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Video Production Services to get YOU noticed
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Video © 2008 Maniac films ltd
Visualise project exploitation events - Cricket 2008
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Current Projects:
Visualise project exploitation events
Animal ASA Girls Day video
Pix tattoos new Website
Croyde Film Nights
Universe Inspectors DVD Post
Battlefield Live video and website rebuilds
Rogue : A Vampire chronicle filming & Post
Lambland rebranding and web refresh
Risen filming
Zombies of the Night Post
Artaura RNC Post & DVD Authoring
"One Day" filming for Wavedreamer
 Featured Video Clip
Visualise Promo for Cricket.
More video clips available in our downloads area
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We are a UK based award-winning media production company that specialises in Sports, documentary, promotional films and live music events. We operate an all-digital policy to ensure the quality and flexibility of our products.
We produce DVDs  ,web media (WMV, Quicktime H.264  and 2.5/3G mobile phone media  from digital content (HDCAM, HDV, DVCPRoHD, DVCPR050, DVCAM & miniDV). We can directly convert or arrange format conversion from Hi8, VHS, SVHS, Beta and film sources. We also hire out HD production equipment including lenses, cameras, jib, dollies, HD monitors, and Redrock M2 35mm HD filming kits.
We tend to focus on promotional films for businesses and tourism plus extreme sports and live music events. We produce interactive multi-media for DVD and web, documentary films and drama productions.
We provide a full DVD production service, from DVD authoring to DLT tape for mastering, DVD disc and packaging artwork design and can provide very competitive pricing for large scale DVD replication (1000+ pressed DVDs) or short-run DVD duplication using a quality ink jet disc printing process in-house.
Check our services or faq's for more information.
 We have digital sound mixing facilities and can create custom music soundtracks for your media or use sources from our production music library or from unsigned bands who want the exposure.
 We are also licensed to create Dolby Digital ™ Audio tracks and use Dolby ™ trailers and logos for our DVD productions.
More Video streaming and downloads in our downloads area.
Join our Mailing list to receive news updates & video notifications
To receive irregular email updates on MANIAC films video downloads, photo gallery updates, events and opportunities please email movies*at*maniacfilms.com with ADD TO MAILING LIST in the subject line.
Alternatively - receive news via our XML/RSS feed  
We are slowly updating our site.. its been a busy year so please bear with us!
MANIAC films news and updates 2008:
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Page last updated September 2008
 Our SP Profile
Secure Online Shop now open
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September 2008 - Wavedreamer Countdown for 'One Day' filming ready to start
Richard Gregory has launched a new Wavedreamer website with a 5 day countdown clock for the start of filming for One Day. The clock hasnt started yet but keep an eye on it as were due to be filming with Richard from sunrise till dawn on the one day which goes towards his new film - from surfing and beach parties to wild flowers and sheperds!
The filming will be one day sometime in September-October depending on the weather and surf conditions. Visit the One Day microsite for samples of the test footage that Richard has shot over the past few years. Its all going to come together on one glorious Day in Devon very soon.
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September 2008 - LambLand branding and website rebuild
The LambLand website is going through a rebranding exercise, with new colour scheme, logo and layout design for the existing site by Barrett Design. We will be creating new lifestyle product photography and integrating the new designs into the existing online shop. "I'm very excited by the new designs" said Paul from LambLand.
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September 2008 - Green screen signing footage for RNC DVD
We have been filming some new sign-language green screen footage to sync with Artauras RNC DVD at our studio in Devon. The footage will be used on a new verison of the DVD, to include subtitles and several versions with and without signing. We will be re-authoring the DVD and mastering for a replication run very soon.
<more info on our video production and DVD authoring services>..
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September 2008 - 2nd Unit filming on Risen
We have been up to Wales to do some 2nd unit filming for Risen, the story of Howard Winstone, by Burnhand films, directed by Merthyr born Neil Jones. A lot of the film has been completed and we were getting some more montage scenes with the Sony F900 to cut-in with existing footage. Final parts of Risen will be filmed in November.
Risen is the dramatic story of world featherweight boxing champion Howard Winstone. The fifteenth trailer is online
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September 2008 - ULB3 Universal rod mount bracket from Ronford Baker
We have just got in a new ULB3 Universal support bracket for the Sony F900 from UK engineering firm Ronford Baker. The ULB3 also fits the Sony 700,750,XDCAM and Panasonic Varicam and HDX900 and allows us to shoot cinema-style with matt box and follow-focus on 15mm rods. The ULB3 is also available in our rental equipment.
