3D Aurora Spectacular

I'm holding a still warm from the printing press miniature masterpiece, in the form of the new Aurora Orchestra 2014 season brochure.  What a mouthful!  And what an epic journey we've had, from dawn shoots at Tower Bridge to jitterbug dance halls, not to mention the Nevada desert (well a posh car showroom in Chiswick).

The 3D printing specialists at Levavo did an incredible job creating perhaps the most detailed miniature printed 3D figures that have ever been born.  There's even a scaled Steinway Grand piano, for crying out loud!

A massive round of applause should go to @johnreidpiano, Aurora's principle pianist for not only squeezing into a undersized wetsuit but also for his superhuman strength, grit and determination (see photo) and I should also mention @ThomasGouldVLN, for his unique shape-shifting dance moves, (those lessons certainly paid off)!

Also - well done Paul Goodwin for making my photos look good. x

Things that go bump....!

Had a spooktacular (sorry) evening last week at Asda's Hallowe'en merchandise launch event.  Journalists were treated to a tour of the eery London Dungeon and then onto a pub where all of Asda's trick or treatin' goodies were laid out for all to see.

Jim really embraced the event and came dressed to kill...

Jim did an excellent job of grabbing shots of ghoulish costumes and devilishly tasty sweets and cakes...whilst Paul and I interviewed journalists to gauge their reactions to the fiendish fare on display.

I have to say, the journalists all seemed to really enjoy themselves - if blood-curdling screaming is any gauge of having a good time, then I would say the event was fright-fully (sorry) successful.

By the time the event was over - Paul was exhausted.

Leiths' Wrap

Over the last few weeks we've been filming all manner of gastronomic delights at the world famous @Leithscookery school in London.  We owe a big thank you to all the students, teachers and staff for putting up with the cameras and generally being good eggs.  The promo is set to launch on the Leiths website at the end of the summer.

Why we love what we do...

Just finished work on a showreel for Stanton Media.  Nice little exercise in condensing 13 years of projects into 60 seconds!  Also really cool to look back at the huge variety of work we've done over the years - places we've been, people we've met and some of the amazing things we've been lucky enough to see...

When in Rome...

Paul and I have just returned from a great little shoot in "The Eternal City".  Striking French Air Traffic Controllers threatened to derail the whole thing initially - but despite a small delay, we got there in the end.

I had never been to Rome before and was totally unprepared for the scale and magnificence of the place.  I kinda fell in love with it immediately - and made a mental "note to self" to return again when there was a bit more time to explore...pretty much only got to see the sites from the back of a cab to/from the airport!

As the guys we were filming had very limited time to spend with us - so no opportunity to rehearse their lines...we opted to use a neat bit of iPad teleprompting kit, and  it worked very well.  Turns out that filming CEO's, unrehearsed in Rome with an hours shoot time including set-up is do-able...there is indeed "an APP for that".

...and the Winner is.....

...us!

A few weeks back I mentioned we were in the running for a prize for our "How To" film Jim and I shot in Ethiopia for the LSHTM.  Well, we won!

Very pleased that all the effort that went into producing the film was recognised by the judging team - not only the effort we put in as the film-makers of course but really for the guys who are doing the actual sight-saving work out in Ethiopia.  A job well done all round.

Again - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

Trichiasis surgery training - Chapter 2 - Overview from LSHTM on Vimeo.

Sparks flew!

One of the main things I love about doing this job is that we get to go "behind-the-scenes" at various places that ordinary mortals would not be allowed to go...

And yesterday was one of those days - Jim and I visited a high(ish) rise building site in Holborn to interview a building apprentice who was extolling the virtues of a career in the construction industry.

In fact he was actually promoting a new scheme to get people to visit building sites with a view to inspiring them to join the industry itself...kinda a "behind-the-scenes" day on site if you will...

Despite the grey skies - it was a fun little shoot - although it was difficult to wear headphones and a hard hat...

Something about getting dolled up in PPE equipment always makes me feel like I'm doing a proper job(!)