2 Guls 1 blog

Happy Xmas Readers,

This blog will provide a round up of the year that has been.

See links to previous work from clients who booked with Camberwell Studios and of course. Some of our own productions.

The man the legend. Mr James May

Crew hard at work

Gul

Girl

 

This is your last blog until a small sign off for xmas and new year  Someone called the other day asking if we were open xmas eve! Of course we would try and accommodate this request. I rather think we were the only aspect of said shoot which were happy to turn over on xmas eve.  

(Xmas Data Wrangling anyone? No? Thought not!) 

This is sometimes the case with bookings. There are some many cogs in the production machine and sometimes a project is green or red lit on the smallest of factors. For example, our Studio 2 booking called the Studio and asked..'Are seaguls allowed in your studio?!' As you can imagine, Not  an all that common request. I checked our insurance... surprisingly there was no mention of sea birds, wildfowl, winged beasts, trips of Dotterels, Doles of Doves or even a Murder of Crows in any of the small print so we were happy to let them in. Those birds just better watch out for James and May. (the Studio goldfishes – see previous blog)

This request was immediately followed by an off the cuff. 'Oh...Can we get a horse in Studio 2?

No! (I’m sure you could but I wouldn’t want to try. We are a Greenscreen Studio, not an Arc!)

We had a great response from our Xmas Video. Our silly singing and Benny Hill style comedy was in a vast contrast to the video Phink TV sent to us. See it here! Our effort starred the studio staff and it provides us with a good reminder of our lovely intern Lindsey who leaves us to go home for Xmas. We wish her well in all her studies. In particular her Geordie accent development. Lindsey was fascinated by the dialects used in that part of the world and offered a Californians angle on the regional tongue. Lindsey now knows more about it than anyone here although she has still no idea what they are saying! Lindsey worked on some very important tasks during her time here and has given us good research material for us to help clients booking our Greenscreen Studios.

Your writer has now worked at Camberwell Studios 1 year...What have I learnt about productions? There are so many ways to light for many different situations and everyone has different approaches to film-making. We have the 14hour promos which seem to 'almost be done' for about 4 hours, the short sharp shooters who took their time to get the one main shoot/set up they needed. We have had clients that have never operated a camera, clients and stars who have worked on the largest productions right through to complete digital video novices. 

We had James May leave his fish to us as a Studio Pet, we made best friends with the hands that feed us at Brunchies.

Studio 2 had a complete re-vamp. People really were pleased with its flexible use and reliable set-up. During every production I aim to learn a little bit more about production as a whole. Learned about digital media and their uses and benefits for corporates and online business.

Our proactive approach to building on experiences and developing our skills across manner of production techniques, the do's and donts of greenscreen, camera codecs, compression rates and other technical aspects. I have seen some very very good green screen and understood the possibilities and the future of digital video. This has given us some very good ideas, advice and approaches to our own work and for our clients.

See some examples below:

http://vimeo.com/20208463

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JhQXCjTLY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GHRHuAYVFw

Check out our music video back catalogue. Good luck to all the bands and artists in 2012:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMsWWNgH--I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoCcZiNdRjs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBa7FfEY-gw&feature=fvst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=linZOaQx5hE

http://www.vanessawhyte.com/#2029558/Totally-Enormous-Extinct-Dinosaurs-Garden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp9yXZoVCdg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmXZuv5BaHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv2iOUQqCks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=ik_XUcSwNwA

http://vimeo.com/25936099

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElHuFdi7b04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91ETYrCzPVA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Zrn-eEnGg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR_8X6jSL8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIe2-QKNh0k&list=UU9W4Sn5ycTtfc84afpuZ0Yw&index=14&feature=plcp

http://vimeo.com/33900496

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Dk61qgXsU&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHAa9nXUUg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJg8RoJzXcs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol9LxyrXqr4

We have worked with a few charitable causes this year too and we wish them all luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSSZESIJ-Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4YytZLcrC8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7myaoEty7Ak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35FIP7bjbOA&feature=related

Good to work with the major broadcasters too our soundproof Studio 2 proved great for live and non-live programmes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q_EB-hemUo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pk6tc

Corporate Production made fun!

https://www.webcargo.net/view-file/index/recipientId/2660599/dp/ssxX1XK9bQx4s1rXHj/fileId/1464855

http://www.webvideos.co.uk/

And finally we announce our Production Base Prize. We have teamed up with the good people at Production base to offer a full days booking in one of our wonderful studios. The prize is worth up to a £1000 pounds and is a fantastic opportunity for young film-makers to make a film, short, music video, show-reel. The world is your oyster! We provide the studio, set-up, lights and even studio tech support to really help the winner get the most out of their prize. We wish all the entrants luck and if you want to enter yourself or for more information then please see here.

