Maniac Films Blog Archive 2008

AXAR Media 1000 HD wireless video distribution product launch video created for CES 2009 for AXAR Media, a division of Provision Communications. We finished this promotional video just in time for the CES exhibition in Las Vegas and delivered it in High Definition on Blu-ray disc for playout on big HD TVs. We also delivered standard definition DVDs, web sized and laptop sized QuickTime formats for the exhibition. We uploaded an HD version for youtube too.

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We have been up to Bideford to film a short set of 'firing tests' for Battlefield Sports www.ecombat.com to show how their Urban Inflatables hold up against FX Simunition and Paint ball fired at close and point-blank range. With a tough outer skin and rubber insides, the inflatables had no problem dealing with these sorts of projectiles.

Watch the Simunition testing video on Youtube

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We were invited to be on the 'Going it Alone' panel at the Breaking into Media event held at Plymouth University - a careers day for students from the South West. The event was organised by the Royal Television Society Devon and Cornwall and Plymouth Media Partnership as part of National Enterprise week. "I would like to say a very big thank you for taking part in the session..the feedback has been fantastic and it was much appreciated that the students had the chance to find out what it takes to setup on your own in the media industry" Kurston, PM-P.

We have been back up to Wales to film more 2nd unit shots for Risen the Howard Winstone Boxing feature - this time we were up in the Breacon Beacons filming montage sequences with producer Neil Jones from Burnhand productions on the Sony F900 and making use of the new Maniac films van to do some exterior tracking shots, but still found a bit of time to get some of the cast and crew doing product photography for the Genesis surf shop website!

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As the nights are drawing in and Genesis surf shop in Ilfracombe is opening less for the winter, we have been re-formatting a lot of this years product photos for display on new LCD panels in the shop front to temp any passers-by onto the Genesis surf shop website

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Woohoo! We have been chosen as a Brand Winner in the Cisco/Filmaka Digital Cribs film competition. Our 2 short films about Mike Cottons digital crib were selected by Cisco and will be posted on over 200 websites and showcased on their Digital cribs www.digitalcribs.com website. Cool. "I'm very pleased with this result and will be looking out for more opportunities with competitions from Filmaka.com " said Mark Brindle from maniac films."..and the 7500USD prize money will be put to good use!"

Watch the award winning film here featuring Mike Cotton at Baggy Lodge Croyde.

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Pilates at home CD1: all levels is the new audio CD from Rachael Waldron of Kendra Pilates in Braunton, designed for her Pilates classes while Rachael goes off for the Winter to the Pacific. The audio CD features a range of Pilates exercises for all levels from beginner to advanced. We re mastered the audio recorded on our DAT and added lots of complimentary ambient chill-out music. You can buy a copy of the CD from the Kendra Pilates website.

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Richard at Wavedreamer has finally decided to release Not California on DVD and we have been helping with the Dolby™ encoding and DVD authoring of this Brighton surfing extravaganza - the DVD includes loads of micro movies and featurettes and hidden 'Easter egg' video clips, plus alternate directors commentary soundtrack. Visit the Not California www.wavedreamer.co.uk website for production stills, sample clips and trailers for this popular surf film. The replicated DVDs will be available to buy from Wavedreamer very soon.

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We've been busy with DVD authoring this month with a new DVD for PJ Hare Limited featuring their Brakemaster brake assembly/disassembly equipment, cover design courtesy of Chris from Barrett Design. Plus authoring and encoding for a new Audio Haptics DVD for the Royal National College of the Blind using multi-angle encoding to give subtitle, non-subtitle and signing versions of the main film by Artaura Productions.

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We have been exhibiting at the recent North Devon Business showcase at the Barnstaple hotel. It was great to meet lots of new faces over the two days. If you didn't manage to brave the terrible weather and see us or any of the other North Devon companies showing casing at the event then more information can be found on the ND Business website www.ndbusiness.co.uk. Hope to see you next year?

David at DBI Communications has been very busy with new DVDs and we have been printing and duplicating for a new show reel for actor Jon Ridge and a promo DVD for H&A Sports surfaces. For the photo-print DVDs we used new Aquashield printable discs for a glossy surface finish. "we always get great quality and a quick turnaround from maniac Films" said David Impey from DBI Communications.

