The Armed Forces Memorial at The NMA, Staffordshire.

MGL Media recently had the privilege of helping to create a short film for a new appeal at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire.

The National Memorial Arboretum is a beautifully designed site that was built to honour and remember those who have served our nation and includes over 200 memorials for members of the armed forces, police, fire service and many more.

The latest NMA appeal is aiming to raise £12m to make essential improvements to the site which will dramatically increase visitor numbers and ensure the memorial continues to be a worthy tribute for generations to come.

One of the many poignant memorials at the site.

Our simple film combines a direct appeal from Major General Patrick Cordingley with striking footage we shot around the site and it’s many memorials.

Please take a few minutes to watch the film and then visit the NMA website for more information on how you can support the appeal.

Far Heath Studios in Northamptonshire

Far Heath Studios is set in the beautiful countryside of rural Northamptonshire, and has been home to artists ranging from The Specials and Toyah to The Fall and The Prodigy. It’s most recent visitors were the MGL production team, when we convened at the secluded location to create a film that captures the essence of what Far Heath is all about.

Despite the fact that Far Heath has been producing hit recordings for more than 24 years, it is still one of the industry’s best kept secrets. It has the perfect mix of state of the art facilities, experienced engineers and producers as well as idyllic surroundings.

Producer, Mike Bennett

The film has fascinating interviews with Far Heath owner and engineer, Angus Wallace and resident producer, Mike Bennett. Mike regaled us with numerous tales from his many years in the industry, both as a producer and as a member of The Fall. Although there was lots of his material we couldn’t include in this film, we would love the opportunity to work with Mike again in the future – his energy and enthusiasm are infectious.

Mike and Angus in a session with band, Stereo Influence.

Far Heath Studios is a terrific place and we really hope our film gives just a flavour of what you can expect if you visit in the future.

Take a look at the film and let us know what you think.

Classic Loake Brogues

We were recently privileged enough to work with one of the icons of the British shoe industry, Loake Shoes.

Worn by everyone from Bill Nighy and Martin Freeman to Kevin Spacey and Madness, Loakes are famous for being hand crafted using many of the same traditional techniques as when their Kettering factory opened in 1880.

One of many hand-crafted shoe making processes.

We were commissioned to produce a film that, whilst showing some of the many processes involved in making a pair of shoes, also highlighted the craftsmanship and artistry of the shoemaker. This was achieved by allowing the craftsmen to tell their stories in their own words, before weaving this in to a meaningful narrative to accompany the stunning imagery of the Loake factory and it’s work force.

Burnisher, George, has worked for Loake since 1960.

It was a pleasure to speak to the skilled workers – many of whom have worked for Loake for most of their working lives. It was also great to be able to produce a film which documents one of our few remaining hand crafted industries.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Watch Loake Shoes Film on Youtube.

Ok, so you have now decided on the overall shape and content of your film. Now let’s look at how we can breathe life in to the narrative and lift your film to the next level.

Voiceover narration can also be added at this stage.

Music & Graphics

Often the icing on the cake of a film, these elements can really bring your story to life by emphasising a point in the narrative or adding emotional weight to an interview or montage sequence. Most corporate or internal communication pieces tend to use royalty-free music tracks chosen from one of the many libraries available. Royalty-free simply means that a one off payment entitles you to use the track for your project for live performance, and to make a number of copies as stated by the license that you purchase. Commercial tracks (songs you may have heard on the radio) can also be used, for a much larger fee, which is why they are often too cost-prohibitive for smaller projects.

Another option is to have a bespoke track composed for your film. This can add great value to your project, as it is much more cost effective and means that you can use the track for future projects. MGL Media works with a number of in-house composers that have created superb pieces of music that were written specifically for our films.

Craving Approval

The advent of faster internet speeds and better servers has meant that streaming video online has become the norm. We have taken advantage of these technical advances to enable us to improve our approval process. Even fairly recently, once a first draft was completed, the only options available for a client to view and approve a film was either for us to send them a DVD copy or for them to take time out of their business schedule to join us in the edit suite – both of which slowed down the process and caused inconvenience for the client.

We can now upload all of the approval versions to a secure website and send the link to the client, allowing them to view the film from their office, home or mobile phone.

Providing the film has been edited to a pre-approved script, amendments should be relatively minor and after a few tweaks here and there, the content of the film should be signed-off.

Which just leaves room for the final flourishes. . .

Finishing touches . . . Audio Sweetening and ‘The Grade’

After that warm glow of client approval wears off, it’s time to put the finishing touches to the film.

Audio Sweetening or ‘The Final Mix” is simply the process of tidying up all of the audio edits, balancing levels of music, interviews and location sound and applying any other EQ or effects necessary to make your production sound rich and polished. Sometimes this process is done by a third party audio production house, which can add to the amount of post production time needed and will also increase the budget. However, many production companies like our own have in-house audio facilities.

‘The Grade’ or ‘Colour Grade’ refers to the process of choosing a look for the final film, enhancing colours and ensuring the piece looks consistent throughout. Most feature films are quite heavily ‘graded’ to enhance a particular feeling or theme – ‘cold’ blues to reflect an emotionally detached character or environment, for example. Most TV drama and documentaries are graded in some way, so this is an important part of the process and can really help to give your film that polished, professional sheen.

