Watch the Video!

Outside the offices of Shooters Media this morning, I managed to capture the aftermath of a car crash, only feet away from mine too! I was very lucky not to have my car damaged as it was very close.

A woman had to be cut free from her vehicle when it left the road and ended up on it's back outside the Rossendale Borough Council Offices in Bacup.

The accident happened at Futures Park Business Centre this morning after it's believed she lost control in the icy conditions

No further details were immediately available.

OK, as you guessed its an iPhone App called Action Movie FX, very easy to use. You can have either have a Car Smashing and Missiles Firing and exploding whatever target you film. I'm sure the novelty will wear off though... it's made by Bad Robot, the production compnay behind Lost and promotes the new Mission Impossible Movie - Ghost Protocall.

If one word sums up the experience, it was “bitter”! It’s not that we held any grievances with anyone; I mean it was absolute ice blocks! The mourning extras must have felt frozen before we wrapped, but hats off to their perseverance. And if we learned just one thing that day it’s this; you CAN get piles from park benches. Fact. (According to the Lead Actress)

On the day we used a simple Canon 5D setup with 28-105mm L series Lens and a GlideTrack Shooter HD on two Manfrotto tripod supports.

Shooters assisted Patrick Duffy who is shooting his final production for his college course at Accrington & Rossendale College, and under his direction cast members from The Rossendale Players Theatre Group from Waterfoot played the roles in the script that he wrote himself.

The short story features Dorrie Partington playing a career-driven Magazine Editor, Sarah. While making a visit to a care-home, she eventually learns the foundations of relationships from her grandmother - played by Alison Topping.

After her passing, Sarah begins to realise the meaning of family and the importance of finding that special someone - who does eventually show himself in the most unusual place.

To Sarah With Love also features Jon-lee Harvey, who can been seen featuring in Channel Four's teasers for the new series of Shameless.

You can catch Dorrie and the rest of the Rossendale Players in Straight and Narrow, a comedy directed by Andrew Husband from the 17th - 24th March at The Millenium Theatre in Waterfoot.

Lets just hope that Dorrie doesn't have to do any scenes sat on a bench...

If you are student and you would like any assistance with any film-making project, please don't hesitate to get in touch. If we are available, we are more than happy to help. Just be sure that scripts, storyboards, casting and all production planning has been arranged and completed before production starts. We wont do the work for you.

Be Kind, Rewind

This morning, I was confronted by two news articles that struck a chord. The first was the sad demise of Eastman Kodak; the second was the eerily well-timed trailer release for a new movie focusing on ‘film vs. digital’. There’s an evident link between the two and in some ways it’s very sad, and in others it really demonstrates how important this last decade has been. I like to think I never take the digital medium for granted; after all it’s something that has provided so many opportunities to us as film-makers today.

It’s hard to believe that only as far back as 2001; I was still shooting video on clumsy shoulder mounted VHS cameras, and cutting my first films on an analogue video suite. I would’ve been blown away to be told that in just a few years’ time, even Hollywood would shoot big budget movies on a mobile phone! I still even feel in awe of what a low cost DSLR camera and a laptop can achieve. It’s incredible. To see huge pioneers like Kodak leave the scene, it just reminds me of how big these changes are and continue to be.

With Kodak in mind, check out this new trailer for the upcoming documentary ‘Side by Side’. Keanu Reeves showcases interviews with Hollywood’s most influential filmmakers including David Fincher, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch and Christopher Nolan about the ‘death of film’ and their ideas of the future of moviemaking.

Side by Side Official Trailer (2012) from Company Films on Vimeo.

Sparky, out.

DVD currently in production

Shooters Media collaborated with Basics Junior Theatre School from Burnley to film their latest production 'Oliver!' at the Mechanics.

The 2 hour DVD, which will be available next month will feature the whole show including all the famous songs such as "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself" and "Pick a Pocket or Two".

The performance was filmed with a couple of Sony V1e's over two nights and then edited together to accommodate both Oliver Twists, played by Jack Roche and Toby Cooke.

Other star performances come from Amelia Horth and Matthew Horne who play the roles of Nancy and Fagin respectively. Be sure to look out for them in the future!

The excellent ensemble cast, made up of young people from as young as 7 are the latest class Dennis Mertaugh's team have expertly trained up since Basics' formation 25 years ago. It's been a labour of love for Dennis and his wife Sally, passionately funding the school by themselves with the help of dedicated volunteers and fundraising projects.

Previous productions include 'The Boyfriend', 'Hello Dolly', 'Les Misérables' and Ben Elton's 'We Will Rock You'.

This years Oliver! DVD is sponsored by Create Studios Ltd. For more information about Basics Junior Theatre School, like their page on Facebook for the latest information on how to get involved and how to take advantage of opportunities to watch future performances.

If your theatre group would like Shooters to film your latest stage production, concert or live event, please don't hesitate to get in touch by visiting our Hire Us page.

Excellent Food enjoyed by Shooters Media

When Nurul Hoque asked the Shooters Media team to pop down and grab some footage of his restaurant near Burnley, it was an excuse to get together with Garry from Online Media Direct and have the 2011 Shooters Media Christmas Party.

His restaurant, Bombay Lounge in Barrowford, is a great place to enjoy tasty Indian food with a great atmosphere, while friendly staff provide an excellent service. They also do Takeaways.