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September 2008 -Substance screening at Croyde Deckchair Cinema
September sees the end of the weekly summer film night programs - Saturday 13th is the last chance! We are having a break on the 20th due to the Paddle4Relief gig at the Aggie and are back on Sunday 28th September with the North Devon screening premier of Eye candy award winning UK surf film Substance (along with another selection of shorts). We have a lunchtime and an evening screening on Sunday.
Check out the deckchair cinema listings for any changes
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September 2008 - Pix Tattoos website started
We have started on a new website for Pix Tattoos, based in Forda, North Devon. Mike Stocks has a fantastic new studio in Forda and wants to show off his work. If you cant wait for the new site and want a tattoo or just a chat (he does removals and reworking of old tattoos as well) then call Mike on 07920043861.
<more info on our website design and hosting services>..
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August 2008 - Redrock m2 delux shoulder mount kits
We've added a couple of Redrock delux shoulder mount kits to our production and rental kit. These shoulder mounts have carbon fibre rods and can be used with ordinary non-shoulder mount cameras (like the Sony Z1, V1 and Panasonic HVX200) as well as with the Redrock M2 lens adapter system, giving front and back rod mounts for Matt boxes, the Gekko lenslite and battery plates.
"we broke our old Ikegami shoulder mount tripod plate when filming Rogue and have been looking for a replacment system for a while" said Mark Brindle. The Redrock kits are very modular and can be used in multiple ways"
<more info on our Video production equipment rental services>..
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August 2008 - DVD cleanup authoring and duplication for Forches film
We have been helping finish off the Lottery funded Forches film for youth worker Mike Bentley and North Devon College student Adrian Brayley. The film was shot by children in and around the infamous Forches estate in Barnstaple, with interviews of new and old residents, charting its history to the present. We helped cleanup the audio as best we could and provided basic DVD authoring, disk printing and duplication with a few 'special' versions made for the filmmakers themselves.
"Its great to see kids getting into filmmaking - they did a good job of the whole project" said Mark Brindle from Maniac films. PR link : North Devon journal article
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August 2008 - Filming Animal ASA girls-only surf day
We were invited down to Newquay by Katie from Animal, to film the Animal Girls-only surfing day at the Animal Surf Academy. Animal Pro riders Nicola Bunt, Kirsty Jones and Gwen Spurlock were there showing the girls how to surf, along with Yoga sessions, Q&A sessions and great Animal goodie bag giveaways!
Richard from Wavedreamer came along with his special board-cams to help filming in the water. We will be editing up a selection of videos for the Animal website and general web usage to help promote the ASA girls-only days.
Pr links:Collermag article. Video clips coming online soon.
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August 2008 - New Azden FMX 42-4 4ch audio field mixer
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We have just got in a new Azden FMX 4ch audio field mixer - the FMX42-4. Providing 4 balanced XLR line/mic inputs with individual level and pan controls plus switchable 48V phantom power and limiting with a great backlit UV meter, 1K tone generator, 2 balanaced XLR mic/line outputs with headphone monitoring in a rugged outdoor field bag. This unit is battery powered from AA batteries which last a good while.
<more info on our equipment rental services>..
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August 2008 - CD audio mastering for Douglas E Powell
We have been helping finish off the new album The iron Coast by Devon folk singer Douglas E Powell. "the recording quality is really good on all the tracks, so we didnt have too much to do really" said Mark Brindle from Maniac films. "The album sounds great - there are a few experimental tracks, new songs and a few new arrangements of older (Stocks and Powell) songs, but you wont recognise them!" The Iron Coast is due out in September when the artwork is finished and we can produce the CDs. We will be updating Dougs website with new mp3 samples when its ready for release.
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August 2008 - Erin music website nearly live!
After a bit more chasing around we have the final photos for Erin Matthews new music website - the site was designed by Helen Blackman and built and hosted by us with a flexible admin interface for adding page text. Erins just got married and so we are still waiting on the text - but the site should be live very soon now!
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August 2008 - work placement for Alice
Alice Titcomb joins us from her media degree at Bournemouth University for some work experience - she is specialising in Audio production and we are hoping to get her doing lots of sound recording and audio post production.
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August 2008 - Half Life shortlisted for Awards
Half Life has been nominated for the eye candy award at this years surfstock festival in Cornwall and also for best documentary award at this years Institute of Videography (IOV) awards to be held at the Ricoh center in Coventry.
"this is fantastic news" said Mark Brindle "although i suspect Mr Bs Substance will win the eye candy award!". The IOV awards will be held in October so fingers crossed.
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July 2008 - Creation fest 2008 - Big screen filming and live mix
We have been helping out at this years Creation Fest in Woolacombe - providing front of house cameras and live mixing for the big screen on the first day of the event. "The rainy weather held off all day and we had a great show" said Mark Brindle.
