Crawley Creatures

Crawley Creatures; About Us

Biography: Jez Gibson Harris

After leaving Art College, Jez started his career in 1980 at Nick Maley’s Make-Up EFX Ltd.

His first major feature film was The Dark Crystal for Jim Henson. On Greystoke the Legend of Tarzan he went on to create some of the animatronics for the apes with Make-up FX wizard Rick Baker. He continued onto the George Lucas film Willow and was a key member of the team making the animatronics for one of cinemas greatest film creatures; Jabba the Hutt on Return of the Jedi.

Crawley Creatures was established in 1986 in the Oxfordshire village of Crawley, producing Animatronic Creatures, Prosthetic Make-ups, Action props and Models, for feature films, television and commercials.

We have made action props for Event Horizon, and Animatronics for Flintstones, 007 Tomorrow Never Dies, American Werewolf in Paris and the Little Vampire, to name but a few. In 1997 we began the BBC1/Discovery landmark series Walking with Dinosaurs, for which we won an Emmy and two RTS awards. As a result of the series success we met HM the Queen & Prince Phillip at the opening of the Walking with Dinosaurs exhibition in York. And, prime Minister Tony Blair at the Millennium Dome to receive a Millennium Products Award.

Over the last couple of years other programmes have included C4/Discovery Neanderthal, Ancient Egyptians and Iceworld. BBC1/Discovery Walking with Beasts, Ballad of Big Al, Land of Giants, The Giant Claw, Sea Monsters and Monsters We Met.
For BBC1 Drama, we produced Prosthetics and Animatronics for The Lost World, The Hound of the Baskervilles and the Legend of the Tamworth Two.

Recent projects include the latest Walking with.. programme the prequel, Walking with Monsters for BBC1/Discovery.
Dragons, was made for C4/Discovery (Discovery Channel’s biggest viewing figures since W w Dinosaurs). This year we made a giant set for The Ultimate Experiment series for C5, on Stonehenge Live and a hoax Nessie for The Loch Ness Monster. Prosthetics for Horizon programmes, Neanderthal and the Hobbit and BBC Bristol’s a Natural history of the British Isles.

Crawley Creatures

In the last couple of years we have expanded into the area of Robotics. Developing a computer controlled robotic head for the UK MoD, and the US DoD for testing CB masks. Our current project has been to design and develop a running mannequin for testing clothing and masks for the Canadian Government, Defence R&D Canada.
Also we designed and produced a robotic sparrow which was shown at Tate Modern for two Scandinavian Artists.

Awards for Crawley Creatures
We have won several awards over the years including; two Baftas and four Bafta nominations, an Emmy and three Emmy nominations in Visual Effects. Two Royal Television Society, RTS awards, a TRIC and a Millennium Products Award.

Credit List

Feature Films

Pop Promos

The Dark Crystal
Inseminoid
Star Wars, Return of the Jedi
Greystoke, The Legend of Tarzan
Never Ending Story 1&2
Lifeforce
Hypersapiens
Princess Bride
Deep Star 6
Atlantic
Twice upon a Time
Willow
Kafka
Little Buddah
Flintstones
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
No Escape
Hackers
Snow White in the Black Forest
An American Werewolf in Paris
Event Horizon
007 Tomorrow Never Dies
The Avengers
Little Vampire

Commercials - UK

Mercedes x3
Ford Fiesta
Jaguar
BMW
Shell
ESSO
Otto von Lotto
Lenor
Grand Marnier
Maggi foods
Interspar
Siemans, mobile phones
Muller, Yoghurt
Monteil
Dualito, Chocolate
Mr. Tom
Cliff, Aftershave
Quella, magazine
Mc Cain, Pizza
Baileys Irish Cream

Snakes, Anglia
Aids, H.M.Prisions
Anti-Litter, U.K.
Anti-Smoking, Germany
Sexual Imperitive, BBC
Taggart, Scottish T.V.
Xmas Logo 1990 CH4
Xmas Ident 1995 LWT
Road Safety, Turkey
Harry’s Mad 3, Central
Blue Baby, Germany
Lost World, U.K.
Flying Dream, Japan
Anti- Drugs Campaign, Scotland
Wildlife on One, BBC
Wasps, New Zealand T.V.
Eagles, BBC
Supersense, BBC
Mummified Body, John Downer Productions
Walking With Dinosaurs, BBC/Disc.
Human Chemistry, BBC/Disc.
Neanderthal, C4/Disc.
Walking with Beasts, BBC/Disc.
Land of the Mammoth, Disc.
The Lost World, BBC/A&E
Mastodon, Disc.
Iguanas, BBC
Ballad of big Al, BBC/Disc.
Monster We Met, BBC/Disc.
Iceworld C4/Disc.
Land of Giants, BBC/Disc.
The Giant Claw, BBC/Disc.
Ancient Egyptians, BBC/Disc.
Sea Monsters, BBC/Disc.
Hound of the Baskervilles, BBC
The Legend of the Tamworth Two, BBC
Walking with Monsters, BBC1/Disc
Dragons, C4/Disc
Stonehenge Live, the Ultimate Experiment C5
The Loch Ness Monster, the Ultimate Experiment C5
Toumai, Nat. Geo.
Horizon, Neanderthal, BBC/Disc
Horizon, Hobbit, BBC/Disc
A Natural History of the British Isles, BBC

Commercials - Germany

Fiat Tippo
Topps Sweets
Swatch
Golden Grahams
Rodenia Watches
Dutch Radio 1&2
Volkswagon
Respol
Pescanova
Grundig
Nestle
Burger King
Aifa Corn Oil

Duran Duran, Wild Boys
Genesis, Age of Confusion
Lou Reed, No Money down
Spandau Ballet, Through the Barricades
Waterboys
Mike Oldfield

Commercials - UK

Mansfield Bitter
Tagamet HP
Scottish Energy Board
Anchor Mouse
Audioline
Comet
Ariel Ultra
Always
Reuters/CNN
Dettox
Waddingtons, Hornby and Bluebird Toys
Dark world
Give the Dog a Bone
Dash &Dine
Handle Bar hound
Runaway Roller
World Cup Cricket
Enchanted Kingdom
Last Unicorn
Chilly Silly Penguins
Mad Dogs
Incy wincy Spider
Clever Cook
Creepy Cauldron
Mighty Max
Power Rangers
Polly Pocket
Crazy Crab
Get Set