Get thinking Production Basers. What would you make? What music Video would you create?

Thats all for this year. We thank you all for tweeting with us, facebooking us pictures and ideas.

Have a great xmas and we shall see you in the new year.

Many happy returns from all the Staff at Camberwell Studios.

Please continue to join our mailing list, ‘like’ us on Facebook and tweet with us on Twitter.

http://www.camberwellstudios.co.uk/ 
www.facebook.com/camberwellstudios
http://twitter.com/#!/FilmStudiosUK

Until next year...

Sam P. - Studio Manager Sam.parkinson@camberwellstudios.co.uk

I'm forever Blogging Bubbles

Hi there all,

Serious note! Your blog writer here is getting married, in Portugal, when the flights are expensive over school holidays. Ok, Maybe I should leave this blog as a professional piece? Maybe I should concentrate on Production values, the hottest new tech to buy, discuss the industries serious professionals. Or maybe I should tell you about the drunken behaviour of some of TV industries top bods at Production Base’s Freelancer of the Year awards. 

 Presented by Matt Allright who has the unenviable task of presenting with Anne Robinson on BBC’s Watchdog. She is terrifying. She can look into the soul of any ‘weakest link’ contestant and melt their beating heart and make dam sure they never wear that floral blouse EVER again! 

I digress. Matt led us through the categories, gave some industry insight and described the changing nature of TV and what the award nominees maybe doing in the future.

The winners can be seen here and we wish them all luck. I think I may have looked like the freelancer of the year as I was congratulated a few times on my award (which I was never even nominated for.) One gentleman was so insistent that I was Runner of the year, ‘Phil Wallis’ he couldn’t accept no for an answer. After a few more beers and banter I gladly accepted my accolade from anyone wishing it upon me. Phil, If your reading, Congratulations on being a terribly handsome fella.

Doppelgänger? You decide! (p.s Im not the Duck or Mouse!)

Also congratulations to Tai and his cast and crew of ‘The Unglamorous Life of These’Guys. Their new production ‘The Douche and the Happiness. See the video here. The cast is made of our production crew and cast from some previous productions.

Very, Very exciting news now followers. (Well, for Camberwell Studio staff it is!)

Our lovely fish, James and May (named after James May and his ‘Things you need to know series) have a lovely new tank. We all watched on as they were set free in their new, fluorescent world. Complete with heater, statues, gravel and alot more water. We wish them luck in their new home. Chances are they have forgotten their old bowl already!

A Word from our sponsor (well advocate anyway) A friend of Camberwell Studios, Louis Odenoye who runs Stormont Studios. He deals with alot of artists looking to make a music video. We also send him all of our clients looking to do voiceovers and dubbing in conjunction with their shoots. 

Please continue to join our mailing list, ‘like’ us on Facebook and tweet with us on Twitter.

www.camberwellstudios.co.uk
www.facebook.com/camberwellstudios
http://twitter.com/#!/FilmStudiosUK

Until next time...

Sam P. - Studio ManagerSam.parkinson@camberwellstudios.co.uk

Brave New Blog

Hi there,

This week I have been racking my brains to offer you faithful readers a deeper glimpse of Studio life, the stresses and strains of 12 hour music promo days, tantrums, binges, badger balloons, green screen tech info and an exciting new prize soon to be announced. We welcome Lindsey to the Camberwell Studios team. An American Student working as an intern. Lindsey would love to make it in Hollywood and is looking to develop her skills in both production and marketing.

Our office staff have all been trying the American Accent to make her feel at home but at some point, our accents, lie between Scotland, Newcastle, Boston and Russia. Poor attempts all round. Her English accent is great though. Much better than all of ours put together. Our office consists of: A Russian, a Hungarian, Vietnamese, Danish-Hungarian gypsy Jew, a Jamaican and a cockney wide boy. We are definitely multi-cultural!

So.. I walk into our kitchen the other day, a rocking looking dude is there making a tea for himself, long hair, grunge beard. All in black, bit beardy. It may well be another roadie, dropping in kit for band shoot in Studio 1.

As usual, I started to ramble on about something.  The weather probably....

‘’Where you based then mate? London? Don’t cycle in then do you?’’ ...’’yeah, I had a right nightmare coming through Elephant and Castle roundabout..........!’’  

‘’Sam.. (said a voice behind me!)

