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BARNSLEY

Barnsley comes top of the list of FX artists for an almost implausible number of producers. Real name Andrew Wood, the real-ale-loving lad from South Yorkshire graduated straight from Ravensbourne College to The Mill and has been one of its greatest assets for a good number of the 12 years that he's worked there.

Frances Royle, the head of TV at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, which has worked with Barnsley on ads for Levi's and Barclays, describes him as "quick, efficient, creative, practical, down to earth, unprecious and straightforward.

He's one Flame op who just gets what people are asking for creatively and knows how to translate it on-screen for them."

Barnsley was behind the multi-award-winning PlayStation2 "mountain", directed by Frank Budgen. The Flame expert was involved from pre-production, through the shoot and beyond in order to ensure that the huge people mountain looked as good as possible. Included in his more-than-impressive list of credits is the post-production for another award-winner, Honda "cog".

Rob Steiner, the head of TV at Grey, says: "Barnsley is the housewife's choice, so that makes me a housewife. He never puts anything in your way. When he says something is achievable, it is."

TOM SPARKS

Tom Sparks is widely respected by commercials producers. The Flame operator, who is known for never wearing shoes, started his career in the mid-80s at Rushes, then worked at The Mill and co-founded Smoke & Mirrors, before launching the post-production outfit Play three years ago with Tom Hollis. Hollis is now directing and Sparks works under his own steam.

One of his recent jobs was the post-production for Mercedes' "peace at last" spot, directed by Budgen. Steiner is a big Sparks fan: "Frank Budgen's Mercedes spot is absolute class craft. It stands out a mile from any other FX work, although I'm sure a lot was achieved in camera. And Tom Carty's Lynx is a fine balance of humour and craft. Sparks gives you confidence to go out and challenge what you can achieve in camera and then gives you more."

Sparks' personal favourites among his many jobs include working on a Smirnoff spot with Tarsem for Lowe and both Volvo and Dunlop with Tony Kaye. Other directors he has worked with include Chris Palmer, Dante Ariola and Vince Squibb.

Paul Rothwell, the managing director at the production company Gorgeous, describes him as "an integral part of the creative process, rather than the final part. With Tom you use him from the very start in every aspect."

ALEX LOVEJOY

Alex Lovejoy has worked his way up through the ranks at The Moving Picture Company at record speed since joining in 1996, and is now a senior VFX supervisor. He has post-production in his blood, with a father who edited The Shining. Among Lovejoy's more recent jobs, he can count Guinness "moth" by the director Walter Stern, the Guinness "redemption" commercial, which was directed by Anthony Minghella, and Frederic Planchon's "forest" spot for the Tetrapak brand.

Francine Linsey, the head of television at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, says of him: "Alex has all the skills, including a great sense of humour, to make him one of the best. He instinctively knows what his clients want to achieve creatively and executes it with speed and dexterity."

At Academy, the producer Mark Whittow-Williams says that Lovejoy thinks before he leaps: "There's something about the way he works, he's a great problem-solver." Whittow-Williams describes how Lovejoy came on shoot in Brazil for Guinness "moth" and, rather than making impractical changes to the shoot, would work out any potential problems and suggest a little tweak that could make all the difference.

ANDY BOYD

Andy Boyd is the head of 3-D commercials at Framestore CFC and one of the best computer graphics animators around. He's been at Framestore for just two years and has worked on Johnnie Walker "tree", PlayStation's "golf", Cadbury's "egg" and a US ad about SUVs for Ford, where Daniel Kleinman directs a car turning into a beast.

Kleinman has great faith in Boyd: "Andy has a great knowledge of different software and techniques, which is a great attribute when tackling complicated jobs. He seems accomplished in every area of the 3-D process. He is always prepared to do a little more to make the final CG as good as it can be."

Before joining Framestore, the South African-born animator worked at Glassworks and has experience of CG animation for music videos and features, as well as commercials. He spent six months in 2002 working on the digital spiders in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Helen Powlette, a producer at BBH, who worked with Boyd and the six-man animation team on Johnny Walker "tree", recalls: "I remember him making our lives so much easier. We did a huge shoot in Vancouver and placed our imaginary tree in all sorts of backdrops to give it a real feel. To have someone create that reality was quite amazing."

LUDO SEALY

There are just a couple of post-production operators in London who can boast an Emmy. Ludo Sealy, the head of 2D at Glassworks, is one of them.

Although the Emmy was for work on a broadcast production, Sealy, who has notched up ten years of experience as a lead Inferno operator, has worked on ad campaigns for the likes of Adidas and Stella Artois. He's also worked with a tranche of highly respected commercials directors including Vaughan Arnell, Chris Cunningham, Ivan Zacharias and Lynn Fox.

Tim Page, the head of television at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, recently worked with Sealy on a Virgin Trains spot, directed by WHO at Great Guns. According to Page: "He's very easy going with a good sense of fun, but he also likes a challenge and nothing seems to daunt him.

Ludo wants to push the boundaries, so if he can push the technology he'll bring another level of expertise - give it more of a wow factor. He allows directors to do what they want to do, so that they have more flexibility."