And . . . relax.

And after all that, your film will be ready to unleash to the world – or just your sales conference in Barnsley. In reality, and depending on the size of the project, all of those little steps usually take place over just a few days and providing you have chosen the right production company, the only thing you will have to worry about is ensuring the content is correct.

Oh, and maybe spending all those extra brownie points you scored with the boss after they see all your hard work.

If you would like more detailed information or to find out more about other film and video terminology, you may want to check out this comprehensive Media glossary here.

As always, we would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you are thinking about putting together a film for your company or organisation and would like some advice, or maybe you have worked on projects in the past and want to share your experiences.

Either way, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a line or feel free to comment below.

This 2 part post is aimed at businesses and individuals who are either considering commissioning a video project or are already involved in working with a production company. It aims to take the uncertainty out of that seemingly magical part of the video process – Post Production, or ‘the edit’.

You will no doubt be familiar with the term ‘we’ll fix it in post’, which alludes to the part of the process that happens when your video footage has been shot and is ready to be assembled ‘in the edit’. You will also have noticed at least some mention of Post Production on the costings provided by the video production company you approached to produce your corporate video.

But what does ‘Post Production’ really mean?

For many clients, it’s an area that is somewhat shrouded in mystery – and this is often the way that many video production companies like to keep it. Companies will do their best to blind you with science, using terms such as ‘capturing the rushes’ or ‘audio sweetening’, without giving you a clear definition of what the process involves or how they are spending your investment. We don’t like to keep you in the dark and have tried to break down the process as much as possible.

Bear in mind that what follows can vary slightly depending on the size, budget and type of video being produced. We are basing the information around the post production of most small to medium sized corporate video projects.

Capturing the footage

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t use large nets and a pointy stick to capture the footage (that would be cruel). This actually refers to the ‘digitising’ of the footage, or in even broader terms – getting the footage from the camera or tapes, in to a computer ready to edit. Until fairly recently the main recording formats for this size of project were all tape based. Tape based formats are linear, which means that footage has to be captured in ‘real-time’ – if you have 6 hours worth of footage, it will take a minimum of 6 hours to digitise it.

However, our industry is now rapidly moving away from the medium of tape and almost all new cameras utilise tapeless systems such as P2 and SXS cards or Sony’s XDCAM format. These kind of systems do not need to be captured in real time which can speed up the digitising process. However, the footage will still need to be logged properly before the edit can begin in earnest. The term ‘logging’ simply refers to the organising of the raw content into relevant folders and labeling clips. Each editor or producer has their own way of doing things, but generally they will want to put the material in to some semblance of order to make the editing process a little easier.

The timeline in a typical edit suite.

The Rough Cut or First Draft

Here is where the process of assembling the content of your programme really begins. Each Editor will have their own way of working, but the principle will be the same: laying out the comments and shots to a pre-approved script or storyboard.

Comments will be shortened and tidied up (removing long pauses or stumbled words for example). The various interviewees may be intercut with each other to keep the video interesting and dynamic, as well as helping to reaffirm and emphasise the points being made.

Cutaway Shots

Once the main content is in place cutaway shots will need to be added to the programme. Cutaways are shots that not only help to keep the video visually engaging, but also ‘cover the cracks’. If, for example, you want to cut together 2 separate comments made by the same person to form one coherent comment, there will be a ‘jump’ in the picture. This is where a cutaway shot can be used, to hide the join and illustrate what the person is talking about.

In part 2, we will be looking at moving in to the latter stages of the edit – adding music and graphics to your film as well as giving a brief overview of the mystical ‘Grading’ process.

In the meantime, we would love to hear you thoughts on this post, or your suggestions for other areas of video production you would like us to look at. Drop us a line, give us a call or leave a comment below.

The BBC Help Scheme . . . coming to a town near you.

It’s been another exciting 12 months since our last blog post. A year that has seen us produce work for numerous campaigns and clients, including HSBC Bank, Stanley Bostitch, Winsor Newton, Copella, Connexions and more recently a return to another BBC campaign working on a film to promote the imminent switchover to digital TV.

Filming on location in Milton Keynes

With locations from across the region, including Shropshire and the Fenlands in Cambridgeshire, our film told the stories of a number people who have benefited from the BBC’s Communities Outreach project. The scheme aims to ensure that the switchover message reaches everyone – particularly the elderly and disabled who may be eligible for free television conversions and access to advice or guidance.

It was great to work on a project that had really strong human interest stories like the lovely relationship between hairdresser, Sue and her profoundly deaf daughter, Shelly – as well Marion, an elderly lady living with her son, David who has learning difficulties.

The film is currently being rolled out nationally to help other regions reach every member of their community and ensure that we are all ready for the big switchover.

From today, the Central region will begin the switchover from analog to digital TV – so if you have any older televisions, you may want to check out the digital switchover site, to see how you can convert the sets to allow you to keep watching. Manufacturers have been making sure that new sets are digital-ready for some time, but you have older televisions elsewhere in the house that need to be converted.

