Director Steve Burrell Retires

This month marked the end of an era at Lux Aeterna, as our Creative Director Steve Burrell hung up his VFX hat and embarked on a well deserved retirement.

Alongside co-founder and Creative Director Rob, Steve has been a cornerstone of our story from the very beginning. His journey with the studio began over 30 years ago with the founding of Lux Aeterna’s precursor - Burrell Durrant Hifle (BDH) - after Steve, Rob, John Durrant and Pic Haywood met while working at the BBC and decided to forge their own creative path. During those early years Steve and Rob began honing their distinctive visual style by experimenting with film speeds, double and long exposure, pixelation, animation, in-camera techniques and post processes in telecine.

As Creative Director, Steve played a pivotal role in shaping the studio’s visual language and technical ambition. His expertise spanned music visuals, commercials, documentaries and film, helping BDH build a reputation for craft and innovation, and earning numerous industry awards along the way.

When we rebranded as Lux Aeterna in 2022 - transitioning from a 3D CGI and motion graphics studio into a fully fledged VFX company - Steve was instrumental, helping to re-energise our creative thinking while developing the workflows, pipelines and processes that underpin the studio today, while becoming a trusted mentor and inspiration for our compositing team.

Steve leaves with numerous professional highlights under his belt and has helped our studio win recognition from BAFTA, D&AD, EMMY and RTS, but his recent design and direction work on critically acclaimed documentaries in the natural history and documentary space such as A Real Bug’s Life (National Geographic), Human (BBC Studios), Tsunami - Race Against Time (National Geographic), MH370 - The Plane That Disappeared (Netflix) deserve particular mention. Just as important as the awards and industry recognition, however, is the creative, inclusive and warm working culture Steve has nurtured at Lux Aeterna…a truly wonderful legacy. Here are a few words from Rob:

“Over the past three decades, I’ve shared so much more than just work with Steve; the kind of moments that only come from standing shoulder to shoulder through the good times as well as the more challenging ones. It’s been an absolute privilege to work alongside Steve, and I’m deeply grateful for the memories, the friendship, and the legacy he leaves behind.”