An Interview Leonidas Kavakos

We had a real treat last night when we filmed an interview between radio presenter James Jolly and the exceptionally talented violinist Leonidas Kavakos.  He even broke out his Stradivarius and played for us.  Look out for the full interview soon on Decca Classics' website

Eric Whitaker

We had a really great shoot with the marvellous @EricWhitacre yesterday in a cool little studio just off Brick Lane. Lots of exciting things happening with Eric's Virtual Choir (VC4).  All will be revealed soon...

Lead the Change

Nick feeling patriotic in the shadow of the 'Elizabeth Tower'.

We were filming at Portcullis house last week for the Give What You're Good At launch for the Lead the Change campagin.

GWYGA match skilled volunteers from industry with organisations and charities in need of those skills, helping them save money on mismatched volunteers.

This visionary idea is the brainchild of Ami Bloomer, who we met a couple of years ago working on a different project.  We have always admired Ami's incredible achievements, so when she asked for us to come down and start producing materials for her new project we were very proud to do so.

We're hoping to produce some more marketing materials for GWYGA in the future, it will be a genuine pleasure to help where we can.

Here is a draft of the promotional film we shot at the event

Deconstructing Beethoven

On a shoot with HJ Lim at Chappell of Bond Street last week.

Sometimes this job pays rewards that you don't expect.  Again we were treated to intimate renditions by a virtuoso of classical music.  This time we were filming HJ Lim playing and discussing Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique, the second movement, Adagio Cantabile.

Absolutely stunning.  It's so tempting to go for just one more take!

Film follows soon...

Valentina Lisitsa YouTube sensation!

Putting the finishing touches to a  handful of films for Decca Classics and Valentina Lisitsa.

As always, I really enjoy putting these films together, simply because of the amazing music I get to enjoy while I edit.  This time, Valentina has been recording Rachmaninov - which is just beautiful to listen to while you work... I have to put out a big thank you to Valentina's husband for these films - as so much of the footage was shot by him during the recordings at Abbey Road studios - Excellent work Alexei.

Look out for the films appearing soon on Valentina's YouTube channel....where she has just a couple of enthusiastic followers!

Halloween Sessions - Live

Here is the promo for the upcoming play, The Halloween Sessions that we shot out at Upper Heyford last month.  Come & see the show...

Animated Dancing Packs

I had a bit of fun recently when I put together a little animated dance routine to help launch Cafédirect's new pack designs.  Also I've just noticed there's loads of our photos of the new packs on their website.

Playing with Fireworks

@SinfiniMusic @SteinwayandSons @norikogawa

Jim & I have been out shooting this morning at Steinway Hall in Marylebone, shooting our first project for the new Sinfini classical music site.

Classical pianist Noriko Ogawa treated us to renditions of a solo piano piece by Claude Debussy called Fireworks.  She gave us a few insights into her passion for Debussy's music, as well as some of the interesting technical elements of the music.  Noriko clearly has a very deep relationship with Debussy, going back to her formative years, and hopefully we've been able to bring that out in the film, which should be on the Sinfini site in the next few weeks...

While we were there we couldn't help notice this crazily painted psychedelic piano in the store front - beautiful!  And a bargain at just £495,000...

Rhapsody in Liverpool

A while back, Jim and I were in Liverpool filming Benjamin Grosvenor recording his latest album for Decca.  The films we made are now live on Decca's YouTube channel.

When you edit anything with large chunks of music in it - you find yourself whistling and humming the tunes to yourself when you get home...thankfully Benjamin chose some great pieces of music for the album and he knows how to play them...rather well!

I'm pretty happy with the way the films turned out - what do you think?

Strictly Bruno Tonioli

I had an interesting afternoon on Friday filming the fabulous Bruno Tonioli from Strictly Come Dancing.  As well as a rather revealing interview about his career he gave me a guided tour of his West London home and even threw in a few gardening tips!

His new biography published by Headline is due out in early September.  

Fear around the corners

Filming a trailer promoting a new play that Sean is directing, The Hallowe'en Sessions, last Saturday.  The play is in 6 parts by 6 writers, including a chapter written by Kim Newman.

We shot at the disused air base at Upper Heyford, it's a bloody fantastic location.  Every corner you turn, every building and every room is jaw-droppingly atmospheric and spooky.  It seems many films have been shot there in the last few years including Children of Men and World War Z.  Our trailer should be up & running in the next week or so.

This is Justin, playing 'the orderly' looking like a total badass.

Vosing - Behind the Scenes with Duncan James

My behind the scenes footage for Voseen has been transformed into a rather entertaining film by @angelicfilms starring @mrduncanjames.

Il Triello

Jim & I were treated to a fairly rare experience on Wednesday night - a shoot that we wished could continue all night long.

The Baillie String Trio (comprising father, son & daughter Alexander, Max and Helena Baillie) performed a concert at St. Mary at Hill Church in Billingsgate.  It was a beautiful event, not often am I so moved during a shoot.  It was the first time they had performed together in 16 years, so we were to capture the event itself, plus some rehearsal footage which was shot the day before at a beautiful family home in Hertfordshire.

We also conducted some brief interviews gathering their thoughts on reuniting after such a long time, as well as some insights into how being related to each other helps the music during the performance.

http://www.baillie.de/
http://www.maxbaillie.com/
http://www.helenabaillie.com/

Rare Process of Transformation

We absolutely loved putting together this short trailer for Aurora.  It seems the brilliance of Max Baillie extends beyond his viola playing as he's seduced into dance by the captivating moves of contemporary breakdancer Sarita Piotrowski.






There may be a few tickets left for this Friday's performance at LSO St Lukes.

Live! and on the big screen!

