The Voice.

Had the pleasure of working with Tim Pigott-Smith last week. He recorded the voice over for our (almost finished) surgical training film which Jim and I shot in Ethiopia last year.

We had a 3 hour long recording session where Tim read the script - flawlessly I might add -replacing the temporary track laid down by yours truly...it never ceases to amaze me the gravitas a great voice over can add to a film.

The trip to Ethiopia was amazing and now having the final film come together with such a great vocal element is very satisfying indeed.

Little Deaths

We just finished animating the titles for the forthcoming UK horror film, Little Deaths.  Sean Hogan, the Director was 'well pleased'.

:-)

Fright Fest 2010

Just finished the title sequence for FrightFest...Creepy!

stormy weather

Weird call last week, we were asked to shoot some PR shots for a new client.  Mattesons have sponsored Storm Freerun, a group of London-based Parkour & freerunners, and they wanted some images of them alongside a pair of glamour models, as well as 5 tutorial films showing off some simple techniques.

We had a really good day, started early at the skate park on the South Bank where we fired off a few shots.  Then we headed over to a stairwell near the iMax which is a popular practicing spot for freerunners, who were there buzzing around all day, happy to meet a few of their heroes form Storm).  We pinged off a few more shots and shot the tutorial films.

We shot with a 3 camera setup, shooting 75fps on the Z7, which produced some fantastic results!  After a few test shots of Nick belting around in the garden in the rain, I was happy that we had a project that was worth breaking out the slo-mo for!

As well as the old FX-1 for backup, we shot on our new baby, a Canon 5D.  It's our first time shooting 1080p in anger on the 5D and the results are niiize!  We are very, very impressed.  Have a look...

Graduation.

This week we've been filming this year's graduating chef's from the Jamie Oliver Fifteen Foundation.  We set up a white infinity cove studio on a spare floor of the Westland Place Restaurant and asked each chef a few questions (some poignant, some messing around).

We got some touching, varied & funny responses that should cut together into a great little piece that will be shown at the graduation ceremony, we're looking forward to it....

Laos

I hate blogs that begin "I've been so busy I haven't had time to post..." or some-such, so I'll spare it.

Emma and I went to Laos for 2 weeks plus a few days in Thailand either side.  We flew to BKK, spent a few hot days drinking on a rooftop bar in Banglamphu, listening to the Nuremberg-esque red shirted street preachers on the loud-hailer all day and night (and playing Queen!?).

Caught a sleeper train up to Nong Kai where we stopped for a few drinks nights before crossing the border into Laos.  We spent 3 or 4 nights each in Vientiane, Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang.  We tried to do everything one is supposed to do in those places.  We were expecting Laos to be a little further off the beaten track than it is, the reality is that they are very well set up for the tourist trail, better than a lot of SE Asian countries at least.  It's still largely geared towards the global traveller scene, we found new adventures every single day, and easily avoided some of the newer resort-type hotels.  The guesthouses are beautiful and proud, and every place we stayed in uniquely reflected the owner's character.  We met wonderful people on the way, both static and traveling friends.  When you're out in the world it's a pretty safe bet that most people you meet are looking for the same things as you.  A wonderful adventure, we'll be back one day.

Here are some photos...

Trouble brewing in Bangkok...

All aboard?  The Night Train!

The hottest chili of all times!

Young monks messing about

A nice temple

er... dinner?

Mucking around underground

Mountain biking

The cows coming home

Trying to read the signs

Hmong night market

"Some people say daydreaming's for the lazy minded fools..."

Elephant Riders

Tuppence a bag

Bangkok in one

Mmm.  Hard to leave this behind...

Barcelona

Laconfusió!

Filming for the First Conferences SFE event.  Inter Milan stayed in our hotel (it was the Champions League semi-final v Barca)- saw Sneijder & Samuel hanging in the foyer! 


This shot is just a mix-up in the bathroom...