Visit the Creation Fest website for photos and videos from this years event
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July 2008 - Cricket filming at Cheltenham for Visualise promo
We have been filming Cricket highlights at a 3day festival held at Cheltenham cricket ground and helping out with a Visualise test at the event - providing live video and edited highlights of the event to be played out over wifi to PDAs and mobile phones. The testing is in advance of a bigger Visualise demonstration to be held at the grounds in September.
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July 2008 - Event filming for DC-KTN
We have been up to the Watershed in Bristol to film the presentations at the latest DCKTN Seminar: Collaborative research in Digital Communications. The event featured Roderick Snell from Snell & Wilcox, Professor Andrew Nix from the University of Bristol and Peter Walters discussing collaborative research and the new EU 7th framework funding programme.
The presentation videos, powerpoint slides and mp3 audio-only versions will be up on our site and the DCKTN website soon.
<more info on our Video production services>..
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July 2008 - Album cover photoshoot for Saint Onyeka
We have been getting some great portrait photos for exeter-based gospel singer, Saint Onyeka to choose for his new album cover, plus filming an interview about his music beginnings, to use for a sky tv channel program.
<more info on our photography and Video production services>..
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July 2008 - ANALOG Tag Team surf contest Podcast from Downend, Croyde
We have been filming the recent Analog Tag team surf contest held at downend, Croyde this month - we were invited by Analog teamrider Cotty to make a short video podcast from the event. It was very windy, the surf wasn't amazing but we found lots of talkative competitors who really enjoyed the team format and the sun was shining most of the time! There were some great tunes being played all day by RedBull DJ 'Jay', with deck chairs for spectators, a tasty barbecue and a very relaxed atmosphere making up for lack of real quality waves. A great day out for all.
Some local press articles from the North Devon Journal: before and after
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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July 2008 - Audio cleaning software from Izotope: RX
We have invested in some great audio post production software tools from Izotope - the Izotope RX for MAC comes as a standalone application, but also integrates seamlessly into Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut Pro as plugins. "Its simply fantastic! Seriously, I can't believe how good it is at removing noise and audio damage" said Mark Brindle
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July 2008 - ASTRALS project promo for DC-KTN and UoB
We have created a short promotional film for the Digital Communications knowledge Transfer Network (DC-KTN) to explain the ASTRALS project, with special emphasis on the collaboration between partners and how this helped UK companies in the consortium. ASTRALS was funded as part of the EU FP6 program and deals primarily with audio-visual streaming of high quality video in the home.
The video will be played at the DC-KTN conference 'Collaborative Research in Digital Communications' to be held at the Watershed, Bristol at the end of July.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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July 2008 - Paddle round the point charity paddle
Due to the unseasonal weather in June, the paddle race was called off at the Oceanfest. Unis bass player Ralph Freeman was determined to complete his charity paddle from Saunton to Croyde (and back) and set off in July with a group of friends including Oceanfest organizer Shaun Latham and Croyde skateclub organizer Chris Burrows to paddle round 'the point' and raise money for charity. You can support Ralphs cause by visiting his page on the Justgiving website. Local press article from the North Devon Journal: here
More pictures from the paddle coming soon to the photo gallery.
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July 2008 - Rogue: A Vampire Chronicle trailer
Producer/director Stuart Brennan has made the first trailer for Rogue: A Vampire Chronicle, based on the footage we shot in April. Its been left pretty raw - we did a very minor colour grade but were leaving it until shooting completes later in the year. Its not classified yet, so watch it if you dare!.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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June 2008 - Redrock rental for Two Short Nights bursary film
We have been running some training workshops for director Toby de Burgh and his DoP with some of our Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter systems for a bursary film they are making for the Exeter Pheonix Two Short Nights program. The filming is taking place over several long weekends, with a lot of night time shooting involved. Toby sent us some ungraded screen shots from the raw footage, made using our Redrock gear and Nikon lenses. The finished film is going to be screened at the Exeter Pheonix in November this year.
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June 2008 - Summer Weekly Film Nights starting
The infamous Croyde Deckchair Cinema is now starting weekly in the Summer season - Surf film Sunday will be screening a selection of short surf, skate, mountainboarding and random films shot or made by local filmmakers in North Devon, including Gordy from Extremeboardshots, Richard from Wavedreamer, Matt from Artaura and lots of Maniac films films too! The main feature will be North Devon Surf History screening each week through the summer at Croyde Village hall.