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We have been over at the old disused Shapland factory in Barnstaple to film a new music video for acoustic musician Doug Powell. The Ballad of the Roman Road is from the new album The Iron Coast, available from www.douglasepowell.co.uk. "the factory is a great location to film in - spacious and industrial, with some great natural light" said Mark Brindle

Watch the completed Ballad of the Roman Road music video on youtube

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We have built a new website for highly talented tattoo artist Mike Stocks at Pix Tattoo studio in Forda. Thanks to Tanja for her creative flash designs. Check out some of the examples in the Tattoo gallery at www.pixtattoos.co.uk. "people have sworn they can see round the edges of the photos in the gallery..the 3d effect is a real mind bender and is a fantastic way to view our work" said Mike from Pix Tattoos. We will be adding more 3d views of Mikes work, like the example using a 3d model and original artwork from Pix, plus some morphing sequences to show the before and after tattoo 'cover up' work which Mike specialises in.

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We have been finishing off some edits for new 'Live Play' videos for Battlefield Sports in Bideford www.ecombat.com. This video clip is a battlefield Live re-enactment of Operation Sealion when Germany invaded Britain, set in the 1940. Otherwise known as 'Team Deathmatch' where the last team left alive wins.

Its a bit tongue-in-cheek with battlefield Live staff dressed up in period uniforms to get into the spirit of the event, with the Bideford round table members.

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It has taken a while but the new e-commerce B2B website for Battlefield Sports Bideford is now up and running for UK and European sales of the Battlefield Live outdoor infra-red gaming equipment. The site features all new product photography and an easy to use interface for selling Battlefield Live gear to customers running their own battlefields. Check the new site at www.ecombat.com. We are still working on the live gaming side of the website with new video and flash content. "I can now update all my product information and pricing on-line - its so easy!" said Paul Diamond from battlefield Sports Bideford.

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We have been doing some more website updates and search engine optimisation for south coast removals company Schepens International to cover the wide range of local removals and international shipping destinations they cover including Southampton, Bournemouth, Newbury, USA, South Africa, France, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. More information from www.schepens.co.uk

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Rosie Cotton joined us for the week to get some work experience and got roped into being a Badger in Douglas E Powells new music video! We taught Rosie some photography skills, a bit of editing and some basic accounting skills - I think she enjoyed dancing around as a Badger the most though!.

Now the weathers getting colder and windier, we have been taking more product photography for Genesis surf shop in Ilfracombe www.genesissurfshop.com. Genesis now have the latest Animal, Quiksilver, Black Salamander and Roxy beanies and hoodies now online.

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The annual Institute of Videography convention was held at the Ricoh arena Coventry this year and included a trade show, seminars and panel Q&A sessions. We were visiting to see some of the latest production gear and Mark was on one of the panels, answering questions on corporate video production. The evening awards event was held just upstairs from the main exhibition hall and was designed to celebrate the best of video production in the UK and Europe. Our Scotland surf documentary Half Life scored a Highly commended award in the best documentary category. Press release (PDF) about the IOV Awards   IOV Event Report (PDF)

We have had award winning stop-motion animator Tom Ball in this week for work experience so we dressed him up in camo and got him running around the battlefield near the Big Sheep in Bideford to help with new promotional filming for the latest infra-red guns from Battlefield sports www.ecombat.com. Tom also came up to the IOV conference for a couple of days to check out the latest video equipment and listen in on the seminars.

Filmaka (www.filmaka.com) with brand sponsorship from Cisco Systems are running a Digital Cribs film contest. We have submitted a film to the contest to show how technology is used in someones 'crib', how it impacts their life and a brief tour of the house and the technology. "we suddenly got fantastic weather at the end of September" said Mark Brindle "perfect to do a more outdoor style film with Croyde local Mike Cotton (who runs Baggy Lodge). This is a combo of the two films entered with a slightly elongated end - thanks to Doug Powell for the music - we used a couple of all-acoustic tracks from the new album The Iron Coast with a bit of extra ambiance..".

