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I have made two Video Productions for the building industry recently. Both were Health and Safety Building Site Induction Videos, as by law, any construction worker that enters a new site has to do a health and safety induction before they can work on that site. A quick and simple way to get someone through an induction is to sit them down and watch a video followed by a simple question and answer session. This doesn’t tie up a site manager and is an efficient way to get this done. I was the lighting cameraman on this shoot.

This particular shoot took two days to film plus two days to edit and with the help of site employees we were able to simulate many H&S scenarios. This video was embedded into a power point presentation has has been used successfully to induct new employees. This a good example of how a video production can help inform and educate people without too much hassle.

For this shoot I again used my Sony PDW350.

This summer I had a Video shoot at a three day event in Peterborough ‘The Levity Festival’.  This comedy festival had comedians such as  Omid Djalili, Stephen K Amos, Chris Ramsey and ‘Pub Landlord’ Al Murray headlining.  One of the funniest moments for me was when Chris Ramsey was Visually hecklde by my fellow cameraman Paul Goddard, while Chris was half way through his set, Paul spotted a child asleep and trained his camera on the sleeping child, the vision mixer clocked this and put the image on the screens, unbeknown to Chris, when he realised what was going on, this is what happened…..

Unfortunately I only had the camera mic on as we weren’t there to record the event,  just to relay onto large screens. I recorded on my Sony PDW350 for my own amusement. The event was well attended for all the main acts with Omid Djalili being the highlight for me. My video at the last count has had nearly 3000 views.

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  Al Murray ‘Pub Landlord’

  

  Omid Djalil, the final Headline Act

Azamara Journey

I’ve just returned from probably the best video shoot this year, Worldclass Bartender of the Year 2013 video shoot to find the Bartender of the year.

44 of the world’s best bartenders – together with fine-drinking industry elite, international celebrities, and global taste-makers – convened aboard the boutique Azamara Journey cruise liner, for the fifth annual WORLD CLASS Global Final.

We set sail along the French Riviera in Nice and Monte Carlo, the voyage included stopovers in some of the Mediterranean’s most iconic and chic destinations including St. Tropez and Ibiza, before culminating in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, The Bullring, where the WORLDCLASS Bartender of the Year 2013 was crowned .

I was working for Electric Robin, who in turn were employed by Getty Images to capture B-Roll and produce a Sizzle of the event for the world media. We shot on the Canon C300 video cameras, and the results were quite stunning. The crew consisted of two cameras myself and Conor O’Grady and FCP editor and Producer Ross Brandon.

44 Contestants line up for photo shoot

Filming against a Mediterranean sunset, It doesn’t get better than that

The constants had various challenges to do, based around making fantastic cocktails, and ‘no.. I did not get to sample’, we had to video all taking part and make a short video production for the internet.

Filming against beautiful Mediterranean blues skies and backgrounds is always a pleasure, although the days were pretty long, some nights not finishing until the early hours, you cant help but look back and think this is a great way of earning a living. Next year the contest will be in Las Vegas, fingers crossed we might be there.

Filming at the Bullring Barcelona with Ross Brandon

Thanks to Ian Gavan for the Photos

RAF Tornado Landing at Marham

see my previous post

The Video Shoot went well at RAF Marham, (Norfolk) we were very lucky with the weather as it stayed dry the whole week. The shoot was based on ground service crew and pilot interviews and was interspersed with a dramatic reconstruction and various cutaways of examples of FOD, as mentioned in my previous post. This video was basically to reiterate, to all ground service crew and pilots that they have to make vigorous checks, that there are no loss object such as a nut or bolt that could fly into the Tornado’s engine and cause fatal damage.

Despite the challenges of trying to do interviews on a ‘live’ airfield, we didn’t get too many disruptions. The crew consisted of myself Lighting Cameraman, the director,  a producer(second camera) and production assistant. All the crew had to have security clearance. I used  my Sony PDW350 for this video shoot and was very pleased with the results. This will probably be my last MOD shoot for a while as the contract comes to an end this year.

Interview with runway sweeper operator

Unfortunately as this video production was made for the MOD I cannot share any links to the video, as it will be restricted.

Posing with my’ long-time’ soundman Rupert inside one of the hangars.

Next week I will be embarking on the latest Video Shoot for Argo Media. Last year I had a 3 day shoot at RAF St Mawgen for a SERE Video, the year before a week in RAF Akrotiri for a GSA video. This years shoot is at RAF Marham about FOD, which is any damage attributed to a foreign object (i.e. any object that is not part of the vehicle) that can be expressed in physical or economic terms and may or may not degrade the product’s required safety or performance characteristics. FOD is an acronym often used in aviation to describe both the damage done to aircraft by foreign objects, and the foreign objects themselves. All very interesting!!! I will be working around Tornado’s so I’ll have to have my ear plugs in!! I will be shooting with my Sony PDW 350 plus minimal lighting. I’ll keep you posted.

Discussing with Producer at St Mawgen last Year

Prefabricated Houses video shoot and edit for eskill an EU funded organization. The SML House (Small, Medium, Large), a flexible, modular prefabricated house was designed and built by students from the Cardinal Herrera University, Valencia, Spain, as an entry in the Solar Decathlon.

The design entered into this year’s competition represents the “medium” design, so the students can show both how the original blocks fit together, and how the house could be expanded. In terms of sustainability, the team has looked at every aspect of materials and resources used in construction and in the expected life-cycle of the building. The team sought to minimize waste via prefabrication, utilizing sustainable materials, maximizing what can be recycled, and reducing construction time

The shoot took place in Valencia for 4 days just 5 mins walk from the Mestalla Stadium.  I used a Go-Pro for the Time-lapse shots which I think worked very well.  For the detailed shots and interviews I shot on my Sony PDW 350. Probably my favorite video shoot of the year. The weather was hot and sunny as you can see in the piece. The video was edited in two days. Subtitles are included for Spanish interviews.

Click here to view the video

Neil McKinnon Video Production
Email: neil@nmvp.co.uk