http://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/toolbank_ad2.jpg7201280adminhttp://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.pngadmin2012-12-20 08:49:132013-01-30 19:38:54Toolbank on TV
Today Northern Gas Networks launched their RIIO initiative to a management conference.
Myself and Howard from Red Lobster have spent a few days working with NGN to produce the internal launch film which is being shown today at the Leeds United FC conference centre.
We’ve filmed at locations all across Leeds and the wider area. Offices, Pipelines, and Roadworks, even a Hotel. Quite an unusual job. As well as shooting and editing, I’ve also made an animated 3D logo for the final film.
It’s the first of December – the itchy moustache has come off and I decided to reposition the edit suite.
Anyway I thought it was worth running benchmarks to compare the new edit suite against Apple’s latest computers.
The new iMacs are getting early benchmark figures:
Geekbench scores of 12427
Lux Mark scores of 265
and Heaven 3 frame rates around 30fps
My edit suite has much higher scores:
So a Geekbench score of 14049. That faster than the hugely expensive midrange MacPro.
A LuxMark score of 2007 is massive! Virtually impossible on any other Mac, as I’m running a GFX670 2GB card which can’t ordinarily be used in a Mac.
Lastly a nippy Heaven fps of 73, so no slouch there either.
Combined with a super fast, dual 6gbps internal RAID array which delivers over 200MB/s, this edit suite is a true powerhouse. Final Cut Pro rendering and encoding is much faster than on my older machine. And of course the super duper graphics card renders 3D in no time.
December 4th update:
I got BT XDSL installed today… It’s cheaper than my old 2mbps ADSL and it is fast. Very Fast.
Leaving Leeds just after 4am and arriving by the Thames at Embankment at 9.02 for a 9.30am start at the headquarters of Care International. A hectic start to the day, but it turned out really well…
I was asked to shoot a series of greenscreen interviews for a TV commercial promoting lendwithcare.org.
It’s a really interesting charity website where you can often get your donation money back!
I won’t explain how it works, it’s best if you have a look for yourself. Here’s the advert:
http://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.png00adminhttp://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.pngadmin2012-10-30 22:35:302013-03-31 21:50:58Sharing is Caring
I’ve spent ten days shooting and editing 11 videos for Kirklees Council. The videos feature children in foster care across the region.
The adoption agencies then use the videos to introduce the children to prospective adopters – forever families for the children.
It sound like an extravagance perhaps, but it helps get the children out of care and into stable long term families much sooner. And that saves the council a lot of money and resources.
Of course I can’t mention specific cases or show videos on here, but I will say it’s the most humbling and worthwhile work I’ve done in some time.
http://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.png00adminhttp://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.pngadmin2012-10-27 16:00:532013-07-03 13:07:00Finding a Family
VisMedia, London asked me to shoot this fascinating corporate for them.
We filmed in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds shooting interviews and GVs on my FS100 mostly using my new 28-70 f2.8 fast zoom. As we were very tight for time I lit the job using two of my 512 LED battery powered heads on small portable Dedo stands.
Most of the locations were medical so we needed to cause the least disturbance possible. My flyaway kit is small enough to take on a train and be carried by one person.
http://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.png00adminhttp://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.pngadmin2012-09-17 09:11:072013-01-23 13:45:46Have a heart!
This year as well as making my usual Toolbank instore video loops in Sterling and Euros, I was asked to get involved in the TV commercials too.
I got the team at Dark Horse involved as together we have years of experience in producing commercials, and they now have an airtime sales expert onboard too.
A perfect match for Toolbank’s needs.
We shot the commercials in the white cyc studio at Prime Studios, Leeds. Vic M. lit it with a bit of help from yours truly.
I’ll post some videos when they’re on air.
(around Christmas 2012)
http://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.png00adminhttp://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.pngadmin2012-08-22 18:53:082013-01-30 19:38:29Toolbank in the Studio
Today I filmed and edited a Royal visit by HRH the Duke of Kent to the Glenn Dimplex factory in Merseyside.
HRH was presenting Glenn Dimplex with the Queens Award for Export. And it was a double celebration as Belling, who are part of the Glenn Dimplex group, are one hundred years old this year!
I needed a second cameraman to cover the event and called on local talent, James Goodchild from Zippy Angels to help. We quckly formulated a plan on the day to cover the event and it all went very smoothly.
In the far northern reaches of the Yorkshire Dales you’ll find Swaledale and Arkengarthdale. These were to be my filming locations for the next few days, and with beautiful sunshine every day it was a fantastic place to be.
This was another great opportunity to use my new camera the Sony FS100. I used the kit lens for general shooting, a fast 35mm for interviews, an ultra wide 11mm for the interiors and a 55mm macro for closeups. I also shot some slow-motion and time-lapse in the countryside.
Both venues have have a different story to tell, through their location, history and decor. So I tried to portray that in the videos. As a business they make great use of social media, the views on YouTube have been fantastic so far.
http://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.png00adminhttp://www.duncancraig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/logo7-300x185.pngadmin2012-05-22 18:48:542013-01-24 22:05:03The Inn Crowd
