Proud to share some client testimonials!

Thank you all for the feedback!

I've finally had a chance to whip up some of the testimonials I've received from past clients, it's always great to read what an impact your work has made!

APV wows Screen Subtitling Systems with promo animation

APV has completed the first phase of the new 'Screen Subtitling Systems' branding campaign, designing and producing an animation about the company.

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I began the pre-production of the Screen animations at the beginning of the year, developing a house style and recognized visual aesthetic that can be followed for future productions, this became the identity and format of the animations. Getting pencil on paper is my favourite way of developing ideas, especially for a graphics-based production. It allows you to clearly visualize ideas, inspiration and lay out the beginning, middle and end of the story.

The assets were all created in Illustrator or After Effects (using the Shape Layer tools), in 4K. I chose to offer this resolution because it would allow the Screen Systems marketing team to re-purpose the animation for print and digital media as well as future proofing for years to come.

After the assets and basic storyline was set, I blocked out the animation with voice over ideas to determine the duration and visual content - motion infographics must be entertaining and eye-catching, but must also convey the branding and professionalism of the client. An animation that is too long will bore viewers, so I capped the duration at 1:45.

I kept the marketing team up to date with progress and idea updates as well as a number of drafts through Vimeo, and after a number of months of production the animation was completed just before the NAB deadline. Screen are over the moon with the results, and so am I!

Screen will be displaying the animation on their stand at NAB Show 2015, in its native 4K resolution! Check out the animation here, and read the feedback/testimonial below.

Dean Wales (PR and Marketing, Screen Subtitling Systems) gives his fantastic feedback -

"Fresh, keen, knowledgeable, assertive, great to work with and incredibly talented. They're attributes you don't find together too often these days in one person but Adam has them all. Having met Adam at IBC when he filmed a colleague of mine, we knew he'd be the guy to produce our corporate, animated video. He grasped the brief instantly and completely understood our company, its values, our brand and indeed the industry within which we operate. And as for the video? Well the results are amazing. So much so we've commissioned him to produce individual product presentation animations for us. Thanks Adam."

Productive first month of 2015!

As it reads above, I have been very busy recently with pre-production for a number of up coming projects, one of which is with Screen Subtitling Systems!

Screen is creating new branding for sales and online, and to go with that I've been set the task of producing a number of animations for them. I've done plenty of research into Screen, and have a great relationship with the marketing team, which means we have very good communication.

Tip No.1: build relationships from the outset of meeting someone.

Since our last meeting, I've developed a number of mood boards and narrative/VO ideas of the script/dialogue and a storyboard to go with it to represent the animations on screen. After drawing a number of ideas and storyboards I managed to narrow down the content for the first animation, and the graphics as well. I've then worked this into an After Effects storyboard with still images for preparation for a presentation.

Tp No.2: preparation and planning what you are going to do, for when, any why is really important. In terms of the animations I'm working with, that means producing mood boards, storyboards, sketches and basic designs, building into digital mock ups. These can then be used as elements in the animations!

I've also been out with Glen, we had a walk around Leith Hill a couple of weekends ago, I took the 24-70 and 100mm L on the 5D mk III. The hill was so high up that we were in cloud, combined with a constant beautiful golden hour made for beautiful photos. Glen took his film camera with him, and captured some gorgeous shots. Here's some of mine..

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I'm still working on the videography business/investment post, it is a long one as you can imagine but it will be coming soon. I'll be going the the CVP Sony A7S event featuring Philip Bloom on the 11th which will be a great contributor to my knowledge. As well as narrowing down potential kit choices for this years video productions, I may be able to get some info from the CVP team about my potential kit choices and finance options.

“UPDATE (06/02/2015) Canon have now officially announced two new 5D model DSLR’s with a 50MP count, with a photography focus rather than video. This reinforces industry voices that Canon are pushing video pro’s up to their high end cinema cameras.. Sony for me I think!”

— http://www.newsshooter.com/2015/02/06/canon-launch-5ds-and-5ds-r-video-features-take-back-seat-to-high-res-stills/

Tip No.3: Never stop learning. Get yourself to BVE for FREE from the 24th-26th Feb for seminars on 4K, editing, lighting, broadcast and the great expo!

Lastly, back in the beginning of January I was out filming Sarah and Matt's wedding. I started with the preparations while Glen was at the venue capturing some shots of the location, Matt and the guests arriving. I had the Pro Media Gear Dual-arc slider on Manfrotto 055 Pro-B legs, with a range of lenses for shooting in potential low light (not knowing what the day or location might turn out like later on, and if the weather changes..)

