Europe Archives - Duncan Craig

A square kind of a deal

Corporate Video, Editing, Europe, Instagram, Manchester, Social Media

Over the past year I’ve been creating fun 15 second Instagram videos for ParkInn hotels. As the videos get released they appear on the client’s feed

It all started with the Manchester video:

Champions. We can’t get you a ticket to the match but we can get you a great room in a convenient location for all kinds of sporting events. We have hotels in cities across Europe, including Manchester, Munich, London,Glasgow and Paris.

A video posted by Park Inn by Radisson (@parkinnbyradisson) on Feb 12, 2014 at 5:36am PST

More recently the graphic style has change slightly:

Spy. #WeDoNot encourage James Bond style behaviour, but #WeDo suggest you explore magnificent #Moscow

A video posted by Park Inn by Radisson (@parkinnbyradisson) on Nov 19, 2014 at 6:35am PST

Originally I edited these videos in a 720p timeline with a custom 640×640 overlay to help with framing, then I’d crop the resulting video in Handbrake when encoding the mp4 for Instagram. But in recent months Final Cut Pro has been updated to allow for custom project dimension so a 640×640 30 fps workspace was easy to create. As you can see I remake certain elements such as the particle effects for creating water and steam in the shower scene, as well as creating the blue nightime effect in the bedroom scene. And luckily I’ve got a huge collection of sound effects and music that always seem to deliver what the clients want.

Here’s an edited compilation of some of the fun stuff, including a recording of my daughter playing the piano:

11/01/2015/by admin

It’s all Greek to me

Athens, Education, Europe, FS100

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We’re just back from 8 days in beautiful Athens, making another series of films for the University of Kent:

I also used the footage in several other films for IHC: an NGO based near Athens.

Our local fixer Alex was a huge help on this shoot and seemed constantly amazed by Howard’s knowledge of Greek culture and places.

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19/03/2014/by admin

When in Rome…

Corporate Video, Europe, FS100, Rome, Social Media

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We’re barely back a week and the main Rome film is edited and signed off.

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We’ve also made a simpler, faster version for social media. This is using footage I shot specifically for this purpose while on location.

24/02/2014/by admin

Proper Pasta

Cookery, Corporate Video, Europe, FS100, Rome

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On our first evening in Rome the two students we were featuring were having cooking lessons at a brilliant little restaurant in the heart of Trastevere, the original artisan home of Roman cookery. Arriving at Andreas restaurant we were giving a really lovely warm welcome by the man himself and his charming missus Erica.

They got down to the preparation quite quickly, so I did a quick white balance in both rooms and started shooting. We only needed to capture a few minutes of usable footage for the Kent University film that we were in Rome to make. But seeing all the fantastic colours, smiling faces and great smells made me think it was worthwhile gathering extra footage as I felt sure they’d like a better record of the evening’s proceedings.

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I got quite a bit of decent footage given the hectic nature of working in a small kitchen with 15 people. We ended the night with a few shots of his homemade Sicilian Limoncello. Oh and yes, the food was fantastic:

17/02/2014/by admin

It’s a Student’s Life

Europe, FS100

The Italian Job

We were commissioned by Kent University in Brussels to make another film – this time promoting student life. Life at BSIS is clearly very different from typical uni life as the students are generally older and more experienced and hail from all corners of the world. That made the production more challenging in terms of creating the concept yet more rewarding working with the guys from the university. Howard and I drove to Brussels as we often do and shot the film over two days. I created a few Final Cut Pro templates for the opening sequences and used some built in effects too.

29/05/2013/by admin

Oh the Humanity!

Editing, Europe, FS100

Another trip to Brussels! ~ Crikey ~

This time we’ve combined shooting two films into one trip.
This meant filming 24 interviews in one day, as well as filming around the city and an awards ceremony. A crazy day.

– Humanity in Action commissioned Howard Foster and myself to produce a promotion film for their Pat Cox Fellowship. An internship programme which culminates in a cosy award ceremony at the top of the European Parliament Building.

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– Next up, our old friend Mona from Kent Uni asked us to make a promo film for her key2advance business.
This combined interviews and setups around the city with archive footage shot by Mona across Europe.

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27/04/2013/by admin

Post Grad Post

Editing, Europe, FS100

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Our second job in Brussels saw us making a film for The University of Kent – Brussels School of International Studies.

The brief was to promote the school from the perspective of getting a job once a student has graduated.
This involved filming career tutors and many former students now working in Brussels.

The film is now live on the client’s website.

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This was the first time I used my GoPro in a paid job.
The Wi-Fi monitoring came in really useful as I was able to place the camera above the bar before the event and start recording remotely once the venue opened it’s doors.

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28/02/2013/by admin

To EU, To Me

Europe

While in Brussels on other business, myself, Howard Foster and Nik Wood went to the European Parliament buildings.

We were there using the EUParl studio facilities to make pilot shows for two new programme ideas Howard has been working on.

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Nik is a broadcaster maybe best known for hosting the BBCs Working Lunch as well as local and national News TV.

I’d already made VT inserts for two programmes, covering important topics surround European Law and Business. The shows were recorded and brought home for finessing and additional work. I’ve made 3D graphics and name straps for the pilots, and while I’m not a graphic designer by any stretch of the imagination they will do for now.

We’re looking for businesses or organisations to sponsor the production for further programmes in the future.

As Malcolm Harbour MEP said during one of the shows, they are a great idea and much needed.

So please contact Howard at Red Lobster if you can offer any help.

07/11/2012/by admin

Bridge Building

Europe

The Golden Bridge Awards are given to businesses exporting to and from Belgium to the UK. The Chamber of Commerce asked us over to Brussels to film the business presentations at the British Embassy and we had a great day.

Once back in the UK we edited an energetic, fast paced and very loud show video which was played at the awards ceremony in central London on the 15th. The audience of business associates and dignitaries gave the video a huge round of applause, which was nice.

06/11/2012/by admin