Watch the award winning film here featuring Mike Cotton at Baggy Lodge Croyde.

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The UKTI funded Visualise project has finally come to an end, the audits are all done and the exploitation events are underway. The Visualise project led by the University of Bristol and 3C Research was a 2 year project to look into enhancing spectator experiences at large scale live events - such as the World Rally Championships, the Olympics - any sporting or music event that is spread out geographically or to provide additional data (video, audio, statistics) which would enhance the viewer experience at any event. The main idea was to provide spectator-driven content in a 'pull down on demand' basis to allow users to choose what content they wanted to see and to be able to set alerts to inform them of upcoming data which they had chosen to keep tabs on.

The new album The Iron Coast from North Devon acoustic musician Douglas E Powell is now available - we finally got the artwork through and have been busy printing and duplicating CDs. You can get your copy of the CD from Doug's website www.douglasepowell.co.uk or from one of his gigs. We have also added MP3 samples from the new album to Doug's website too.

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We've had a few more DVD print and duplication jobs in from fellow IOV member David Impey at DBI Communications. This time for Castle sixth form college in Kenilworth and Geotech engineering. "we always get a quick turn around time from Maniac films..and the quality is great" said David Impey DBI Communications.

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For girls only! Fancy learning to surf in Newquay with pro Animal team riders ? Check out the short version of the Animal Surf Academy promo featuring music from the Universe Inspectors. We will have a longer version of the promo coming soon. Thanks to Katie at Animal for all her input and to all the girls who had such a great time in and out of the water.

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We have been up to Bristol to the Gloucestershire cricket ground again to provide filming coverage for the latest Visualise demo - streaming live action and replays to spectators via Wifi to their mobile phones and PDAs. We had a new flash-based system for the demo from Bristol University which will incorporate cricket highlights from the 3 day game and be used as a stand alone demo in future. We supplied video monitoring and down conversion hardware plus filming crew to gather highlights (plenty of wickets!) and roaming camera feeds for the live demo. We have been editing a highlights package for the stand alone demo which can play back on a computer or mobile phone.

Watch the Visualise Cricket demonstration video on youtube

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It looks like someone forgot to pay the phone bill for the telephone line at Saunton beach, so the main Saunton webcam on the Eyeball website has been down whilst we wait for it be reconnected. Thanks for all the emails and messages on the eyeball forum asking when it will be back - its now back and running again!!

Richard Gregory has launched a new Wavedreamer website with a 5 day countdown clock for the start of filming for One Day. The clock hasn't 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 shepherds!

The LambLand website is going through a re branding 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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We have been filming some new sign-language green screen footage to sync with Artauras' Audio Haptics DVD at our studio in Devon. The footage will be used on a new version 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.

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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 Risen trailer is on Youtube here

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We now offer Holograms for DVD duplication work - protect your video content from piracy and make sure your customers are buying the genuine article. Through our membership of the Institute of Videography we are offering these tamper-proof holograms as an option for all our DVD duplication projects.

"This is a great idea" said Mark Brindle from Maniac Films " with the new low price, its an affordable option for all our customers..and gives a very professional looking finish to any retail DVD"

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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.

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

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 Stocks.

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We've added a couple of Redrock delux shoulder mount kits to our production and rental kit. These shoulder mounts have carbon fiber 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 replacement system for a while" said Mark Brindle. The Redrock kits are very modular and can be used in multiple ways"

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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 film makers themselves.

"Its great to see kids getting into film making - 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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We have been filming more cricket highlights - this time at Gloucester county cricket ground in Bristol, to make a new promotional film for 3C Research to help spread the word about a demo of the Visualise technology (at cricket) which will be happening in September.

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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 now online to watch on Youtube.

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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 back lit UV meter, 1K tone generator, 2 balanced 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.

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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 didn't 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 recognize them!"

The Iron Coast is due out in September when the artwork is finished and we can produce the CDs. We will be updating Doug's website with new MP3 samples when its ready for release.

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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. Erin's 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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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.

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 centre 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.

