if anyone’s interested they can pop to the office, it’s of no use to me! So no, no hard feelings, at least not when I’m there. Who knows what they’re saying when I’m not.
Obviously this is quite a prestigious award, have you noticed that anyone’s been treating you any differently now that you’re practically a superstar?
Very prestigious. Well, I imagine when I walk through ICE now people are like ‘Wow, look, it’s the best hair guy!’ where as before I was just some randomer… now I’m the guy with the best hair at ICE. So it’s an honour at the end of the day.
Do you have a hair care routine you’d like to share with us?
My routine is shave the head once a month, then get a partner who is willing to check it’s all even. It’s the easiest hairstyle to have… No hair drying, styling, just look in the mirror and make sure my face is okay -there’s definitely a whole lot more face to work with.
My top tip is to use it when you can. At school I never did much to my hair in case it fell out and it fell out anyway, yet I had this friend who had dreadlocks and clipped things into his hair and now it’s probably stronger than ever.
Maybe yours got a bit offended because you weren’t paying it attention?
Yeah, there’s no love. No combing, no gel, I’m off!
We may find that the David Beckham effect happens, are you expecting to see lots of people strutting around with the same hairstyle any time soon?
Yeah, I’d like to think that could happen. Josh (Bomper Studio) just got engaged a few weeks after me, maybe he’ll copy the hairstyle soon too. I’d like to see Huw do it, definitely, what an honour that would be. That would be great!
I’m looking forward to handing the award over next year, hopefully the next winner might even have some hair!
Thanks Owain! You can learn more about Tree Top Films on their website or by following them on Twitter.