Paul and I have just finished covering the 9th Annual Patient Summit for Eyeforpharma.

It was a bit different for us this time as we used a live feed during the conference to project the presenters onto large screens in the auditorium.  After a few very techie conversations, and some head scratching, we sorted all the various cables and set ups and created the following result.

Everyone was very happy with the show - and I think its an approach we'll be using more and more for future conferences...certainly adds an extra dimension to the proceedings...

Nick

Art Vs. Design

@AgnitioCLM @emilkozak .

Here's a film we shot in Barcelona last month - Morten Hjelmsø, the CEO of Agnitio talks about the thinking behind the design of their stand at this year's eyforpharma SFE event.

The stand was created as a pure white blank canvas, and an artist, Emil Kozak (hola amigo!) was commissioned to cover the entire stand with his interpretations of random words that were supplied by the customers during the course of the event.

By the end of the show the final piece (the stand itself) was a perfect blend of art & design - I'm not really sure where one ended and the other began!  Depends how you interpret the terms I guess...  Whatever, it looked cool to me.

Wordle 2012 Overview

I love these.  This is a Wordle representation of our blog.  I did one a couple of years ago and thought it's about time to update it.  Very sweet.  Get one here...

Every cloud....

Very pleased to see our latest film for Cafédirect has gone live on their YouTube channel.  The film is the result of a week long shoot in Peru which Jim and I undertook a few months back.

Some of Jim's lovely photographs hit various press outlets yesterday - with more to be published in the future.

It really was an amazing trip - met some great people, in a pretty breath-taking place...completely unlike anywhere I have ever visited...literally living inside the clouds - hope you enjoy the film.

Nick

Cloud Nine

Other articles with our photos and films:
Ecologist, Ecologist 2, Business Green & Edie

Head in the Clouds

Just noticed that some of our photos from Peru have been used in a Guardian article here.
Lots of lively debate too.

Mystery Photoshoot

We have just completed an exhausting 2-day shoot for our lovely friends at Cafédirect.  We completed more than a dozen setups for their brand new packaging, to be launched later this year.  Slight sugar OD from grazing on cake, macaroons & florentines though.

We think the new designs are great, and they're definitely going to look cool when they arrive on the shelves of "a good supermarket near you soon"!  

I thought it would be best not to leak one of the new designs by accident here, so I covered up this one (which happens to be Kilimanjaro R&G) in the style of the old Star Wars figures boxes with the 'secret' figures on the back.  Does anyone know what I'm talking about...?

@Cafedirect_HQ 

Benjamin Grosvenor

Nick's currently hard at work editing the EPK for Benjamin Grosvenor's new album with Decca Classics. The sounds coming out of the edit-suite are awesome.

We had a wonderful day filming the recording up in Liverpool earlier this week where Benjamin was accompanied by the amazing Royal Liverpool Philamonic who we owe a huge thanks to for putting up with the cameras.

The EPK should be released in a few weeks, we'll keep you posted.

Jim

Set Guitars to Kill..

@Imicus

On 'The Marionette' Promo shoot for Imicus on Monday.  Had a great shoot, lots of fun.  Hola to Dan, Miller, Mark, Dale & Matt, I feel like we were watching Total Recall all day :-)

Deep into the edit right now, another red-eye is on the cards tonight I reckon.

Link soon...

The Agnitio promo is finished.  #e4p @agnitioclm

Tongue Tied

Working on a short film for Agnitio. LIGHTS! CAMERA! ...GOLDFISH?

Look out for the link soon...

BAFTA Screening

Just heard our latest book trailer had a screening at BAFTA this week. Alright it was Headline's sales conference but still, nice to know.

Hey, I've just seen the hardback's out if you want a good, summery read.

Love Song for the City

You know you're busy when it's been a few weeks since your last blog entry.

Here's a link to the latest Aurora film which was shown to a sold out crowd at the Roundhouse, Camden.

Love Song for the City

Spent the day filming in London yesterday, getting some shots of the capital for the @auroraorchestra 'New Moves' series on the 25th.

eASDAr

We were with our lovely friends again at Leith's Cookery school yesterday filming them cook up some culinary masterpieces from ASDA's Extra Special Range. Mouth-watering stuff!

Films will be available on ASDA Aisle Spy soon.

Deepest, Darkest, Highest Peru

What an amazing trip!

Nick and I have just returned from Peru with Cafédirect where we visited a reforestation project high up in the Andes. We were literally above the clouds.

Laying Traps

The final cut of the Laying Traps promo.  Nice cameos...
Nearly 200k views in Germany - well done Seany.
http://www.crippledblackphoenix.co.uk/

Wine & the City

Fantastic views of London from the top of Millbank Tower on Tuesday - shooting a huge wine event for Santa Rita Estates.  It was good to see Peter Richards MW & Tim Atkin MW again, having interviewed them at various events in the past, as well as Brian Croser, one of the world's leading wine experts and a gentleman.

It was a fascinating day and a huge success for Santa Rita.  Thanks to Caroline & Terry, and cheers to Tom for the food!

Rise up & fight!

Saturday - on the set of a promo shoot for Crippled Black Phoenix.  The promo is for Laying Traps, a tune from their next album: (Mankind) The Crafty Ape.  

The band are always collaborating with other artists, so our buddy Sean wrote them a short treatment for a promo film.  We shot it in a day at an abandoned RAF camp in Oxford - what a fantastic location.  The band set up in a crumbling gymnasium - we even got made-up to play members of a dead audience.

Dozens of CBP fans were invited to turn up as extras & between takes they were treated to a few tunes off the new album as the band ran through a sneak preview set.  

DP Eben Bolter was massively cool to us, we shot on 5D's under his guidance and he showed us a few great tips & tricks.  School every day.