 I turned round.....

.....It was Mike Goodwin, our Studio 1 Rock Promo client. 

‘’let me introduce you...This is Adrian Smith... from Iron Maiden’’ ...

Black adorned roadie extends his firm grip into my hand. I am aghast. He will not have cycled in, he would not have braved the rain. He does not need the tube. He definitely won’t be cycling on the Elephant and castle roundabout at 7am. He won’t be happy that I described his beard as grungy. Not only is this not an acceptable noun. It is not something he will ever have been associated with. (Grunge is American and is probably derived from Maidens great work!)

Iron Maiden have released 35 albums and sold more than 75 million worldwide. 

Here Adrian is, with our resident editor who seems to have a knack for getting into celebrity pictures. 

Pure and simple, Legend. Even more so to see a slightly soggy Adrian Smith, hood-up, coming back from our local shop near the end of the shooting day. We wish him, Mike Goodwin and the rest of the band the best of luck in their future projects.

Also this week saw a Dominic Littlewood checking our crevasses for shoddy workmanship or rip-off plumbers! (see previous work Cowboy Builders)

 Luckily our lean-to is built to the highest standards and we didn’t get ripped off. Dominic was working with Flame TV for a new series exposing a range of benefit fraudsters. These individuals were claiming money for disabilities then being caught on CCTV skiing, wrestling on working out in the gym. Naughty Fraudsters!

There was a lot of pre-production that went into this green screen shoot. The Production Co was trying to establish what equipment to shoot on. The BBC have an approved camera list which applies to most other broadcasters. This was a great learning curve into what camera work for green screen.

From conversations and general research, including a testing session around the booking, they went for JVC's Pro HD camera which is best suited HDV chroma keying applications. Its native resolution chips combined with progressive instead of interlaced scanning were used with their chroma-keying in this instance. JVC's Pro HD range offers the ability to pull a 4:2:2 uncompressed signal live from the camera allowing you to key without having to go through HDV compression. We generally use progressive for our online webvideos but for broadcasting it is best to refer to the broadcasters requirements.

As a lighter and more colourful subject we welcome Back 2 Sides TV with their excellent and somewhat warped, Ballooniverse. A collection of Balloon animals and characters intricately made and composited into a luscious and fascinating world for a new Children’s TV series. Unfortunately we had to turn our heating down in case these balloons deflated. UK readers will understand why this is bad. My lonely follower in Dubai will not.

Also new this week we have been developing our new and exciting prize for the studios. Details are hush hush but it will be a great opportunity for aspiring film-makers. Stay tuned for more details!

See us at Production base Freelancer of the year awards where we will be talking to Freelancers and Professionals alike. Last time our Music Video producer here at the studios, Tai, made lots of friends and contacts, ended up in a bar with a whole host of freelancers and industry professionals, and generally provided a high level of Camberwell Studios customer service that night.

I, however, got tired and went home! I promise to serve as a better representative in the networking capacity this time around!

Please continue to join our mailing list, ‘like’ us on Facebook and tweet with us on Twitter.

www.camberwellstudios.co.uk

www.facebook.com/camberwellstudios

http://twitter.com/#!/FilmStudiosUK

Until next time...

Sam P. - Studio Manager

Sam.parkinson@camberwellstudios.co.uk

Jingle Blogs

Hi  Guys,

Xmas is nearly upon us and our space heaters have been working overtime to keep artists and crew xamssy toasty in Studio 1. The hardest working of the crew and the danciest dancers ensure they stay warm. So pull up your winter socks and get working! (or dancing, below!)

We have been all working on our Camberwell Studios Xmas Video this week.  Reindeers, Angels on trolleys, xmas carols, funny hats and the boss dressed up as Santa. (That really was the highlight) Please stay tuned for more info and a chance to see the whole Camberwell Studios team making silly fools of themselves. Don’t worry. Santa has a present for all of you. In the form of a very ,very generous special offer indeed.  You’ll have to wait until after Xmas to find out though. No peeking at your pressies!

Talking of pressies we have all been reading some very engrossing and thought provoking books left to us by Macmillan Publishers after their shoot. Remember the ‘Dear Zoo, children’s books by Rod Campbell? (see pic) 

Gone are the pop up elements of old. Replaced now by digital  animal noises that were created by the team at Macmillan. Great to hear the live versions from some of the crew. Most notably the monkey noise. Very, very convincing. A lovely team who still had that childish element at heart although very professional.