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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We have been filming Cricket highlights at a 3 day 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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Tim Tanton has been paddling to raise awareness of the forgotten Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka and has organised another Paddle4Relief fund raiser gig at the Aggie (Braunton) plus a charity paddle on thenthh August. Tim has been getting some practice in with a 7km paddle from Saunton to Woolacombe and back. Paddle4Relief Website. PR info: calm before the storm (PDF) PR for August event (PDF)

Summer doesn't seem to have even arrived yet but we have been out shooting product photos of autumn Roxy hoodies for Genesis surf shop. More women's surf wear coming online soon.

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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 program.

The presentation videos, powerpoint slides and mp3 audio-only versions will be up on our site and the DCKTN website soon.

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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.

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We have been filming the recent Analog Tag team surf contest held at downend, Croyde this month - we were invited by Analog team rider 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. Watch the Analog tag team video on Youtube now

Some local press articles from the North Devon Journal: before and after

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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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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. Watch the Astral project film now on Youtube

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Laura and Laura finally came up to Croyde to claim their raffle prize from last years Surfers Against Sewage (sas) raffle. We teamed up with Wavedreamer, extremeboardshots, Baggy Lodge and Pointbreaks Watersports to make sure the girls had a great weekend and filmed them as part of the raffle prize - making a short video to raise awareness of beach litter and marine pollution and to highlight the great work SAS do, campaigning for clean and safe recreational waters for everyone. Special thanks to Matt from Artaura for helping out on the day.

"I kind of 'forced' Kirsten over her fear of editing and i think she has done a great job editing the video" said Mark Brindle. Watch the finished video here

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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.

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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!.

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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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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, mountain boarding 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.

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.

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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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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Kirsten Noel joins us for a six weeks placement from her media degree course at Bournemouth 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.

We have been up to the Bristol show ground for the NASS 2008 event this year to get some coverage of the Battlefield Live mega arena and inflatables and to catch some of the FMX, BMX and skateboarding action. More photos from the event will be in the photo gallery very soon. Watch the NASS 08 promo video now on youtube

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We have been getting some new video and stills for Pointbreaks watersports (www.pointbreaks.com)to update their promotional DVD and website - more boogie slides, supascreamer rides and wakeboarding at the Estuary in North Devon. "Its always good to refresh content regularly" said Simon from Pointbreaks. We will be filming more surfing soon too and updating the main Pointbreaks website.

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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. Watch the Devil dey Shake Girigba music video on Youtube now.

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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). Watch the music video on Youtube now.

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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 separate 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.

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We have added a Losmandy Porta-Jib into our production and rental kit with 150mm bowl mount to fit our Sachtler video 30 II head and tripods."we needed a jib which can take lots more weight then the abc crane...the Porta jib was an ideal choice" said Mark from Maniac Films.

We also added a Tamuz Falcon 15.4 inch full 1920x1080 HD field monitor too with HDSDI inputs and battery plate for field use, plus a heavy-duty vesa mount from VF Gadgets to allow the monitor to be put on a standard lighting stand. The picture looks superb!

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We have built a simplified website for Doves bookshop in Barnstaple (now closed) 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".

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We have been trying to finish filming for our long-running Universe Inspectors documentary and caught up with Jane Cummings 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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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 barbecue and recycling facilities. Why not try camping as it used to be..?

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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

We've 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 high street 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.

Read more about our Video Production Services.

The weathers been fantastic in Croyde so we have been out taking photos of Hideaway lodge for a new website. Hideaway Lodge is definitely at the luxury end of the Bed and breakfast market! Website coming soon.

Read more about our Photography Services.

Weve had another DVD print and duplication project for Space Today UK to showcase their new Magic Planet promo video.This was a very simple print with clear c-shell packaging.

Read more about our Disc Production Services.

We've had another quick-turnaround duplication job for DBi Communications - Hill Close gardens DVD. Full colour disc print with a simple design.

Read more about our Disc Production Services.

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).

Read more about our Post Production Services.

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 "we've 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.

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 hand-held Redrock work. We've also upgraded our Panasonic HD monitor to HD-SDI to make it all compatible.

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.

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!

Read more about our Photography Services.

