Crossfade Media is a business venture of Lloyd McLean, who is predominantly responsible for most of the work.  Depending on the needs of a specific project, other contacts may help in their areas of expertise, such as design, photography and video.

Lloyd has extensive experience with both Macintosh and Windows operating systems, with his first computer being an Apple IIe in 1986.  In 1987 he had written his first computer program for a school history assignment, which was submitted on a 5.25” floppy disk!

Over the years, Lloyd has had experience working with a variety of computer-related applications.  He started using Photoshop® when it was just version 2, Microsoft® Office when it was a Macintosh-only product, and commenced web design when his connection to the internet was a 14.4k modem!

At university, Lloyd studied Professional Writing (learning to write about himself in the third person before Facebook made it commonplace to do so).  The course also included aspects of design and editing.  During his university years, Lloyd was a qualified installer for a leading internet company, designed websites, developed a database for a division of the university, and provided personal in-home computer tutoring.

More recently, Lloyd has had experience with a number of applications and web technologies, including Adobe® Creative Suite CS3, CS4 and CS5, Apple’s Final Cut Studio and Aperture, and Filemaker® Pro Advanced.  Lloyd also has experience working with web scripting languages such as PHP and Javascript.

Crossfade Media commenced as a business in 2002, initially to offer a VHS to DVD conversion service (still available).  This was then far outweighed by the demand for website design and hosting.

Crossfade Media specialises in (and was originally established for) services to churches and not-for-profits.  The aim is to provide professional quality whilst maintaining personal service.

Why “Crossfade”?
This is one of the most commonly asked questions about Crossfade Media, so here is the answer…

The most important thing to Lloyd in life is his Christian faith.  He believes that this should govern not just his personal morality, but also the integrity and quality of his business.  Hopefully this translates for customers through the personal attention given to their projects.  Also a desire to complete them in line with Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters”.

When Lloyd was looking for a name for his new business, he was editing a video for a Holiday Camp, and one of the transitions used was called a “crossfade” (more commonly now known as a “cross dissolve”).  Using this transition, both clips were visible at the same time.  This effect is often used in live coverage of events, where you may have a close-up of a singer, for example, at the same time as a wide-angle shot of the crowd.

For Lloyd, this was a perfect description for the new media venture.  The cross being a symbol of his Christian faith, and the desire for the business side of things to always keep that close-up of faith/ministry in focus.

Apart from that, it’s also a cool name!