Culley Bunker calls himself a Composite Guru. The exact definition of that title might be open for interpretation, but basically, he makes shots (the on-screen variety) look better. “I do a bunch of stuff,” explains Bunker, “green screen, DVD authoring and compression, effects, and clean up. Right now I’m working on a ton of music videos, commercials, and the occasional movie (for example: Spider-Man 2 and The Aviator.”

After cultivating a professional client list with top shops like Base 2 Studios in Los Angeles and production houses like Sony and Warner Brothers, Bunker decided to broaden his horizons, transforming his staff role into one with more flexibility. “Continuing to be a full-time employee just wasn’t in my best financial interest anymore. Back when I first got into the industry, I wanted a staff job because I wanted to make sure I could pay all my bills. After working for a long time and making a lot of contacts, I started to get calls every other week to see if I was busy. Now, I can mix it up and network more and make more money,” he says.

Bunker’s mixed bag of projects has included so many music videos that he finds it difficult to remember many of them, so we did some digging. A (very) short list: Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For” (which earned a nomination for Best Visual Effects at last year’s Music Video Production Awards), Kelly Clarkson’s “Miss Independent” and “Let’s Get It Started” by the Black Eyed Peas.

According to Bunker (and given the profile of the track, maybe this isn’t a big surprise), “Let’s Get It Started” was a big career highlight. “That video was huge, that’s like my baby,” he says. He feels like music videos are a labor of love because the budgets are considerably smaller than commercials or videos, but, on the flip side, they allow you to be creative. “Some [directors] don’t know what they want and if you can give them a lot in a short amount of time, then that’s great. Even though the hours are long, the good part is that the projects themselves are not.”

Meanwhile, the big money lies in commercial work and feature length films. “Commercials are fun and they pay a lot of money for a very short amount of time. In some ways they are easier because usually everyone involved knows what they want and can describe it to you. Movies are like that too, but they are specific and you have to be meticulous. One shot could take you a month to complete.” His latest movie effort, however, is top secret. “I can’t say the one I’m going to work on. It’s on the down low…”

Even with the veil of secrecy, however, it’s obvious that Bunker is enjoying his work – and he’s recently expanded his efforts out of the realm of freelance and into entreprenership, with his own company Skulley B FX Studios. One recent project had Skulley B working on a Cadillac commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. “I started my own company because this industry is always transforming and I want to grow along side it,” he explains. “You always have to keep teaching yourself or somebody else is going to learn it and do a better job than you.” That learning started at Full Sail, and it’s kept him motivated throughout his career. “Full Sail got me where I’m at and it taught me to teach myself and to move forward into whatever I choose to do.”