James Raynor

James Raynor was born into a life of movies, with both his father and grandfather owning video rental stores. After spending a notable amount of wasted time doodling, he fooled around with the idea of being a cartoonist until seeing The Evil Dead when he was fourteen. Inspired by the creativity on show from director Sam Raimi on such a limited budget, Raynor decided to become a filmmaker. He wouldn't acquire a camera for another two years, but plugged the gap in his repertoire by writing many short scripts, outlines and screenplays. When he finally bought a camera in mid-2000, he cut his teeth shooting footage from field trips and drama productions, testing out techniques and learning the ropes of cinematography and editing.

In 2002, upon attending Thomas Danby College to study Media Production, Raynor began to use his skills on proper, narrative driven shorts.

In 2003, one of these short films ("Running Like Mad") was shown at the Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, with another ("Angry and Moist: An Undead Chronicle") shown at the same cinema the following year. Since then, another three of his films have had theatrical screenings at the venue.

"Angry and Moist" played at the 2004 H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in the USA.

In 2005, he attended the Northern Film School, where he directed two films, "Psychosis" and "The Book" (which he also co-wrote and co-scored). Upon completion of the course, he co-wrote and directed an independently produced short entitled "The Oxenhope Experiment," before re-teaming with "The Book" star Matthew Jay France for the ghost comedy "Stupernatural.