Vale Ray Black: Legend of the Western Australian production and post production industry
January 28 2015, 8:54 am | | 17 Comments
Campaign Brief was saddened to hear of the passing of Ray Black this week, after a battle with cancer.
‘Blackie’, as he was almost universally known, was a legend of the local production and post-production industry, firstly as senior editor & operations manager at Channel Nine, then at Editel for 24 years, and finally as MD at The Digital Imagineers, the company he set up with David Aspinall in 2006.
Over his 40-year career, Blackie witnessed all of the major technological innovations in the sector and introduced many of them to Perth.
17 Comments
Sad news. Shared many a laugh with Blackie over the years. Our industry has lost a genuinely nice bloke who will be sorely missed. Condolences to the family.
There’ll be a lot more swearing in Heaven.
And quite a bit more laughter.
He’ll be missed by many for longer than most.
Condolences to all those close to him.
Very sorry to hear about the passing of Ray Black. One of the pioneers of post production in Perth. My condolences and best wishes to his family.
Sad news. Worked with Blackie in the 80’s at Nine….gIant of our production Industry in WA. RIP .
A man with a big and generous heart to go with his wicked sense of humor.
Thanks for the anatomy lessons Blackie. You will be missed. Top bloke.
One of the industry’s nicest guys. He was always so generous with sharing his knowledge and was such a great mentor to many young people in both production and advertising.
So many great memories buddy, the post production industry has lost a giant, it’s like taking the key ingredient out of Coke, it will never be the same without you.
Sorry to hear the news. RIP Blackman.
Very sad news. Always loved going down to Editel to (a) see Blackie work his magic, and (b) listen to his crap jokes. Miss you, mate. D
Blackie, you introduced me to the industry many years ago and continued to be a great mentor throughout my career, what a great man! One of your sayings “Alright then, I’ll disappear now”…Blackie, you never will! RIP
So sad to hear, my condolences to all of Blackie’s family.
What an absolute champion bloke and the hardest working post production perfectionist I ever had the good fortune to work with. I fondly remember the good old days at Editel, churning out AMV ads by the gejillion – always late, always getting changed and never without some client induced drama after the Couriers and the Station Traffic Managers had gone home. Never fazed Blackie though; he kept going and just cracked even more of his gags and laughed at them even louder.
Always rang up the next morning to check if everything was ok and to thank us for the business. Can just see Blackie, Colin and Flanno sitting at the Heavenly Bar laughing and taking the piss out of each other over a lemonade. RIP Ray.
Well said Carrick.
The kids in the industry don’t realise what a great industry we had back then. Everyone knew everyone and we all socialised together at every opportunity.
Very sad to hear that Ray has passed away. Since I moved away from Perth I’ve missed my boozy lunches with Ray in the better restaurants around town. He was always generous to a fault and good for a few corny jokes – the cornier the better! Ray was a good friend and I’m sad to see him go. RIP Ray, you will be sorely missed.
Blackie…great bloke, massively funny, one of the best cursers in history and a very very good operator. Best wishes to his family.
in fondest memory of RAY, you fought so hard to stay.
We first met Ray in the 1970’s, when you were a teenager and working at HOYTS CINEMA 1, as a projectionist.
You will be sadly missed.
Our condolences to all of those who loved him
Ina and George Webber
Bon Voyage Blackie, here’s to you Mate! The cutter from hell will now be wielding the digital snippets in heaven – and what productions they’ll be. You were the only bloke on the planet who could out joke me in an edit session. Say hi to big Kev Leavy for me. Adiios amigo, Vorno