If you are in the area, I am told that anyone who mentions Paul Coppack will get 10% discount on food and drink (and free shots!) - just ask for Nurul Hoque.

The video was filmed on Canon 5D Mk II with 50mm and 85mm lens'.

If any other restauranteur, like Mr Hoque, want the Shooters Media team to get any footage of your place for a nice edited video to implement into your Website and Facebook pages we are obviously more than happy to hear from you. These types of videos could also be used for nice moving images for display, if you have plasma televisions in the restaurant or the waiting area.

Bombay Lounge Indian Restaurant - 117b Gisburn Rd, Barrowford, BB9 6EW - 01282 616006

Goodbye 2011, a mourner bids farewell at New Year

Well here it is, my first blog! It’s taken quite a while to get here, as I was rather resistant. But now I’m wondering if this could be quite a risky venture to have a new stage to vent my everyday frustrations. As if the poor Shooters office wasn’t enough? I’ll try to be consistent but I know in the many blogs to come, people will come to wonder “where’s the link”?  Don’t worry, I think this will just have to be a common theme with my ramblings.

I considered blogging about the year that was 2011, to sort of make my own personal farewell official. Through better wisdom I’ve deciding against this, as I really won’t stop if I start. I’m also thankful I didn’t start to blog over the farce that was yet again the festive period. Boots ‘3 for 2’ anyone?? Bah, humbug!

One thing that caught my eye at the end of 2011 however was the advent of what 2012 promised in terms of new camera technology. Something naturally close to our hearts at Shooters, although much is left to speculation if you’re in the Canon camp as of yet. What we are expecting though is a Mark 3 edition of the Canon EOS 5D and a Mark 2 edition of the EOS 7D.  There is also talk of the much fabled Canon EOS 3D (thankfully NOT in 3D) to launch in the last quarter of 2012 depending on the success of 5D MK3 and 7D MK2. Also this year we will see a new Canon 650D (T4i) the successor to the fantastic plastic 550D (T2i) and 600D (T3i).

Don’t worry if it sounds like a bunch of jargon, as we move slowly into this year I’ll update the blog with a better breakdown of what we you need to know and look out for with these new toys.

Sparky, out.

Linny, The Star of the Show!

The staff at Shooters Media Towers were very jealous to see a family member receiving a cool Nikon 1 from Father Christmas this year.

Of course the obligatory photos of screwed-up wrapping-paper and full 1080p footage of cranky relatives eat up the memory card for most of the day. However, we did have some real fun using some of the video settings it had to offer.

As well as being capable of shooting HD quality movies, (at 1080p 30fps or 1080i 60fps or 720p 60fps) the real party-piece of the Nikon1 was ability to shoot video at 400 frames per second.

We had some real fun with this, such as dropping rubber figurines into glasses of orange juice and capturing the family tradition of throwing disused banana-peel at younger siblings - just for 'slow-motion playback research' mind - sadly I have been asked (well, told) not to post that particular video online.

Anyway, shooting at 400fps, the resolution is lower and the aspect ratio is a cinematic-looking ultra-widescreen (2.67:1), but the quality is good enough to display on YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo, you could do some real creative stuff.

So we decided to film our 18-year-old, almost blind, almost deaf cat eating a prawn, and I think the results are worth sharing... because it looks funny. So I decided to throw it on YouTube - obviously the sound effects were added afterwards.

Additionally, there is a further setting for the Nikon V1 delivering play-back at an immense 1200fps video mode, but the resolution is even lower and overall quality is really pixelated, not worth using but kinda cool to look back on in camera just for fun.

McDermott in Tash Force

On Christmas Day, like every other Christmas Day, Her Majesty the Queen speaks to millions of living rooms through the old magic lantern.

However, the Christmas Speech everybody seems to be talking about this year was an Alternative one by Tash McDermott, the star of a new documentary film by Pleased Sheep Films.

Remembering those who are less fortunate at this time of year, he sympathises with Blackburn Rovers supporters, who are experiencing a dreadful festive period with their team propping up the bottom the Premier League table, but the Head of Football Intelligence, like Sir Alex Ferguson, gives words of support to close-friend and under-fire manager - Steve Kean.

Tash's Alternative Christmas Message from Pleased Sheep Films on Vimeo.

McDermotts new feature film 'Tash Force' is due for release in April 2012, and will be the must-have to cheer up England supporters when the team travel back from Poland after inevitably crashing-out to Spain in Quarter Final Stages of Euro2012

You can follow Tash's twitter ramblings on @tashmcdermott, well worth a read and like Shooters Media, there is a Facebook Page to keep in touch with what is happening with the movie.

So what have we got on with in recent weeks? Well Sparky is applying some finishing touches to some fitness video's for Bodybuilding Warehouse while I have been capturing over 8 hours of DV Cassette of BASIC's performance of Oliver at The Burnley Mechanics.

'Nancy' from Oliver at Burnley Mechanics

So with bits and bobs needing to be done before Christmas, there was some festive cheer when I was one of the lucky winners in the HireaCamera.com prize giveaway competition receiving a Manfrotto LED Camera light. Not the best camera light in the world, but it does a job. Certainly not complaining.

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