If your coming down to Croyde this summer then make sure you check out the Croyde deckchair cinema - come early or we might run out of chairs...£3.50 on the door adults £2 kids. Includes free popcorn and we have a bar selling beers, wines and soft drinks.
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June 2008 - Work experience for Calum
We were joined for the week by Calum Patanosta from Ilfracombe school. Calum had a great time learning to take stills photographs using a variety of manual lenses and macro lenses with bellows units and reversing rings. Calum learned a bit of photoshop retouching and filmed some surfing at Putsborough for Pointbreaks.
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June 2008 - Battlefield Live Bideford filming and new website work
We have been out in the rain filming an adult group playing Battlefield Live at the Big Sheep in Bideford, to make some promotional video clips for a new website and help promote the games to others. "I loved filming the guys running round in the rain!" said Kirsten Noel. We have also started on a new ecommerce site to replace the existing Battlefield Live website to make it easier for Paul (who runs Battlefield Live) to update descriptions and pricing. We will be re-doing most of the product photography too. More updates and new website for battlefield Live coming soon.
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June 2008 - Goldcoast Oceanfest 10th anniversary event in Croyde
Goldcoast Oceanfest is back again for its 10th anniversary celebration with an extravaganza of freesports and music filling the fun-packed event on the edge of Croyde beach over the summer solstace weekend of June 20,21,22. With a fantastic music lineup headlined by Donovan Frankenreiter and featuring an eco expo, kids education day and a host of beach and water sports from beach soccer, foot volley, beach volleyball to aquathon and ironman competition, its set to be another great event.
We will be back at Goldcoast this year too, filming the events and music for promotional video clips for the event organizers Urban Safari (USP)
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June 2008 - Work placement for Kirsten
Kirsten Noel joins us for a six weeks placement from her media degree course at Bouremouth University. Kirsten is studying to be a camera specialist, so we will be getting her involved in lots of filming work (even in the rain), but also lots of post production (editing, photography etc) too.
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June 2008 - Devil dey shake girigba music video complete for Saint Onyeka
One of two new music videos for Nigerian gospel singer Saint Onyeka - filmed in DVCProHD1080/25p and produced to DVD and broadcast tape for playback on sky tv channels at standard definition sizes. We did a lot of green screen filming and synced up the background with the audio using Motion audio behaviours. There are a few stock images used and some Futurismo backgrounds. We added a few effects to the dancers using Genarts Sapphire fxplugins for FCP. Thanks to the skaters in the square at Barnstaple and to the council for permissions to film in the street.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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June 2008 - Papa I Salut music video complete for Saint Onyeka
One of two new music videos for Saint Onyeka - Papa I salut was filmed in Barnstaple and in Croyde, North Devon - when the sun came out! A lot of green screen filming was planned although anyway, but external sections were moved indoors due to the weather. We used a few more new effects from the Genarts Sapphire fxplugins for FCP and some Futurismo backgrounds (soda bubbles, sky). More production stills coming soon to the photo gallery.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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May 2008 - Gekko daylight LED lenslite kit with flying ballast
We have added a Gekko Lenslite into our production and rental kit. The lenslite is a daylight LED ring light system which mounts on 15mm rods and can fit cameras with lens diameters up to 110mm. Our unit has a top flag, diffuser and clear holder for gels, a flying ballast with dimmer and seperate on/off for each of 4 quadrants of the light ring. It works great with our Redrock 35mm lens adapter system and fits the Sony F900 just fine.
The lenslite is ideal as a daylight fill (6000k, 128 fc at 3foot), as a beauty light or eyelight.
<more info on our video equipment rental services>..
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May 2008 - website rebuild for Doves Christian Bookshop
We have built a simplified website for Doves in Barnstaple to replace the original ecommerce store we made for them several years ago. "It was very time consuming trying to keep on top of the book listings, with titles going out of print and prices changing" said Celia from Doves "our supplier, Crown books, now have an affiliate scheme so we direct all our traffic to them for online sales".
<more info on our website design services>..
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May 2008 - Interview with Jane Cumming from North Devon Physio for Unis doc
We have been trying to finish filming for our long-running Universe Inspectors documentary and caught up with Jane Cumming from North Nevon Physiotherapy who was treating bass player and big wave surfer Ralph Freeman in the final stages following his broken neck.
"Jane was one of the final interviews for the film. We have re-made trailer and plan to have the film finished this year" said Mark Brindle.
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May 2008 - New website for eco campsite Summer Meadows
We have built a website for a new eco campsite open in Croyde Bay during parts of the summer (they are 30 days a year only due to planning legislation).Summer Meadows website (www.summermeadows.co.uk) needs a few more photos from the campsite, but we can't add those until it opens at May bank holiday - bit of chicken and egg really - speaking of chickens - newlyweds Mike and Karla Stocks who run summer meadows campsite have lots of friendly chickens and will be supplying free range eggs to campers too!