Chosen equipment for filming a funky wedding - Canon 5D plus a range of fast zooms and primes. Not to forget audio!

I captured some of the days footage in 50fps slow mo, when the light was available for a little bit of luxury with moving shots. When in video mode on the 5D mk III the 50fps mode is only available in 720p, not 1080p. This does make the footage softer, but I've found using the Red Giant 'Instant 4K' plug-in works well to upscale the clips to 1080, and sharpen them a little.

Throughout the day I switched mainly between the Tamron 24-70 and Canon 100mm L for wide/standard framing and then more detail/close ups. I've found this works well as there is no 24-135 F/2.8.. If you are working with a Canon 60D, or an APS-C camera you get a lovely look when using an 85mm or 100mm (as the focal length is multiplied), with a pretty bokeh as well. For cool-perspective ultra wide angle, the Samyang 14mm T/3.1 works a treat, for skate videos and music videos where you want to warp reality a little!

There will be more on the wedding film production in an up coming Manfrotto Ambassador blog!

Tip No.4: tell a story through your video/film, narrative-speaking there is a beginning, middle and end set around key events. It may sound like redundant advice, but many videos I watch fail to build the narrative or story through the visuals. It provides an immersive experience for your viewers, getting them involved with what you've produced.

*Now following up a few days later, the meeting with Screen went very well, I traveled up to their Suffolk HQ, a beautiful old building in the country. Myself, the marketing dept and business development were present as I showed my basic concepts and ideas, and we discussed further the ideas and terminology.

Tip No.5: if you're working with clients in a different industry to yours, do your best to learn as much as you can about their business, products, services, strategies, and what their clients want.

This has been fantastic progress for the end of January, which is usually a slow month for productions. With the wedding film almost complete, and the design beginning for the Screen Systems project I am confident it's the beginning to a great year. Not to mention the potential of IABM event coverage too! I'm due to visit the IABM team next week to talk further about this years videography.

After the CVP event with PB I'm sure to have worked to some conclusion for the video business investment post, but it may have to wait until BVE.. We shall see!

Some macro photography going on in the background, little herbs going!

From a quick walk in the morning.. Kids in Epsom and Ewell leaving their childhood behind!

Keep an eye out for my new Manfrotto Ambassador blog about filming weddings with Manfrotto gear, and I'm going up to London tonight for some night photography so I'll share the results with you later!

Welcome to the boardroom

I'm doing a few productions for the IABM in the lead up to their annual conference in December, which included a video shoot in London at IBM; a panel discussion on the key topics of the conference, and the industry at the moment.

John Ive, the director of business and technology at the IABM chaired the discussion, with six of the top decision makers in the industry around the table, which included: Dominic Stone (Our host at IBM and multimedia executive), Rob Roberts (Avid), Marc Risby (Boxer), David Peto (Aframe), Chris Steele (Marquis), Paul Glasgow (Chyron Hego).

It was an early start for myself and Glen, to get a head start in the traffic heading up to the South Bank. Usually I would get the train, but as this was a full setup I required my little cars assistance to get the equipment there!

Glen at IBM

Me at IBM!

We arrived at the IBM office on the South Bank with plenty of time to spare, and after unloading the equipment in the loading bay we parked up in the National Theater and met our host for the day, Dominic. A wonderful chap with a wealth of experience as a television producer, many thanks for your hospitality throughout the day!

Trolley fulla gear!

What the conference room at IBM looked like before we got our hands on it!

Once we had access to the conference room, we began the setup and moved any unnecessary furniture out of the way. Manfrotto has greatly helped me on this as much of the kit is new and definitely new to this kind of video environment too, and after IBC I was very keen to try out the new tripods; which now can be lowered to almost ground level with innovative locking joints. Also, although I'm using a 5D and telephoto lenses to shoot with (so the load is not very heavy), but having steady and smooth shots are imperative to keeping a good composition, both the tripod and video head allow me to achieve shake free pans and tilts, which can be counter balanced depending on your camera, lens and accessory setup.

The new light stands are awesome. I know it is something simple, but it makes a massive difference. Stands and poles can often get mislaid, damaged in transit or in use, or simply can't withhold a wide variety of lights and accessories. These on the other hand have a brilliant locking system to hold multiple stands together, meaning they can be carried and transported very easily. They are not heavy, and can take a heavy load (not that these SPECTRA 1X1 LED panels are that heavy)!

