Photographed model, not photo shopped image.

ME Scenery

Founded June 1992, ME Scenery has celebrated its 21st birthday. A fully fledged Pty Ltd company with ABN. A tenacity for survival. An ability to change. And stronger now than ever before.

In addition to 1000's of TV commercial productions, there has also been plenty of other cool design projects along the way.

Here is the story...

ME Scenery is officially M.E. Scenery. Murray Edwards Scenery. Because it's all about ME.

Consumed with a love for theatre at high school, Murray entered college to study Theatrical Art & Design at the ripe old age of 16. Plunged in to a sea of gays, lesbians, mods, kooks and thespians of all description. It was loud. It was colourful, and it was a blast.

During those 3 years Diploma studies Murray also attended part-time acting school Chimera and trod the boards for a while. Also a mind broadening blast.

He used his student status to break down the work experience doors. Life was busy and full. At the end of 3 years study, Murray had a list of work experience as long as your arm, building sets and making props and getting around in black clothes at night as a back stage theatre Mechanist.

Working life started the same day student life finished. Murray has remained an in demand, self employed creative, ever since. Life has been the work and work has been the life. It's a passion.

ME.  Stronger now than ever before. — ME. Stronger now than ever before.

After all the college shenanigans, work life started with Atlantis Marine Park as a Scenic Artist. 3 month stint during the summer months was just fabulous. So too were the dolphins who would come to greet him when he arrived every morning. The occasional lunchtime swim with them forged memories vivid to this day.

Vivid also is the day he was attacked by Dino the Leopard Seal. So he left,,,

After that were a few wonderful years as a Set Carpenter here in Perth. This was the mid 80's. Things were 'going off' in an economic halcyon kind of way. Ideas were big and bold and confidence was high. Murray worked almost every Opera, Ballet and State Theatre Co production during those few years. Gaining experience at a young age with massive theatre set construction. Gaining terrific professional grounding for all manner of construction techniques under the first class guidance of everyone then attached to the Opera Company workshops. A particular shout out to mentor Fred Everly who taught the importance of pride and quality of workmanship.

Thanks Fred.

So after all the theatre stuff, Murray decided to cross to the dark side of TV & film. Got a job at Taimac Video Corp and was shortly thereafter head hunted by newly formed production company Jordan Stone. A dynamic team who quickly became the flavour of the day. We produced most of the memorable TVC's of that era including some award winners. It was a good creative time.

The move to TV & film exposed Murray to a much more diverse range of challenges in terms of set construction techniques, paint finishing techniques, model making and engineering of special effect rigs.

Still in his early 20's, Murray was already exposed to all of the responsibilities required to get the job done, without fail. Officially a Construction Manager but unbeknownst to him, he was also participating in the design decision making processes along the way. And developing a very unique skillset. All the while mentored by the wonderful Director Terry Stone. Passion for everything you do. Thanks Tel.

And then came the birth of ME Scenery in the early 90's when the opportunity came for Murray to create his own independent sets, props and special effects workshop. Opening the opportunity to work with all production companies far and wide. Virtually all of the local productions. Heaps of visiting national productions. And in those days we also had plenty of visiting international productions. Brands like Mercedes, BMW, Pepsi, Suntory, Kirin, Sony, Shiseido, Nestle, Continental Foods,,,

Time and time again we were expected to perform at international standards and time and time again that is exactly what we did.

For the better part of a decade the ME Scenery workshop produced outstanding results for all sorts of clients. We filmed tonnes of projects inside the workshop. We also turned our specialist design and construction talents to other industry types. Many interior design and other such projects began to creep in to the ME Scenery sights. And Murray was spending more and more time designing and art directing in addition to making things.

Times change. Ideas change. Scripts change. Budgets change. Things progress. Manufacture of film sets in Perth became less frequent as filming on location became the norm, and storylines became more conservative. It was time for Murray to move on. A progression. Less hands-on manufacture, more hands-on Art Direction and Design. "You're manufacturing the cart in order to sell the horse" - words from next great life mentor John Brookfield. Thanks John.

ME Scenery evolved into freelance Art Direction & Design Services, and never looked back.

Then it got a call from Walt Disney.

Walt Disney Imagineering Field Art Director.  Twice. — Walt Disney Imagineering Field Art Director. Twice.

Out of the blue. The phone rang. Long story short. Murray is expatriated to Japan. Contracted by Walt Disney Imagineering and Oriental Land Company as Field Art Director within the Character Paint department for his scenic art, design & people skills. Part of a privileged few from all over the globe. What a blast. Largest single construction project on earth at that time. Shoulder to shoulder with immensely talented people. Murray learns heaps.

One thing leads to another and before you know it, 8 years passed living in Japan. You can't live in Tokyo for that long without it broadening your design mind. To take the boy out of Perth and drop him in the middle of all that stuff. Blend it with all the previous skillsets. As a Perth creative, Murray's all-round experiences are somewhat rare.