Goin' to Graceland, Graceland...

During our recent trip to Memphis - Paul and I paid a (very) brief visit to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.  Although we only had time to check out the house from the outside and the signage, it was amazing to see how many people, quite literally, pilgrimage there.  Paul and I paid our respects in our own unique way.

"thangyouvermuch"

We also paid a little visit to Sun Records, where Paul got sing on the actual mic that "The King" himself used to record numerous Rock and Roll classics...

"Yoo-aint-a-nuthin-but-a-hound-dog..."

The purpose of the trip was to actually capture the sights and sounds of the Memphis World Barbecue Championships - for both ASDA and for a couple of journalists who were also along for the ride.  Alice-Azania Jarvis from the Daily Mail has already posted her report and I'm pleased to say that she used quite a few of our shots.

There is going to be an additional piece by Sam Muston at the Independent - which will also hopefully include the film we shot, which Paul is currently putting together now...

Quite a trip.

Finger Lickin' Good

On Monday Nick & I returned from Memphis, Tennessee, home of the World BBQ Championships.

The meat buying team from Asda have been running inspiration trips there for a couple of years now, investigating local BBQ techniques and flavours, sauces and ingredients to help inspire their own product ranges.  They were the only team from the UK (in fact one of the only teams from outside the US) represented at the Championships, and entered the Brisket (beef) and Pork Ribs categories in the competition.

They kindly took us with them this year to document their experience, the sights & smells of the festival, the highs and lows of the competition along with the flavour of Memphis itself.  Personal highlights included standing on the very spot Johnny Cash recorded so many hits at Sun Studio, and spending a quiet moment at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Martin Luther King's assassination.  Also enjoyed eating fried chicken from Gus's, drinking at Ernestine & Hazel's, and being allowed to sample so much wonderfully cooked meat as we roamed the festival interviewing random Good Ol' Boys.

Unfortunately the Asda team didn't rank in the top 10, but it was all about taking part in the experience.  Thanks to everyone who looked after us (Jimmy the bellhop, Ryan the alcoholic Commodities Trader and 'Mike' the cabbie), and here's to the world famous Southern hospitality!

A few iphone memories...

A massive BBQ'ed pig's head on a spike, smoking a fag

Ran into Adam Richman from Man Vs Food.  COYS!!!

Famous...

Soul burger!

Maximum beef

  

Heh, funny selfie opportunities no.122

Ol man river

Award Nomination! (not for the squeamish)

Jim and I are feeling rather pleased with ourselves today.  A film we shot in Ethiopia a while back, for The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has been nominated for an award.  The ceremony where they announce the winner is being held next month, so I'll report back and let you know how we got on...fingers crossed.

Seriously - if you're not a big fan of medical / surgical footage DO NOT WATCH THE CLIP...

you have been warned.

Trichiasis surgery training - Chapter 1 - Welcome from LSHTM on Vimeo.

FUTURE SHOCK! 2000AD Documentary Announced

IGN Exclusive http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/04/03/2000ad-documentary-announced

Kind Words...

Here's a nice 'review' of the Aurora Orchestra Insomnia film we shot last week, from our new friend John Terauds at musicaltoronto.org   Chuffed with that :)

And this is what he's talking about..

New Animation Online

Agnitio have just launched their smart new site, that includes an animation we have been working on with them for the last few weeks.  Link is at the top of their page...

Sleepwalking

Filming around Waterloo the other evening in ARCTIC conditions.  Well, I was suffering from a savage man-flu strain so that's what it felt like...

We are putting a promo together for Aurora Orchestra's upcoming event, Insomnia, on 23rd March at St. Luke's.  We followed tenor Allan Clayton around in a dream-like semi-waking state, attempting to convey the strangeness that comes with a lack of sleep.  It was a good opportunity to grab some dreamy images and generally do some farting around with the camera in the shadows.

Allan was lovely, and extremely brave to enter a particularly scary underpass from which some unearthly animal-like noises were emanating...!  It was a really fun shoot.