Musical link for two Teesside graduates

A music video viewed by fans worldwide has been created with the involvement of two talented Teesside University graduates – one of them also an honorary graduate.

School of Computing graduate Achilleas Gatsopoulos was involved in producing the music video which stars singer Skin, herself a former Teesside student and honorary graduate.

Achilleas was involved in the design and post-production of the video for new track If This Ain’t Love, by high profile house music artists Erick Morillo and Eddie Thoneick, featuring Skin on vocals.

Skin, also known as Deborah Dyer and singer with band Skunk Anansie, graduated from Teesside with a BA (Hons) Interior Architecture & Design in 1989. She became an honorary graduate in 2000, receiving a Master of Arts.

Originally from Athens, Greece, Achilleas graduated from Teesside in 2002. He currently lives in Germany, specialising in concept visuals, post-production and videos.

Since graduating he has worked on films such as Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and diverse acts in the music industry, from pop to heavy metal. He has also worked on event projects with companies such as Vodafone, Warner Brothers, O2, Absolut Vodka, Selfridges, Sainsbury's and Top Shop.

Achilleas said: 'I came to Teesside when I was 17 as I was looking for a creative degree in computer animation. Teesside is extremely well regarded in this area and the options within the course were numerous.

'The creative visualisation degree focused on computer animation but also provided options in areas such as web design, multimedia, digital compositing and digital illustration.'

Skin said: 'I remember my years at Teesside as being fun and full of experimentation. I joined my first band there and playing at the Students' Union gave me a taste of things to come. It was great to see the end product of the video Achilleas worked on, during the filming all the work was shot on green screen so I had no idea what it would eventually look like, I think he did a wonderful job.'

Teesside University Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Henderson, CBE, said: 'I’m delighted that Deborah, as one of our honorary graduates, is continuing her links with Teesside University through work with a fellow graduate. All of us at Teesside wish her continued success in her career.'

Achilleas added: 'I moved to Berlin in 2009 as a consequence of studying at Teesside, having spent a year in Germany in 2000 on internship with a visual effects company. The experience was amazing, not only on a professional level, dealing with real world tasks gaining experience, but on a personal level too as I was introduced to a new country and culture.

'I got more than I was hoping for from Teesside University. I thoroughly enjoyed the international crowd and made some great friends for life.'

He added: 'My involvement in the music video featuring Skin was my second collaboration with director and my friend George Tsioutsias. We worked on the design together and I provided the compositing and visual effects.'

Chris Williams, Head of Animation and Visual Effects in the University’s School of Computing, said: 'Achilleas brought a creative eye and a flair for achieving technical excellence to his work. His final project was to design and create a promo video for a Swedish rock band, and it's no surprise to see him doing similar work now on a professional level and even more interesting to see him working with another Teesside graduate from an entirely different discipline.'

Watch the video

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