BBC Multi Platform - 'The Burning Room'

A while ago we had the pleasure to co-create a test platform for BBC's Multi Platform department. The brief was to explore the possibilities in interactive media that can be accessed by BBC's millions of online viewers.

Ace camera assistant Mihali Moore and Coob's Donnelly brothers discuss the required technicals for the panoramas.

Working again with Producer Jon Aird as we have on many previous adult education interactive experiences run on the BBC website. This time we had a 'blank canvas' and together, creative control in creating something that would explore the possibilities for online experiences, and something that could be easily adapted to terestrial projects such as Dr Who or Eastenders for instance.

Teamed up with Coob as we have done again in similar projects, we got going on drafting a scenario for our story to take place. For this a horor / suspense genre was chosen, as we also wanted to test out VFX elements in this experience.

ALL flame effects were filmed live in a Chromakey set up on site, and in the end up to 100 layers per frame were made to enhance certain scenes. The mastery of our VFX guru William Chang brought this to reality, while Adam Cutts, our Set Designer and Props Master worked his magic in creating the various sets to the final 'burn-out' set.

Exploring the paroramics was a key action we wanted to incorporate, as well as video insertion and sound cues.

The biggest hurdle we came up against was the compression in the platform of Flash video, where the very large VFX files had to be compressed heavily to ensure the smooth running of the experience.

Well received, we are now exploring the options of taking this and translating it to other genres like drama.

So take a moment, turn out the lights, and Enjoy!

The Burning Room

BBC 'So You Think You Can Dance' - Tutorials

For BBC's series 'So You Think You Can Dance' we were brought in to shoot 13 x dance tutorials with the series choreographers. From Cha Cha, Waltz to Hip Hop and Disco, we covered the lot. These all were to support the series being TX'd and went online as part of the S.Y.T.Y.C.D website's goodies.

Sisco warm up for one of the tutorials.

Down time in between shots.

I love the catchlights our 'kisslite' gives for this type of filming... very soft and wrap around.

Shot all on location we provided 2 x HD camera crews shooting on jibs and dollies with an EFP lighting package and for the main key and fill we went with follow spots to move with the talent.

It was a very tight schedule on these shoots with an output of about 3 dances per location scheduled over 5 days,...however we managed to complete the series in only 3 days of shooting.

In this example, Charlotte Stevens puts you through the paces to learn a DISCO routine.

 ... and here Sisco Gomes runs you through a POP routine... for the ladies!

So dust of your glam rags, sparkle you shoes and take to the floor!

National Treasures Live Trail

For Red Bee Media and BBC we shot the trail / promo for the current series, National Treasures.

Presented by Dan Snow and Sian Williams, this 'live' event sees them travelling the British Isles exploring great sites of historic importance.

We shot the trails at Greenwich Naval College as PTC lead links.

New BBC Trails just TX'ed

We shot new trails for BBC's 'National Treasures' a series that will tour Great Britain uncovering the history of these Isles.

Again commissioned for Red Bee Media, this was a ...'walk in the park' if you pardon the pun!

The shoot was with presenters Dan Snow and Sian Williams in the picturesque setting of Greenwich Naval College

We will be posting the final trail soon!

A promo from the archives - BBC 'Genius'

Going through content for the new website, there was too many projects to have them all listed. Here is one from the archives, 2 promos for BBC 'Genius'. We got a call from Red Bee Media on a Friday afternoon, can we set-and light on Monday morning for a 60m2 garden set with shed, live turf and plants with the shoot on Tuesday?... YES Of course we can!

So Monday we were there with a 3 man HD crew, and lighting plan for the Gaffer and his team... our green fingered camera assistant, Danny Etheridge even laid a hell-a-lotta turf as well.

First a base light arrangement of a dozen+ space lights

... then a couple 10K lamps get wrapped in cookies n' flags

.. well the riggers 'SkyJack' was free!

'Genius' set almost complete... now for the landscaping, and we're good for rehearsals.

The shoot was a great success, and we actually wrapped this one ahead of time by several hours!... it's all in the prep!

Keep checking in to our blog for more projects and stuff!