Hints and Tips

Tech Specs

By Robert

Light meters? Lastolight shoots? Shine a Light!

Never ones to be in the dark, unless creative control calls for it we’ve invested in more of the latest Lastolite Reflectors and Soft Boxes for great soft lighting control and beauty lighting – and I reckon we’ve got the biggest Hi-Lite Screen Soft Box daddies of them all outside of London…unless of course you know better. With our portable units standing at eight foot by seven foot, or seven foot by six foot we can offer amazingly soft lighting control, and hi-lite white backdrops and we’ve also added to our portable Green Screen and Blue Screen capabilities.

With Light Meters at the ready and distinctly portable lighting solutions that allow us to set up Studio anywhere, giving that great studio look you’ll see that lighting can be everything. And for even larger shoots, we can offer you a really cool 4,000 ft square of studio facilities with catering, set building, makeup facilities, autocue, and coffees. Now who’s for a skinny latte with a shot of hazlenut?

Bending, Stretching, Winning!

Bending, Stretching, Winning!

A venture up to Scotland this month allowed us to participate in the coverage of November’s International Gymnastics Grand Prix held in the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena in Glasgow. It was amazing to watch these precision-based determined athletics perform in the arena. Gold and Silver medallists fresh from the Rotterdam World Championship and Delhi Commonwealth Games battled it out to win gold for their country. We helped cover the live event for Sky Sports, broadcasting this prestigious sporting event to the world.

Hilton Hotel

Hilton Hotel

We soared the majestic heights of the Hilton Hotel towering over Manchester City Centre on Deansgate this month. We ventured deep into the heart of the hotel into the busy kitchens with Manchester’s Chef of The Year David Gale. David has a great track record for producing food full of flavour and fantastic taste and he did not disappoint. The dishes he created were superb including a starter of monkfish with imam bayildi served with spiced onion bhajis accompanied with cream cheese quenelles mmmmm!!

Place Your Bets!

Place Your Bets!

We took a trip to Fontwell Race Course in Southampton to interview top jockey AP McCoy who won this years Texaco Sports Star of The Year Award for his achievement in Horse Racing

It was a cold rainy day at Fontwell Park but that didn’t stop Tony McCoy from winning all of his races. Riding for trainer Jonjo O’Neill he certainly brought all our bets in! Tony has been honoured with many awards during his career and we got up close an personal as we discussed his winning record and this years big win at Aintree in the Grand National on ‘Don’t Push It’.

Need a Crew?

It’s smokin’

It’s smokin’

At Stockport Fire Service

Keeping up to speed with new procedures and gruelling training is just part of the everyday life of a fireman, but how about gourmet cooking? 4 Cheshire fire fighters have become stars as they compete in this years cookery challenge – but what can they offer head chef Marc Mattock’s and his team from the Dun Cow in return for all their teaching & advice? How about a trip into a smoke filled house to show what they do every day? The 3 Chefs were escorted into the Smoke House by the White Watch team from King Street Fire Station in Stockport in full breathing apparatus in search of a casualty giving them a full experience of a firemen’s duty and we went along to film!

’

Lights, Models, Guest List…

Fashion Kicks at Red Carpet Launch

We had an invitation to film the launch of the New Hugo Boss Store here in Manchester co-hosted by Manchester City Football Clubs goalkeeper Shay Given and his wife Jane to raise funds in aid of their charity, Fashion Kicks.

Local celebrities donned the red carpet in celebration for the launch of the second largest Hugo Boss store in the world, located right here in Manchester on New Cathedral Street neighboring stores such as John Lewis and Selfridges. At 10,000 ft² you can enjoy the entire Hugo Boss experience within its walls.

Shay and Jane Given fused Fashion, Food, Football and fantastic Entertainment together to set up the Fashion Kicks Charity back in 2004. Since then they have raised a phenomenal amount of money for Macmillan Cancer Support, the evening saw the auction of some fantastic prizes donated to the charity auction. An art gallery was also set up to support the charity including a variety of works with some rather bling looking doggies created by Agnetha. Guests enjoyed a champagne reception with canapés and got to compete for the fastest time in The Vodafone McLauren Mercedes simulator. Celebrities who came to show their support included Coronation Street stars Michelle Keegan, Brooke Vincent and Ben Thompson as well as Miss Manchester. Check http://www.fashionkicks.org.uk/ for more info.

The Heat is On!!

Contestants from all over the UK gathered to compete in The Great Northern Cook Off 2010 in Cheshire’s very own Cookery School here in Manchester and had their culinary delights sampled and judged by Michelin Star Chef Michael Caines!

The heat was on this week as the Marketing Executives battled the Firemen and the Accountants battled The Brewery Experts as they all competed for a place in the Final of the Great Northern Cook Off 2010. Pots and pans at the ready the teams arrived early to prep their workstations before entering the strict 2-hour cook off where they were only allowed two phone calls to their chef mentor for advice and help if disaster struck. The teams were required to create a three-course gourmet meal with preselected ingredients to be judged by Michael Caines. Not only have the teams got to shine and produce an outstanding dish but their mentor who has been teaching them the skills and tricks of the trade since September is also being judged for the Mentor of the Year Award. The teams have been given dishes to reproduce that best represent their chef mentor and they must make them shine; Andrew Nutter’s teams V’s Simon Rimmer’s team, the pressure is on to keep their place in the competition for their team to be crowned The Greatest Northern Cook. We saw some beautiful dishes produced, our favourite being lunch! We shot some superb footage and got some great cooking tips…. for dinner I believe I will have the confit guinea fowl served with turned vegetables and jus!!