Panel video setup with Manfrotto 1x1 bi-colour LED light

After lunch, we checked the colour temperature on the four lights; the two front facing the panel, one giving a back light onto the speakers and background, and a smaller 900 panel to push a little extra light into the right panelists. All of the lights are bi-colour, which gives maximum flexibility when the video scenario changes so frequently.

The lights I used were: Manfrotto Spectra 1x1FT x 3, Spectra 900FT and the 1004BAC pro light stands.

To make sure all of the cameras were exposed and set correctly, we did a custom white balance and orientated around the cameras and lights to make sure we achieved the best out of the setup.

I transported the camera and audio equipment in the Manfrotto Pro Backpack50 as its large capacity was required for the amount of kit I needed which included:

• Canon 5D mkIII
• Canon 60D
• Tamron 24-70
• Sigma 70-200
• Samyang 35mm
• Samyang 14mm
• Zoom H1
• Zoom H6
• Sennheizer ENG-G3
• Rode Lavalier
• Roto-mic
• Canon batteries, AA batteries for microphones and audio recorders, chargers for all.

I also had the Manfrotto 536 MPRO tripod and 504 HD video head in the large tripod bag, and the ProCX-3 and Pro-B for the other cameras.

Marc Risby, one of the panelists tweets about his experience!

While we were setting up!

Shortly after our panelists arrived, and they were eager to get started in discussion; I put the lapel mics on and plugged them into the H6. John kindly allowed us to use a couple of cameras and microphones for the extensive number of panelists. The Sony ECM-77 are great lav mics with good audible response, as is the Rode Lavalier which I used with the MiCon-1 connector into the ENG-G3 wireless kit.

I got the panel talking for a practice run through while I checked the audio levels on the H6, which was placed under John's chair (due to the cable length I could not monitor the camera from my filming position).

If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll have seen I have been looking for a wide angle lens for both an APS-C and FF sensor (so far Canon's 16-35 F/2.8 is best), so I was without my Tamron 17-50mm (my standard lens on the 60D as a wide). To compensate for this, I alternated my usual video setup from 5D and Sigma 70-200mm for an MCU and 60D and 17-50mm for a wide to; 5D and Tamron 24-70mm for a wide and 60D and 70-200mm for an MCU which allowed me to capture a good wide angle of the whole panel, as well as a great MCU on the speaker.

The 504HD video head has integrated fluid drag and resistance which makes panning and tilting a dream for video; it is smooth, yet easily changed depending on the subject and timing of the camera moves. A large pan-handle makes the motion firm and steady throughout.

With a vast experience in broadcasting from all of the panelists, it was difficult not to get distracted into the conversation. After each discussion we shot some VoxPops for the conference with the other panelists that did not participate in that panel, which will be used throughout the presentations and panels at the IABM annual conference in December.

Unlike the Zoom H4N, the H6 has an incredible power consumption rate meaning on four AA batteries it can record multiple channels (four in this care) for a good 2 hours without needing to change! This meant I could rely on it recording stand-alone under Johns seat without monitoring, after each channel was correctly set (with a general limiter on).

In terms of the camera settings I was using:

 - VisionTech2 Picture Profile

 - F/4.5 on the MCU so focusing between panelists was minimum

 - Because of light setting, as well as not much fast motion happening I reduced the electronic shutter to 1/33.

 - ISO between 400 and 640 due to the good light produced from the 1x1's!

Once the filming was complete, we quickly de-rigged the setup so we could get out of London as quickly as possible; not to get held up with traffic queues etc.. Thankfully, all of the Manfrotto gear we had is fast to setup and tear down so we were ready to leave within half an hour or so!

Once I got back home, I begun the ingest and backup process; remembering to have 3 copies of the footage and audio on separate drives in case any fail. I also began re-naming the files so it is easier for me to locate specific panelists microphones when doing the audio mix-down.

Although the Zoom H6 is an awesome recorder, it for some reason records track 3 and 4 together (as a stereo channel) so I had to split the Tr3-4 into separate Track 3 and Track 4 files using Audition. This is a simple process, but I wonder if this can be changed in the device itself?

Here you can see the top track is different to the other, this is because the T3 and T4 inputs were from different speaker microphones, but recorded together. To resolve this, I simply solo'd the track I needed, selected ALL and copied, created a new audio stereo track and pasted the track there; this creates a Left or Right track for you in the new audio file.

Here, I've created a new stereo audio track and pasted the solo'd track into it. The new stereo audio file then replicated the audio on both tracks. I then saved this as a new audio track.