They have a great location in Forda - close to Croyde and Georgeham and are trying to run the campsite as ecologically as possible - with solar lighting, solar showers, communal barbeque and recycling facilities. Why not try camping as it used to be..?
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May 2008 - Work experience for Kiya
Kiya Major joined us for some work experience in May and had a great time helping out with the Saint Onyeka music video shoots, plus learning about stills photgraphy and how to use a crane."Kiya is very talented and picked up skills quickly" said Mark Brindle. Kiya has been playing Rhythm guitar and backing vocals in local Indie band The Chimps with Lipstick
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May 2008 - Music Video shoot for Saint Onyeka
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Weve been filming two music videos for African gospel artist Saint Onyeka. Two tracks from his new album Papa I Salut and Devil dey shake girigba. The weather has been against us in Barnstaple (we even got flooded during shooting!) so a lot had to be done with green screen, but the sun came out enough to get shots in the shiny new Square at Barnstaple and in the main highstreet and central church. The two videos had to be completed over 2 days due to logistics of the dancers, although we did film quite a few extra green screen sections with lots of Saint Onyekas family and friends. Videos coming online soon. Stu got roped into being the devil for a few shots and both Matt from Artaura and Mark both appear on one of the videos..
The videos were both shot in HD 1080 25p and made use of our chroma facility, indie dolly and the smaller abc crane using Panasonic HVX200s.
<more info on our video production services..
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May 2008 - Photos for new Hideaway Lodge Website
The weathers been fantastic in Croyde so we have been out taking photos of Hideaway lodge for a new website. Hideaway Lodge is definately at the luxury end of the Bed and breakfast market! Website coming soon.
<more info on our photography and website design services>..
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May 2008 - Zombies of the Night Trailer 3
We found some time to do more post production on the Burnhand Films production Zombies of the Night, its going a bit slow but we put together a new trailer for producer Stuart Brennan to take to the Cannes Film Festival.
We should get back to the project later in the year and possibly shoot a few more Zombie scenes - i know some of the guys on the eyeball forum want to be in it! Stuart has been very busy on other projects, but once Rogue and Risen have been finished then Zombies will be resurrected (literally!). We got in a new De:noise fxplug and a full suite of Genarts Sapphire fxplugins for final cut pro to give Zombies a more grindhouse look ((no sapphire effects on this trailer though).
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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April 2008 - more kit - Rycote s-series windshield plus PAG Vmount batteries and Hawk-Woods Vmount plates
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Weve been getting in more equipment and have added the Rycote S-series modular windshield system to give us good all round protection for audio recording in the UK. "the s-series is very quick and easy to use" said mark Brindle "weve gone for the largest windshields to allow more flexibility for renting and to be able to fit a radio mic tx unit inside too".
We have also added a new 4ch Pag all chemistry charger and a set of six Pag L95 Li-ion V-mount batteries to our production and rental kit. These are certified air transport safe too.
We have been sorting out our powering systems too with a selection of V-mount power plates and specially made regulator plates from UK-based Hawk Woods. We can now power all our cameras, monitors, downconvertors, redrock systems and Dat recorder with V-mount batteries.
<more info on our HD rental services>..
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April 2008 - AJA and Redbyte HD converters into production and rental kit
Yet more kit this month including the HD10A-12V HD component to HD-SDI converter from AJA to allow connection of the Sony F900 and HVX200s to our new tamuz monitor (coming soon) and the HD2SD downconverter from Redbyte design to allow us to monitor simultaneously on SD monitors and the modified Sony viewfinder for handheld Redrock work. Weve also upgraded our Panasonic HD monitor to HD-SDI to make it all compatible.
<more info on our HD equipment rental services>..
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April 2008 - MIA Winners show and tell networking in Plymouth
We have been down to Plymouth to meet up with the other Media Innovation Awards (MIA) winners and talk about our Think Tank DVD project at a networking event organised by Plymouth Media Partnership (PM-P)
We gave out copies of the Think Tank DVD along with copies of Half Life DVD too."Its a great way to meet other like minded media producers in the South West" said Mark Brindle from maniac films. If you work in the media industry in this region then think about joining PM-P.
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April 2008 - shorts, dresses and summer surfwear photoshoot for Genesis surf shop
We have been taking more summer surfwear photos for Genesis surf shop with lots of womens Balin and Roxy shorts and Reef summer dresses and tops this time. Congratulations to our model Liz who is now pregnant!
<more info on our photography services>..
