Digital Brew and Blue Juice: A Q&A with Craig Sawyer
September 22, 2026
Quick Answer: Blue Juice, a UK video production studio founded by Craig Sawyer in 2009, has formalized a long-standing partnership with Digital Brew, an Orlando-based animation and motion design studio founded in 2011.
Brewing a New Partnership
Digital Brew has spent over a decade building a reputation as an Emmy-winning animation and motion design studio out of Orlando, Florida, producing 2D and 3D animation, motion graphics, and live action for B2B marketers in SaaS, healthcare, FinTech, manufacturing, and education.
Now their reach extends across the Atlantic, thanks to a partnership with Blue Juice. We sat down with Blue Juice’s founder, Craig Sawyer, to talk about how it came together and what a typical shoot at his studio actually looks like.
The Q&A
Tell us how this partnership came together from your side.
It actually goes back to 2013. Digital Brew was working with a US-based marketing agency running fitness marketing events around the world, and when that marketing agency brought the same events to the UK, Michael needed a production partner on the ground here. We covered the events, then went on to produce a series of client case studies, and we’ve kept in touch ever since; comparing notes on the industry, sharing ideas, and talking through what’s working and what isn’t.
So the formal partnership isn’t really a new relationship. It’s putting a name on something that’s been working for over a decade. We already knew how each other operated and what the standard was. Making it official just means our clients get the benefit of that without having to discover it for themselves.
Why Digital Brew?
Two things. The first is that they’re good at what we’re not. We’re a live-action studio — shoots, crew, post. Digital Brew are animation and motion design specialists who think about video as a marketing problem first. Put those together and a client gets a complete answer rather than two halves stitched together.
The second is that Michael and the Digital Brew team care about the details in exactly the way we do. When you’ve worked in this industry as long as we both have, you learn that talent is common and consistency is rare. That’s the whole basis of trusting someone with your client.
What’s changed the most about running Blue Juice since you started it in 2009?
We’ve seen so many changes – both revolutionary (access to high-end cinema cameras previously reserved for big-budget shoots) and evolutionary (social first, 9:16, quick turnaround, short lifespan content).
Right now the biggest shift is AI, and it’s landing hardest in post. The tools are getting genuinely useful, changing what a small studio can do, and what is possible changes weekly, no longer over many years. We are an AI fast, People First agency. AI gives our team the ability to get to what only a human does best quicker, freeing them up to work on what only a human can do – story,pacing, empathy, judgement. The tools change; the craft is what clients are still paying for.
Walk us through what a typical shoot looks like on your stage in West Sussex.
We have a 1,600 sq ft studio just outside London, and a typical shoot really starts the day before. That’s when we set the space up; sometimes it’s as simple as pre-lighting the white cyc, other times it’s rigging the green screen or bringing in set design.
On the day itself we keep things relaxed: a small, nimble crew and a clear plan agreed with the client in advance. Proper pre-production saves an enormous amount of time on set. Having our post team in the same building helps too. They can dip in and watch the shoot, which gives them real context when it comes to the edit.
We aim to wrap around 4pm and strike the set. Footage is ingested and backed up, shoot notes are logged, and it’s straight on to post.
What’s a project you’re proudest of?
Honestly, I can’t pick one, so here are three for different reasons.
We’ve worked on many exciting projects with our long term client Virgin Atlantic, and more recently I’m really proud of some of the projects and innovation we are working on with Royal Caribbean.
For sheer memorability, filming on Necker Island with Richard Branson. Not many days at work top that.
And personally, Push Past Impossible, the documentary I directed that went out on Amazon Prime in 2024. It follows the story of the Yukon 1000, the world’s longest unsupported survival paddle race into the Arctic Circle, which I successfully completed in 2023 (1000 miles in 8.5 days!)
What you should do with this
If you have UK or European work anywhere on your roadmap, start the conversation now. Early planning gives you better creative and better options than a rush ever will.
And if you are just curious what a joint US and UK production looks like in practice, ask us. We will happily walk you through it, studio by studio.
Let’s brew this!
About Blue Juice. Blue Juice is a content creation agency based at Rosier Business Park in Billingshurst, West Sussex, founded in 2009 by Craig Sawyer. The studio offers film and photography space, green screen, blackout, pre and post production, live streaming, and equipment hire, with direct rail access to London and Brighton nearby. Learn more at bluejuice.co.uk.
About Digital Brew. Digital Brew is an animated explainer video and motion design studio in Orlando, Florida, founded in 2011 by Michael Cardwell. We produce 2D and 3D animation, motion graphics, and live action for B2B marketers in SaaS, healthcare, FinTech, manufacturing, and education.