We've been filming a Vampire feature - Rogue : A Vampire Chronicle, in North Devon this month, with writer/director Stuart Brennan from Burnhand Films(www.burnhandfilms.com) and Robbie Bryant. Its a low budget feature being shot on HD with our Panasonic HVX200s and Redrock M2 adapter systems. We have been putting our track and skater dolly to good use and our HD converters and HD monitors. "the ruff cut looks fantastic" said Brennan "we hope to continue filming the rest of Rogue later in the year when everyones schedules are less hectic"

Thanks to Claytons and Broomhill for location use. The latest Rogue Trailer and some production photos can be found on Youtube. More photos coming soon to our photo gallery.

We have been taking yet more product photos for LambLand in Ilfracombe - lots of cute kids toy lambs plus more from Paul's 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.

Read more about our Photography Services.

We have been printing and duplicating more catalog CDs for Bristol Oilskins Foxware range, originally designed by Barrett Design with CD authoring, print and duplication by Maniac films.

Read more about our Disc Production Services.

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"

Read more about our Website Development Services.

We've been authoring another DVD for Matt at Artaura. This short film has been made for the Royal National College for the Blind and Royal National Institute for the Blind 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.

Read more about our Disc Production Services.

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 pedestrians and motorists a peaceful co-existence 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.

Read more about our Post Production Services.

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 prestigious Galway Film Fleadh!

Read more of our Camera equipment rental news and updates.

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

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 Christopher's website (www.hyp-notist.co.uk)

Read more about our Disc Production Services.

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 Scotland's 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.

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 website, 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!

Read more about our Website Development Services.

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.

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)

We've been giving Schepens International's website a face-lift this month, with graphic design help from Jamie at Azure Studio. We have also integrated a full admin system for Schepens to update all text pages on the site using the easy fckedit system.

Read more about our Website Development Services.

We have been taking more photos for LambLand in Ilfracombe - lots of cute kids toy lambs plus more from Paul's 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.

We've been creating interesting rally footage for a University of Bristol science outreach project held in a shopping center 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 center and lots of rally footage and motion graphics demonstrating the Visualise technology.

We've 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 no longer online to view.

Read more about our Video Production Services.

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 2 year funded project to encourage cooperation between communities in Devon, Brittany and Ireland through surfing. Visit the Trisurf website (www.trisurf.eu) for more information.

Read more about our Disc Production Services.

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"
Watch the finished video here on youtube

Thanks to Simon Berry from Platipus for letting us use one of his tracks on the video.

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.

Read more about our Photography Services.

The sun came out again and we managed some more Animal and Billabong surfwear photos for Genesis surf shop with one of our regular models, North Devon eco surfboard shaper Joel Blackman.

Read more about our Photography Services.

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.

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

Read more about our Post Production Services.

Using withoutabox.com services weve submitted Half Life, Scotland Surf documentary and been shortlisted in the best documentary category at the International Film Festival of England

"This is very exciting" said Mark from Maniac Films - our first submission and our first selection - cool!"

Read more about our Video Production Services.

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.

We've been getting some more accessories for our skate dolly and have added the P+S Technik laser pointer and steadybag to give us more flexibility in using our skate dolly. We've had some custom metalwork made to fit these items to our skate dolly (non P+S Techniks) and the results are great! We've also got in some P+S Technik Clipgear Focus Rings for some of our Nikon lenses too.

Read more about our Camera and Grip Equipment Hire.

Weve been doing another Roxy, Animal and Billabong surfwear photoshoot for Genesis surf shop and this time teamed up with Devon model agency Crazyfish. "its wasn't warm but the sun was shining!..the girls were great to work with and we got some really good photos" said Mark Brindle from Maniac Films.

Read more about our Photography Services.

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"

We've 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"

Read more about our Photography Services.

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.

We have been shooting some new product photography for LambLand - to go on the online shop at lambland.co.uk lots of warm winter boots and gloves.

Read more about our Photography Services.

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.

Read more about our Website Development Services.

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 their 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.

Half-Life has completed post production and is now ready for shipping. We've 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". Watch the trailer for Half Life on Youtube

Read more about our Post Production Services.

We've 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.

Read more about our Camera and Grip Equipment Hire.

We've 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.

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."