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April 2008 - LambLand product photography - yet more cute Lambs!
We have been taking yet more product photos for LambLand in Ilfracombe - lots of cute kids toy lambs plus more from Pauls still-never-ending supply of leather wallets, purses, gloves and boots.
Visit the LambLand website (www.lambland.co.uk) to see whats new in the store or visit one of the real LambLand shops in Ilfracombe. More products coming online soon.
<more info on our website design services>..
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April 2008 - Bristol Oilskins back for more CD duplication
We have been printing and duplicating more catalogue CDs for Bristol Oilskins Foxware range, originally designed by Barrett Design with CD authoring, print and duplication by Maniac films.
Contact us for more information about our short-run CD and DVD production services
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April 2008 - Live Help integration for LambLand and the Pink shop
We have been integrating a Live Help system into two Oscommerce-based ecommerce sites we support for Lambland (www.lambland.co.uk) and The Pink surf shop (www.littlepinkshop.com)."Live help has become a very valuable tool to help close sales and give instant answers to customers" said Gary from the Pink shop "although we are the end of a phone most of the time, some customers prefer to 'chat' online"
<more info about our website design services>..
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April 2008 - RNC DVD authoring and duplication
Weve been authoring another DVD for Matt at Artaura (www.artaura.co.uk). This short film has been made for the RNC and RNIB to showcase the AHVIIT-Access technology (Audio Haptics for Visually Impaired Information Technology) which provides audio training and information to visually impaired people through specially made tactile devices.
<more info on our DVD authoring and duplication services>..
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April 2008 - Video edits and web cleanup for fitroads.org
We were approached by Martin Cassini to help re-edit some campaign videos and get them up on his website Fit roads (www.fitroads.org). Martin has been campaigning to make roads Fit for People, advocating common sense approaches to traffic controls rather then installing yet more traffic lights and speed cameras. Giving pedestians and motorists a peaceful co-existance and keeping motorists eyes on the road rather then the traffic lights may give us safer and less polluted streets.. watch some of the videos on Martins website and see what you think.
We screened one of Martins Films In your car no-one can hear you scream at this months film night - it was very well received and got a lot of applause.
<more info on our video editing and website services>..
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April 2008 - Peacefire complete and screening at Belfast film festival
Last year we rented out one of our Redrock systems along with a Panasonic HD camera to Chris Martin, producer of Peacefire - a gritty feature film shot in Northern Ireland. We went over to Ireland to help the crew get familiar with the kit and met a great bunch of guys. Peacefire is now complete and there will be a cast and crew screening at the Belfast Film festival in April. You can view video clips from the film on the Peacefire website (www.peacefiremovie.com) It looks great
Update July: Peacefire wins top prize at the prestigeous Galway Film Fleadh!
<more info on our HD equipment rental services>..
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April 2008 - Stu Gaunt joins Maniac Films
After helping out in a freelance capacity for some time, Stuart Gaunt joins us in a full-time role to help with video production and looking after our HD equipment rental services. Stuart has made quite a few skateboarding films over the years - we will be playing some parts from one of these - Progression at this months film night. You can see some of the theatre and music work that Stu's been working on in the past at his old website www.monkeymanfilms.co.uk
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April 2008 - CD print and duplication for Hypnotist Christopher Caress
We have been providing more printing and duplicating services for two audio CDs from Hypnotist Chris Caress - Complete relaxation and Lose weight now The CDs are available for sale from Christophers website (www.hyp-notist.co.uk)
<more info on our DVD printing and duplication services>..
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March 2008 - Pit Pilot magazine review for Half Life DVD
We got a great write-up in this months issue of Pit Pilot - the British surf magazine. "It is refreshing to see a surf film that is not dominated by professionals who have been helicoptered in to yet another perfect left in the tropics..the footage is beautifully shot and shows some of Scotlands well known and lesser known breaks in all states of weather..fun and friendly and shows Scotland at its best"
Connect to the Pitpilot magazine website or better still, buy a copy of Half Life and see for yourself Half Life DVD available to buy online.
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March 2008 - Chris Parker photography website rebuild
We have started rebuilding the Chris Parker photography website (www.chrisparkerphotography.co.uk) into an online ecommerce store using Oscommerce, open source platform. The site currently shows Chris's beautiful photos from the North Devon region, but doesn't allow online purchases. Following the success of his father Norman Parkers surrealist art wedsite, Chris wants to allow online purchases for prints and cards. The site is being managed by Chris's brother Ant Parker (who runs ex33 magazine). Ant is very busy on a lot of projects and so if the site still isn't live soon then we will have to chase him up!