In Pluraleyes, I created the four camera sources and imported their respective video files, and then singularly imported each audio track into a new audio recorder as a new audio source (instead of importing the five tracks into the same audio recorder). This would allow me to control not only each track individually, but also when I separate the four sections into their own multi-camera sequences I have separate audio tracks rather than one reallyyy long one.

You can see here that the audio tracks from each microphone are separated in the sync.

I was amazed at the speed of the sync, only 1 minute 8 seconds to sync all of the video and audio from many different sources! I then exported the sync as both an XML and XML with replaced audio from Pluraleyes, and created a new Premiere Pro project for this production.

I imported the XML file into the new project, which imports and creates a new sequence with the synced footage in place. So easy! I then placed the footage into their respective sequences depending on the discussion topic, and prepared them for multi-camera editing!

The sequences are now ready to be cut using the Multi-camera interface! Unfortunately I can't show anymore as this is an IABM member exclusive video, but I hope you have enjoyed seeing how videos like this are produced on a small scale!

My experience of IBC 2013 Part 1

I had never been to IBC before, I wanted to go a couple of years ago but I was a little last minute with extremely expensive prices, but now after all the hard uni work and starting myself up as a freelance videographer, a trip to Amsterdam for IBC 2013 was just what I needed! It was also the first time I've been on a plane in 11 years, so I was super excited, and acted rather like a tourist for the first couple of days.. But, I have no regrets!

Myself outside Amsterdam Schipol Airport, great smoking area with all the sunflowers, how Dutch!

Just had a quick thought, for you readers to enjoy your experience reading my blog further, you can listen to what I am listening to while I write it, having withdrawl symptoms from Amsterdam lead me to searching for "Coffeeshop" "Soul" on 8Tracks, hoping for a chilled result :) So here is the playlist you can listen to while reading! Street Cues Sound Clues Amsterdam Withdrawl Playlist on 8Tracks

Amazing Mexican restaurant called 'La Margarita' just off the canal, near Amsterdam University (https://plus.google.com/105150292043799825469/about?gl=uk&hl=en) They do great cocktails too, definitely recommend it.

Amsterdam's coffee shop culture is something to be admired, the liberal and relaxed lifestyle suits me perfectly, and I'm not going to pretend I disagree with coffee shops, because they are awesome. I met more friendly people and generated more work in coffee shops than I do in Starbucks in The UK. In the photo you can see The Bulldog, and further down is the original coffee shop. I did pop in to these, but both were really busy so I skipped off to another in the pouring rain. (https://plus.google.com/112706500562557581286/about?gl=uk&hl=en).

This rather lovely looking church turned out to be a brothel.

Taken from outside The Greenhouse Seed Co Coffee shop, near Dam Square. Sitting outside having a drink by the river is so cool. We had a couple beers over there on the first evening, Duvel! (Cafe Rock Planet)

The view from my hotel window, the Pathe Cinema! (Rembrandtplein).

On the Friday (13th) myself, Amy and Sam made our way to the Amsterdam RAI. We jumped on the tram outside our hotel on Rembrandtplein which took us all the way to IBC, very convenient although it was rammed with suited business-people attending the show! IBC provided free tram travel for the duration of the show which was great for getting around town, until I lost mine.

We made our way to The IABM stand, near the Future Zone in one of the 14 halls of this massive place, where we met Steve Warner and Sam Hawkins and were presented with the prize money. We also met the other Engineering Student Award winners who came from across the world for IBC; Zoe Wyeth of the University of Salford, Julian Theis of the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, Adam Plowden and Amy Tinker of Kingston University, Pierre Hamme-Gerome and Antonin Morel of the Université de Valenciennes, Kathryn Savage of Southampton Solent University, Lennard Bredenkamp of HTWK Leipzig, and Evgenii Smirnov and Anna Nikolaeva of St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television. (Photos are coming from The IABM in the next couple of days).

The rest of the day was spent wondering around, wowing and touching all the amazing new technology and equipment, which I will upload the photos of soon! There will also be video blog entries uploaded very soon too, including interviews with manufacturers, designers, and a film of Amsterdam too, yes 'Ive been busy!

BlackMagic Design had a fantastic booth exhibiting many of their Cinema and Pocket cameras in different set-ups, as well as demonstrations of the new 6G production switcher, and the newly released DaVinci Resolve 10. As I am looking to upgrade cameras, the BMCC is definitely an option for me, as the price of the unit and features weigh it up considerably as a mid range cinema camera, rather than a simple DSLR upgrade. Also, as I discovered, Tokina had been hard at work on an 11-16mm T3 cine lens for Super35 sensors, demonstrated on a BMCC at their booth; finally opening up wide angle shots which had previously been restricted due to the 2.2x mag factor. More info on the NEW Tokina releases can be seen in an upcoming video with the Director of Tokina himself!