From animals in books to animals in beds. If our studio infinity coved walls could talk. What would they have seen? They would have been looking down upon a full ‘naughty' scene demonstrating the science of making love. Using high tech, ifra-red cameras the documentary was totally in the name of science and will be shown on Channel 4 (unsurprisingly) in the new year. Keep your eyes peeled or hidden (depending on your age!)

We at Camberwell Studios have been developing several sections of our website:

FAQ’s seen here. The FAQs deal with the majority of requests including kit and crew deliveries and logistics. Tech support and info and some of the more weird and wonderful requests we get. 'Is there room to feed our reindeer?' Yes. There is!

 We pride ourselves on making sure our clients are really well looked after and the right elements are in place to support the project. We take customer service very seriously and our testimonials show a varied group of clients and productions so please take the time to see our testimonials page and check out their work. This blog, Twitter and Facebook are growing examples of the community we are building and conversations we start about tech updates, production news and after- booking care we provide. Testimonials seen here!

This week saw a test pilot for a gameshow created in Studio 1. A show in which the unknowing contestant is shown clips of their lives and asked question supplied by friends and family. Details are hush hush and we wish them the best of luck in the future. The creative team behind this particular shoot were responsible for the new Nokia Lumia mobile phone release seen here. It looks amazing and took 6 months to plan. Using 20 cinema projects , The DJ DeadMau5, and a huge building to display a beautiful 3D projection. 

If any potential clients wish to make a pilot we can ensure our Studio 1 is perfectly set-up for flexible positioning of lights, camera, projections etc. Our lights are easily rigged and on stands and our team here will be on hand to support all creative elements. Please see our rates page for more details. 

 This particular shoot in Studio 1 was handled by some runners that we regularly use to assist in large projects. Tommy, who has now worked on 2x shoots has really excelled and picked up can handle lots of production aspects from running, lighting set-up and client liason. We ensure our runners have experience or a good head on their shoulders.

Please continue to join our mailing list, ‘like’ us on Facebook and tweet with us on Twitter.
www.camberwellstudios.co.uk
www.facebook.com/camberwellstudios
http://twitter.com/#!/FilmStudiosUK

Until next time...

Sam P. - Studio Manager

Sam.parkinson@camberwellstudios.co.uk

Oh What a week in Blogsville!

Hi Guys,

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

This week saw our biggest production EVER. So many gaffers, riggers, Set designers, technicians, actors. The poor cleaner/night time Studio technician/ parking attendant/ Studio Manager.

Using the whole facility the production team were all really great although quite demanding on our energy bill! What more do they want a moon on a stick???

Well yes, they got a moon on a stick. In the form of a 100,000 Watt bank of lights that illuminated our roof from a 100ft crane. The scene showed a huge fight sequence breaking out!

We take our collective hats off to all of you as this was a great piece of work and we look forward to the results of Rise of Kane. (details to follow!)

We also reached out to the film-making community this week. We always keep on top of productions and check up on films and shows in-development, pre-production, and those being currently produced. 

 One of which is a Studio made feature Starring Hollywood’s Ed Harris (Abyss, Truman Show) As an aging tightrope walked in Paris moving in for his Final tightrope walk, the feature will be set across the beautiful landscape of 1930’s Paris. We had a very similar themed shoot. (see below) and we hope that the production team see the possibilities and Mr Harris turns our humble facility into a Parisian vista soon!

NEWSFLASH. News just in. Tony Robinson AKA Baldric from Blackadder . The ‘Time Team’s’ long suffering (in the cold, bony filled mud!) presenter graced our Studios this week!

Tony Robinson loses it after one more 'cunning plan' joke!!

Mr Robinson was shooting a promo for a range of new history based children's books. Shot in our Studio 2 using our Production package 2.

More news on our Staff this week too. Myself and our studio assistant Anna went on a 1 day emergency 1^st aid training course with Carlton Training in Kings Cross. We learned how to keep casualties alive until Paramedics arrive. We learned CPR , the recovery position and lots of other vital 1^st aid training. Studio production can be hazardous and although Camberwell Studios go to great lengths to avoid any issues you can never be too prepared and it has given the staff and clients here great confidence that help could be on hand should we ever need it (touches wood!)

In the words of Mr Atkinson to his Blackadder co-star. 

"Baldric, you have the intellectual capacity of a dirty potato."

Untill next week. Take care

Please continue to join our mailing list, ‘like’ us on Facebook and tweet with us on Twitter.
www.camberwellstudios.co.uk
www.facebook.com/camberwellstudios
http://twitter.com/#!/FilmStudiosUK

Until next time...

Sam Parkinson - Studio Manager