To find out more about making sure you are ready, take a look at the BBC Digital Switchover site.

We found all the projects engaging, but have to admit it was particularly satisfying to film at BBC Television Centre – home of so many of our favourite TV programmes over the years.

It was also a great opportunity to film in some very recognisable spaces, including the same studio that was home to Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and also filming an interview on the One Show set.

The films were produced and directed by the latest addition to our production team, Catherine Baker, who has many years’ experience of putting together this type of project. A project which included several short films covering a number of different issues from energy-efficient lighting to the digital switch-over.

It was a varied and engaging collection of films, but we have had little time to dwell on it as we are now fully immersed in our next batch of work which includes another exciting project with Leicester’s Curve theatre, a recruitment video for a council client and a sci-fi themed event video for a multi-national internet company.

We will give you the full lowdown in the coming weeks and months, but for now please feel free to get in touch to find out more about our work or how we can help you with your latest project or event.

Stay tuned to MGLMedia.tv and our Youtube channel for all the latest news and videos – but first, over to Carol with the weather . .  .

We are proud to announce the launch of the Cook4life campaign across the East Midlands with our series of cook-a-long videos produced for The Department of Health.

Working with key members of the East Midlands community from Lincolnshire firemen to Nottinghamshire cricketers, we produced 12 short videos promoting healthy recipes that are quick and easy to prepare. From curries to crumbles, soups and pies each video aims to engage people who may not have tried healthy cooking and have little or no cooking experience.

We had a great time visiting schools, sporting venues and local community centres across the Midlands. Even the crew picked up a few tips and recipes along the way, we can all recommend the Bogeyman Soup and the Cranberry Muffins were delicious. I think we discovered a few TV chefs in the making too.

There’s a recipe for every season, so check out one of the videos, get stuck in and spread the healthy eating message to the whole family.

If you do feel inspired to try out any of the recipes, we’d love to hear how you got on – how was the dish and did the videos make it easier for you to ‘cook up a storm’? Get in touch, tweet or add a comment below.

Happy and healthy cooking,

From all at MGL Media.

Production Photo Courtesy of Johan Persson

One of our recent projects has seen us working with acclaimed theatre director Paul Kerryson, with his production of Martin McDonagh’s “Lieutenant of Inishmore” which is now showing at Leicester’s state of the art theatre, Curve.

For the uninitiated, the play is a riotous black comedy that tells the tale of psychopathic paramilitary, Padraic and his reaction to discovering that his cat “Wee Thomas” has been killed. Buckets of blood, bad taste and belly laughs ensue to provide a great night’s entertainment. Don’t just take our word for it, though, The Guardian review was equally glowing in it’s praise.

After our work on another Martin McDonagh play last year – the excellent “Pillowman” – it was great to get another call from Paul to help with the visuals for ‘Inishmore’. Our brief was to create several video inserts to act as effective transitions between key scenes and ensure the audience remained fully immersed in the world of Padraic and co.

Working closely with Paul, we came up with a number of ideas of the types of imagery we wanted to use and how we could incorporate them in to each montage. Many props were filmed in High Definition, against a black background, and then composited with other elements including stills of the Island of Inishmore itself and several set-pieces with actor Samuel Roukin,in the role of psychopath Padraic.

Padraic Arrives Back on Inishmore

The final result was projected above the set and was juxtaposed with heavy rock music and jarring sound effects, which all ensured the audience remained engaged with the piece from start to finish.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore will run in the Studio at Curve Theatre, Leicester until Feb 27th, and is definitely not to be missed. For more information and to book tickets, click here.

Music was very generously supplied from The Dreamweavers, The Tuesdays, The Memphis Creeps and The Kicks. Ballet Choux Fleur provided an entertaining version of Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’ and Adnan Ahmed graciously stepped in as our compere for the evening.

Myself, Matt and Laura were blown away from the support we received for this year’s event and want to send a huge thank you to anyone who attended the event, bought raffle tickets or supported our efforts in any way.

The raffle prizes were top-notch with prizes being sponsored by Disney Store, Boots, Highcross, Heart FM, Leicestershire Cricket and Cobley Transport and many more. Many of the corporate sponsors were gained through the charm and hard work of Laura, but a special thank you goes to Pete Baldwin who donated one of his prize possessions – a Man Utd shirt signed by Sir Alex Ferguson. Tom Meighan of Kasabian signed an acoustic guitar and donated 5 limited edition signed albums – which was kindly arranged by Rich Baldwin.

All of this took place at a fantastic venue – Houston’s Bar & Grill on Yeoman Street in Leicester. Thanks to Morgan and his team for helping to make the evening extra special. If you haven’t checked out Houston’s yet – you really should. Great food and vibe.

We will be uploading some video clips and stills in the near future, so if you couldn’t attend this year you can get an idea of what you missed.

Our fund raising target was £2000 and we currently stand at £3228 – almost 3 times the amount raised last year. So once again, thank you and here’s to Kick Cancer 2010!

Matt, Wayne and Laura.