There will be much much much more coming soon, I just have to get through the video editing and chuck it all together, but please be patient, they are coming :)

As for future work and plans, I was due to produce a couple of videos for some classic RV's, with Joel from London Event Photography however thanks to the terrific English weather it was called off. Also got some top secret work with a manufacturer coming up, as well as a possible booking to go back to Amsterdam for the end of November.. IE.. My 22nd Birthday!! We shall see..

All the best for now you wonderful people! If you haven't checked out this kind of teaser video then please do :)

http://vimeo.com/74469276

Arri have a fantastic sounding workshop on Saturday at IBC!

Like Arri? Who doesn't! Arri manufacture some of the worlds most filmic digital cinema cameras, and they have a hands on event on Saturday 14th between 14:00 and 15:00!! Here is more info from the Arri page...

The final countdown is on - 3 days to go for IBC 2013 in Amsterdam.
The 3 reasons for today that it is worth attending:

- Cinematographer and former Gaffer Robby Baumgartner (There will be blood; Babel)
- Cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub - ASC, BVK (Independence Day; The Chronicles of Narnia)
- Cinematographer Elliot Davis (The Iron Lady; Twilight; Man of Thai Chi)

All three will be part of the ARRI Big Screen event on Saturday at 2pm. 90 minutes filled with interesting stories and feedback about ARRI products such as Alexa, Master Anamorphics, Lighting and a lot more.....

...and do not forget - ARRI PCA has its own booth at this years IBC - just behind the ARRI main both (hall 11.G30).

See you there....

I will indeed see you there Elliott! Arri released news of their new range of cinema cameras earlier this year too so it will be exciting to see the other options apart from the Alexa..

What I've Been Up To.. It's been a while!

Good afternoon! Its a blazing hot day here, I'm preparing my trip to IBC (checking flights and passes etc), and getting to know the other IBC Rising Stars at this years IBC in Amsterdam. I'm so excited! I've been busy with a variety of jobs since my last post, including photography and shooting. I helped out a make up artist friend of mine by doing a photoshoot with a model in Hampton Court and Bushy Park. Here are some of the best photos:

Leanne Cook is the Make Up Artist and has loads of experience in TV and special occasion make up. Here's a link to her site - http://www.leannecook-mua.com/

I've also been working on a couple of weddings with JHWF, here is one that I shot in The Orangery, Holland Park, Kensington.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/72345141]

Other recent updates include the testing and shoot with the Camax LCD High Definition Field Monitor for videography, cinematography, broadcasting and photography. A full review of the field monitor will be uploaded soon, for now here are a couple of stills and my first thoughts about the monitor.

• Very easy to use straight out the box (although lack of battery and longer cables held me back from using it immediately on location, which I had to purchase separately.)
• Basic functionality for a low cost solution.
• Lightweight; great for on location or light rig solutions.
• Overall a good basic solution to a field monitor, however this product should be specified by its packaging and reflected in the quality in design of the packaging and the manual and firmware.
• I was surprised to see a battery not included.

What else has been going on? Oh yes! I am now a Manfrotto Local Hero, and have my profile on their page! Many thanks to Dave Beck for your help, and I am extremely excited for our LED lighting field test shoot this Friday! I will be testing out the 5 new on-camera LED lights, as well as the new 1x1 flood panels (bi-colour and daylight/tungsten), got a music video and model shoot lined up so keep following for the updates!

Here is the link to my Manfrotto Local Heroes profile - http://www.manfrotto.us/Local+Heroes/Adam+Plowden/52400709

Apart from all that, IBC is coming up next week which I am so ecstatically excited for! If you are attending and want to meet up then get in touch!

What I've been up to.. Green Screen shooting and a Wedding at Hampton Court Palace!

Had another hectic week of filming for a compositing project, this time with a make shift green screen studio in my garden! Keep up with the blog to see the work in progress and the final product; a UFO film trailer! I'm compositing it together in The Foundry Nuke, the industry standard 3D compositing software for film and television, first designed for James Cameron's 'Titanic', and more recently used to create the amazing landscapes in Avatar, for the VFX in Iron Man and so many more! I was also filming the wedding of Andy and Ting at Hampton Court Palace! It was my first outdoor ceremony which was fantastic with the great weather we're having, as well as having beautiful decorations and the couple were just fantastic! Plus, the grooms god father is Theo Paphetis who was a lovely chap to film! Follow and share for more fun!