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Music Video – Makeida Sugar Love

It was back in December when we were approached by Makeida to shoot a music video for her up and coming single ‘Sugar love’. After a few meetings and considering the requirements of the projects we decided to travel to Tenerife to shoot the video. This volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic offered everything that we needed in one place: deserts, sandy beaches, mountains, green spaces….and also the weather was great!
One of the most difficult parts of this project were the logistics as we needed to use lots of equipment. In the end we decided to hire most of the equipment on location. Also, the DOP (Steve Gardner) was quite keen to shoot on the new Canon 7D (with Nikon, Sigma and Canon prime lenses) which would give us the HD image quality and portability that we needed.
Fantastic stuff, they were three incredible days of film-making in an incredible natural environment. I think the music video speaks by itself in terms of image and production quality, check it out!

This is what Makeida said to us after watching the final cut of the music video:

I just wanted to let you know that the feedback for the music video has been amazing! People are blown away and fans are saying that you are an amazing director. You did a breathtaking job! thanks ever so much

University of Birmingham – Conference filming

Wow, it’s been a while! I haven’t updated the blog for a long time but the good news is that we’ve been reaaallllyyy busy! I promise to upload new video production content as soon as the new videos come out of the NLE.
This week, we’ve been filming for the University of Birmingham. They held a conference and live event at the Midland hotel in Manchester. 15 speakers, 8 hours and two camera coverage will result in 4 DVDs with the content of the conference. But the bulk of the work in these kind of project lies in the editing. You need a very efficient computer able to handle hours and hours of Full HD footage and render to DVDs. Also, a big part of the work goes to audio editing, as the quality of the audio needs to be of the highest standard. If the audio has been captured properly on-location, then it shouldn’t be a big problem but still you have clean it up (coughs, interferences, etc…)
As I said, a big job but I think we handled really well.

This is what the University of Birmingham said upon receiving the DVDs:

“We’ve received the discs today. I’ve had a little look through them and they look great – thanks again for your help”

G

Viva la zoom to make 3D Film

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Yep, we’ve been asked by Lancaster University to shoot a 3D film as support for one their courses. I know that you’re probably thinking about Avatar, Pixar, etc…..Nope this is going to be old-style 3d, yes the one that you watch with red/cyan glasses. The subject matter is free so we can foresee fun times ahead! Needless to say that this is one of the most original requests that we’ve ever had and one that we’ll enjoy to the full. We’ll keep you informed!
G

Leaders in Football and Performance

This was definitely one of the most challenging projects that we’ve worked on. A three days conference with over 1000 delegates coming from 65 countries held at Stamford Bridge (Chelsea FC). Lots of well known faces from the world of Football; we even interviewed David Moyes! Needless to say that it was hectic but we managed to cover the whole event and make two 3 minute promotional videos. James and Andy at Leaders in Football were impressed by the results. You can also watch them as part of our video production portfolio

New event video – Sexergy

At the beginning of November we were asked to film a live event that Sexergy (energy drink) had put together in London. We were there and we had a great time. The result is a dynamic and funky promotional video. Enjoy

New wedding video production

So far, we had been doing it ear to mouth or just as camera/editing freelancers but now….we’re taking the step ahead and offering the filming and editing of weddings to our customers. To mark the launch of this new video production service, we have created a new website with tons of info, samples and prices.
www.vivalawedding.co.uk – wedding videos
So if you know someonw who’s getting married or thinking about it, send them this way and we will show them what we’re capable of.

thanks!

G

Awards for Paula

We are very pleased to inform that Paula, the latest short film produced, directed and post produced by viva la zoom has gone to win 3 awards.
‘Best Post-Production Award’ at Manchester Exposures Festival, ‘Best Student Film’ and ‘Rising Star award’ to Georgia Ryan (for her role as Paula) at Falstaff International Festival.
We are very proud of the film and the crew who were part of this film. Plans are to produce another short film in 2010. Script is being written as we speak and we can only say that the working title is ‘Norma’. We’ll keep you updated!

Thanks
G

Mad Men, cinema at home

“The reason you haven’t felt it is because it doesn’t exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons. You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t one.”
Don Draper

Why do we love Mad Men? because it is simple and emotionally complex at the same time. Because it looks amazing. Because of the hats. Because the characters smoke and drink at the office all day, because of Joan and Betty and because it is cool, very cool.
Mad Men has no big ‘dramatic’ conflicts where characters die and cry on every episode but the drama is rather internal. Mad Men is what some critics call “a slow-burn”, an introspective trip 4 generations ago.
I’ve always wondered why Mad Men looked so good. A combination of superb cinematography, art directing and costume design. I recently discovered the video above. Do you want to learn about cinematography? watch it!
Enjoy!
G

viva la showreel!

yes, I’ve been waiting a while for this moment to arrive but it is finally here, the viva la zoom showreel!.
This was one the last steps towards completion of the new site and it’s finally here. check it out.
Rather than a traditional showreel, which can go over 5 minutes, we’ve tried to achieve a powerful and colourful video and transmit an idea/feeling of who we are and what we do as we’re aware of the fact than most of the times, less is more.
You can also browse our new youtube and vimeo channels to see more videos from us.
I hope you like it

G

New info at viva la zoom!

As we take steps towards the completion of the new site, we’ve added a few pages related to video production where we explain a few facts about the process of a video and film development. We thought that it’d be interesting to explain in detail how a video production (promotional, live event, etc…) is developed as we know that this process might be a bit complex.

Video Production information – Filming
Video Production information – Editing
Video Production information – Publishing and delivery
Video Production information – Services

thanks

G