Workflow automation
The emails, spreadsheets and web systems someone re-keys by hand every morning. I connect them, check every entry and send only the exceptions to a person.
1–2 hrssaved daily (attendance office estimate)
DeveloperMedia producerNew Zealand
I build softwarethat saves hours.I create mediapeople notice.
Carl Rayner —
25 years leading creative and technology programmes.
I build hands-on, bring the people who use it along and own the result after launch. I automate the admin your team repeats every day, build tools people keep using, and create promo films, explainers, live streams, photography and print.
1–2 hrsof admin saved every school day (staff estimate)
8×subscriber growth for a school YouTube channel (200 → 1,600)
5,000+students a year through programmes I designed and ran
25+ yrsleading creative and technology teams
Where I've built things
Berkley Normal Middle School
SJI International, Singapore
Capital E SoundHouseNZ
St Francis School
What I bring
Build it. Automate it. Film it.
I write the code, lead the team through the change and make the film. One accountable owner, from first brief to working result.
Custom apps & tools
Focused tools built around how your team already works, including Microsoft Teams bots. Often cheaper than another subscription.
2 yrsin daily use, YumDonut
Video & live production
Explainers, promo films, motion graphics and multi-camera live streams. I handle it from the script to the final cut.
4 camslive broadcasts, national award
Selected work
Problem. Build. Result.
Three projects in real use, and what each one changed.
01 · InInboxAbsence emails
02 · CheckRulesMatch, classify, verify
03 · OuteTapCode and parent note
01Workflow automation
Admin done before anyone arrives
- Problem
- Every morning, the attendance office started with an inbox full of absence emails, and every one had to be typed into the student system by hand.
- Build
- I built an overnight workflow that does the job for them. It reads every email, finds the student, applies the school's attendance rules and double-checks each entry. Anything it isn't sure of goes to a person.
- Node.jsTypeScriptPlaywrightGmail
Result
1–2 hrsof data entry saved daily (staff estimate)
Overnightruns unattended, handover at 8:45am
The office now starts every day with the work already done and just a short list to check.
“It’s been an absolute game changer. The absences are done before I’ve even made my coffee, and I just check the few it flags. It saves me over an hour every day, closer to two. A real asset to our school.”
Attendance officer, Berkley Normal Middle School
02Web, writing & design
A better website and prospectus, minus the agency bill
- Problem
- The school was paying an outside agency every time the website needed changing, and again to design its prospectus.
- Build
- I pitched bringing it all in-house, then delivered it myself: a redesigned website, three new tools that answer the questions families ask most, and a brand-new prospectus.
Result
Read the case study
20 pagesof prospectus, written, photographed and designed by me
3 tools360° campus map, zone checker and bus finder
The school stopped paying agency rates for website changes and print design.
PVWSJI · A Day in the Life
PGMBerkley · live crew
1 · Berkley TV
2 · ESTV
3 · Hamstos
4 · 360° shootvMix · NDI · 4 cam
03Live production
From one iPad to four live cameras
- Problem
- The school’s biggest events were being filmed on a single iPad, and cabling the venue for a proper multi-camera setup came with an expensive quote.
- Build
- I designed a broadcast setup that swaps the costly cabling for wireless video, running on vMix and NDI, then trained a nine-student crew to run every position: technical director, vision mixer, four camera operators and a support team.
- vMixNDIHollyland wireless
Result
Read the case study
7×subscriber growth, from 200 to 1,410
4 camsstreaming major school events live
Along the way, Berkley TV won the New Zealand Blue Light 2024 National Film Festival.
More I've shipped
Tools people actually open.
All built and running. Hover to preview.
New · classroom trial next
Little Reef
A museum-style digital aquarium for schools. Students colour a sea creature, a teacher approves it and it swims on the projected wall. Runs on the devices and projector a school already has.
2 years in daily use
YumDonut
Peer recognition for a class of 20+, on the web and inside Microsoft Teams, with a working Teams bot. Built instead of paying for another subscription.
Live demo
Prompter
A teleprompter that follows your voice, so you set the pace.
Live site
Just the Good News
A news site that finds, summarises and publishes itself twice a day.
In student use
StopMotion
A free, ad-free animation studio students use at school and at home.
GitHub
Everything else
SketchMotion, ClassroomScreen, Image Optimizer Studio, SketchForge 3D, a school booking system on Next.js and Supabase, and all the open-source code.
How a project runs
Pilot first. Scale what works.
You see it working on your own tasks before you commit to anything bigger.
01
Find the costly task
Tell me the task your team repeats. We agree what the pilot covers and how we’ll measure the time saved.
02
Ship a working pilot
Within weeks, your team is using a focused version on real work, with checks and a person in the loop.
03
Hand it over
Documentation and a short training video, so your team owns it from day one.
I use AI to build fast. Testing, reliability checks and long-term maintenance stay with me.
Background
25 years running things.
I was managing staff, budgets, studios and industry partners in New Zealand and Singapore long before I wrote the code.
Carl RaynerDeveloper · Media producer
2024 – now
Berkley Normal Middle School
Leads Berkley TV. Led a $40k+ redesign of the control room and green-screen studio. Took the website and prospectus in-house. Built the attendance automation.
2023
St Francis School, Thames
Classroom teacher. Founded SFTV, the school’s student media programme, and ran its Google Workspace as super admin.
2016 – 2022
SJI International, Singapore
Head of ESTV: a student crew of 20+ and a $100k+ production studio I designed and project-managed. As Digital Technology Coach, led the school-wide Chromebook rollout. The school channel grew eightfold.
2002 – 2015
Capital E SoundHouseNZ
Ran the MediaLab: tutors, budgets, industry partners and a $50k+ technical rebuild of the facility. 5,000+ students a year, with sell-outs in all four programme areas.
1998 – 2001
HOD Performing Arts, Berkley Normal Middle School
Led a team of around 15, including visiting music tutors, managed the budget and designed a new performing arts facility.
Earlier work
Built, filmed and written up.
Studios, programmes and student media from SJI International in Singapore and Capital E SoundHouseNZ in Wellington.
SJI · 2021A new ESTV studioCo-founded ESTV, then designed and project-managed its new production studio.
Expat Living · 2018When kids control the camerasProduced and directed ESTV, training students to script, film and edit their own shows.
Stuff · 2015Carl Rayner’s life in a virtual worldDesigned and ran MediaLab’s game design, animation and virtual reality programmes.
Capital EMediaLab: the next levelSet up and managed the MediaLab for 5,000+ students a year, with every programme area selling out.
Open to senior roles and substantial projects · remote or relocation
Let's build it.
Hiring for a senior creative technology role, or planning a project that matters? Tell me what you’re trying to achieve and where you’re based. I’m in New Zealand, spent six years in Singapore and am open to remote work or relocation.
carl@carlrayner.com