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March 2008 - Winter Film Night with SWScreen shorts
Another packed film night again this month with a selection of short films (surf/skate/bmx)from the region and a series of more drama focused and animation films from the South West Screens short film network. For screening dates then check the Croyde Deckchair cinema website. We will be running monthly film nights until the Summer - when we will be going weekly on Sunday nights.
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March 2008 - Winners! Think Tank wins at MIA 2008
Think Tank - Maniac Films in association with the Museum of Barnstaple & North Devon and Jon Croose from Means of Production wins most innovative DVD at this years Media Innovation Awards."Think Tank uses new media to bring old media to life" said Julian Vayne from the museum.
"It is fantastic that the museum and maniac films have been recognised once again for their creativity and ability to capture the imaginations of young people"said Cllr David Butt, North Devon council lead member for cultural services.
You can watch videos from the awards presentations online at the MIA website in conjunction with Silverstream TV.
Download Press Release (PDF)
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March 2008 - LambLand product photography - more cute Lambs!
We have been taking more photos for LambLand in Ilfracombe - lots of cute kids toy lambs plus more from Pauls never-ending supply of leather wallets, purses, gloves and boots.
Visit the LambLand website (www.lambland.co.uk) to see whats new in the store or visit one of the real LambLand shops in Ilfracombe. More products coming online soon.
<more info on our website design services>..
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March 2008 - Visualise event at the Watershed Bristol
Weve been creating interesting rally footage for a University of Bristol science outreach project held in a shopping centre in downtown Bristol. The outreach aims to encourage kids to become interested in science at an early age. We had radio controlled cars transmitting live video driving around the shopping centre and lots of rally footage and motion graphics demonstrating the Visualise technology.
Weve also been up to Bristol again this month to film minis driving around the Bristol area - a demonstration of GPS controlled camera switching as part of the Visualise project and then edit up a short sequence for playing back on the day. We also created a new presentation video for Professor David Bull from the University of Bristol to help present a walk-through of the Visualise technology as used at the WRC Rally.
We filmed all of the presentations at the main Visualise exploitation event at the Watershed - these are all online to view now.
<more info on our website hosting services>..
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March 2008 - Trisurf DVD authoring and duplication
The Trisurf film has been finally finished by Matt at Artaura and we helped out with dvd authoring, printing and dvd duplication for the project. Trisurf is a 2year funded project to encourage cooperation between communities in Devon, Brittany and Ireland through surfing. Visit the Trisurf website (www.trisurf.eu) for more information.
<more info on our dvd authoring, printing and duplication services>..
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March 2008 - Fat Face Night Air video complete
This video was on the back-burner for a while, since Sam Gleeson left the SWMBC for a warmer climate in Africa (he is now running a surf adventure camp i think).. so when Joe Peard from Tiverton asked us for some work experience during his video production and media studies degree at Buckinghamshire University, we were glad to get the fat Face video finished.
"Joe was very quick to learn and made a great job of the video" said Mark Brindle from maniac Films. "I did a bit of tweaking and some colour grading but most of the edit was Joes work. I'm very pleased with the result"
Thanks to Simon Berry from Platipus for letting us use one of his tracks on the video.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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March 2008 - Redrock M2 rental for MPSMedia
We've been renting out some of our Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter system including our modified Sony viewfinder, Panasonic HD monitor and Nikon lens kit to Marcus Stephenson from MPSMedia. Marcus has made a fantastic set of films about bipolar disorder for his clients, event agency MJM, for a pharmaceutical industry conference. Marcus (and his clients) was so impressed with the results thats he is now building his own Redrock system.
Watch one of the finished films 'John' on the MPS media website.
<more info on our Redrock and HD rental services>..
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March 2008 - Media Innovations Award Nomination for Think Tank and Visualise
Think Tank has been short listed for a Media Innovations Award (MIA) in the 'Best DVD' category at this years MIA event in Plymouth. We also have a nomination for the Visualise project in the 'best mobile communications project' category. The awards are open to the whole of the South West region this year and are organised by Plymouth Media Partnership (www.pm-p.com) and South West Screen.
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March 2008 - Editing workshop for South Devon College
We have been running a Final Cut Pro editing workshop for students at South Devon College to help them with a 30-second film challenge to create a tv advert for a local business to be played on ITV local. The workshops were organized through Plymouth Media Partnership (PM-P)
"I was very impressed by the facilities at South Devon college - it was more like a University campus...the catering students even made and served the lunch..they have great vocational training facilities." said Mark Brindle
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February 2008 - Half Life premier screening at Croyde Film Night!
We had our first public screening of Half Life to a capacity audience at the Croyde film night this month. "Its my kind of film" said Trevor Toes Lumley from Eyeball surfcheck in Woolacombe. We also played the original 10min horror short Sandside experiment for good measure, along with some other short films from the south west. "I loved it!..but Tim scares me!" said Rob Tibbles from Extremeboardshots.com
Check out the Croyde Hall website for dates of the next Film Night.
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February 2008 - Work experience for Chloe
This month we have had Chloe Crabtree visiting for some work experience to add some portfolio work and gain experience in the business. Chloe recently graduated from Southampton Solent University with a BA(hons) in graphic image making.
"Chloe's been doing a variety of jobs with us from video editing and motion graphics to photography and graphics design for web" said Mark Brindle. " We hope to get Chloe some more paid work in the future"
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February 2008 - upgrades to Adobe CS3 extended
Weve been reviewing internal software and have upgraded our photo re-touching software to the latest CS3 extended version of Adobe photoshop. "The extended version gives us the ability to use photoshop with video files and do manipulations on a frame by frame basis or for the whole video clip" said Mark Brindle. " It also allows us to import 3D models and manipulate these too"
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February 2008 - judging panel for eco films from playitcool devon
We have been asked to be on the judging panel for a series of eco films organized by play it cool Devon. Play it cool is a DEFRA funded project to raise awareness of climate change in North Devon schools and their communities. The films have all been made by local students (mostly Ilfracombe and Pilton schools) as an attempt to address some of the issues surrounding climate change. We plan to show some of the short films at the Croyde film nights too.
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February 2008 - Ecommerce Seminars for North Devon Enterprise Agency
We will be running a series of free Ecommerce seminars for the North Devon Enterprise Agency (www.ndea.org.uk) in Bideford. Anyone can attend the free workshops but you must register first with NDEA and have been running in business for at least one year. Contact the NDEA - they are located: Studio J, Caddsdown Business Support Centre, Caddsdown Industrial Park, Clovelly Road, BIDEFORD, Devon EX39 3DX or by telephone: 01237 426416.
The seminars are split into 3 levels, depending on where you business is in the ecommerce cycle: (1) Websites where do I begin ? (2) Ecommerce Websites (3) Making Ecommerce work.
<more info on our web design and ecommerce services>..
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January 2008 - The first Croyde Film Night!
The first film night of the year and a tremendous success with loads of locals turning out in the cold, dark evening (some even brought thier own chairs!). We are planning a series of Film Nights in the local village hall for 2008 - screening local surf films, documentaries and interesting films from outside the region. If you have a film you think we might want to screen then please get in touch to discuss. Chris Burrows who runs the local Skate and youth club is organising the bar and the popcorn and were supplying the films.
Check out the Croyde Hall website for dates of the next Film Night.
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January 2008 - Half Life edit finally complete
Half-Life has completed post production and is now ready for shipping. Weve sent out some preview copies to a lot of UK surf mags and are awaiting some feedback. Tim and Dave will be watching a preview on Feb 9th in North Devon and we have a public screening date of 19th Feb at the next Croyde Film Night. Matt said "just sat down to watch as a family and i have to say I thought it was brilliant!!!...it worked really well, flowed, looked good, excellent sound and music, funny and very enjoyable. Fantastic"
<more info on our video filming and DVD production services>..
<more info about Half Life the movie>
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January 2008 - HD Cameras and edit system rental for short film
Weve been busy in post production on Half Life for most of the month and so it was an ideal time to rent out a couple of our HVX200 cameras plus a mobile FCP edit system for P2 transfers to South-West filmmaker Alex Clennel-White. We did some training on the camera system and transfers and showed him the Redrock 35mm adapter system. He was tempted to use the Redrock gear on his film Deadly Illusions, but opted to shoot it straight in the end. Deadly Illusions is a tale of a Magician's Assistant who thinks the show is going nowhere and wants to leave - will she be persuaded by his new tricks and his 'deadly Illusions'??
If you want to watch then follow this link to the whole film on Vimeo.
<more info on our HD rental services>..
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January 2008 - More Moose bars from Ronford Baker
Weve been very impressed with the lightweight support handles from Ronford Baker , so we had to get some more! Made from high tensile aluminium, the Moose bars fit both 15mm and 19mm rods, they are adjustable and comfortable too - with extension options too. Moose bars are available from our rental equipment.
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January 2008 - Be prepared!
We've been down at the local cub scouts in Braunton, showing the kids some of our films and some editing techniques to help them with a filming and animation project they have in the pipeline. The loved the alien from the Think Tank! Scoutmaster Rob Sumner said "the kids were really pleased...it's given them lots of ideas for films they want to make."
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