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Video Production Services to get YOU noticed
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We are a UK based award-winning media production company that specialises in Sports, documentary, promotional films and live music events. We operate an all-digital policy to ensure the quality and flexibility of our products.
We produce DVDs  ,web media (WMV, Quicktime H.264  and 2.5/3G mobile phone media  from digital content (HDCAM, HDV, DVCPRoHD, DVCPR050, DVCAM & miniDV). We can directly convert or arrange format conversion from Hi8, VHS, SVHS, Beta and film sources. We also hire out HD production equipment including lenses, cameras, jib, dollies, HD monitors, and Redrock M2 35mm HD filming kits.
We tend to focus on promotional films for businesses and tourism plus extreme sports and live music events. We produce interactive multi-media for DVD and web, documentary films and drama productions.
We provide a full DVD production service, from DVD authoring to DLT tape for mastering, DVD disc and packaging artwork design and can provide very competitive pricing for large scale DVD replication (1000+ pressed DVDs) or short-run DVD duplication using a quality ink jet disc printing process in-house.
Check our services or faq's for more information.
 We have digital sound mixing facilities and can create custom music soundtracks for your media or use sources from our production music library or from unsigned bands who want the exposure.
 We are also licensed to create Dolby Digital ™ Audio tracks and use Dolby ™ trailers and logos for our DVD productions.
More Video streaming and downloads in our downloads area.
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To receive irregular email updates on MANIAC films video downloads, photo gallery updates, events and opportunities please email movies*at*maniacfilms.com with ADD TO MAILING LIST in the subject line.
Alternatively - receive news via our XML/RSS feed  
We are slowly updating our site.. its been a busy year so please bear with us!
MANIAC films news and updates 2008:
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Page last updated November 2008
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November 2008 - Mike Cotton film brand winner for Cisco Digital Cribs comp
Woohoo! We have been chosen as a Brand Winner in the Cisco/Filmaka Digital Cribs film competition. Our 2 short films about Mike Cottons digital crib were selected by Cisco and will be posted on over 200 websites and showcased on their Digital cribs www.digitalcribs.com website. Cool. "I'm very pleased with this result and will be looking out for more opportunities with competitions from Filmaka.com " said Mark Brindle from maniac films."..and the 7500USD prize money will be put to good use!"
Press Release (PDF) <more info on our range of production services>..
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November 2008 - Audio CD production & duplication for Kendra Pilates
Pilates at home CD1: all levels is the new audio CD from Rachael Waldron of Kendra Pilates in Braunton, designed for her Pilates classes while Rachael goes off for the Winter to the Pacific. The audio CD features a range of Pilates exercises for all levels from beginner to advanced. We remastered the audio recorded on our DAT and added lots of complimentary ambient chill-out music. You can buy a copy of the CD from the Kendra Pilates website.
<more info on our CD mastering and duplication services>..
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November 2008 - DVD authoring for Not California DVD from Wavedreamer
Richard at Wavedreamer has finally decided to release Not California on DVD and we have been helping with the Dolby™ encoding and DVD authoring of this Brighton surfing extravagaza - the DVD includes loads of micro movies and featurettes and hidden 'easter egg' video clips, plus alternate directors commentary soundtrack. Visit the Not California www.wavedreamer.co.uk website for production stills, sample clips and trailers for this popular surf film. The replicated DVDs will be available to buy from Wavedreamer very soon.
<more info on our dvd authoring and encoding services>..
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November 2008 - DVD authoring, printing and duplication
Weve been busy with DVD authoring this month with a new DVD for PJ Hare Limited featuring their Brakemaster brake assembly/disassembly equipment, cover design courtesy of Chris from Barrett Design. Plus authoring and encoding for a new Audio Haptics DVD for the Royal National College of the Blind using multi-angle encoding to give subtitle, non-subtitle and signing versions of the main film by Artaura Productions.
<more info on our dvd authoring and duplication services>..
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November 2008 - see us at the North Devon Business showcase
We have been exhibiting at the recent North Devon Business showcase at the Barnstaple hotel. It was great to meet lots of new faces over the two days. If you didn't manage to brave the terrible weather and see us or any of the other North Devon companies showingcasing at the event then more information can be found on the ND Business website www.ndbusiness.co.uk. Hope to see you next year?
<more info on our range of production services>..
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November 2008 - more DVD print and duplication for DBI
David at DBI Communications has been very busy with new DVDs and we have been printing and duplicating for a new showreel for actor Jon Ridge and a promo DVD for H&A Sports surfaces. For the photo-print DVDs we used new Aquashield printable discs for a glossy surface finish. "we always get great quality and a quick turnaround from maniac Films" said David Impey from DBI Communications.
<more info on our dvd print and duplication services>..
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November 2008 - The Ballad of the Roman Road music video for Douglas E Powell
We have been over at the old disused Shapland factory in Barnstaple to film a new music video for acoustic musician Doug Powell. The Ballad of the Roman Road is from the new album The Iron Coast, available from www.douglasepowell.co.uk. "the factory is a great location to film in - spacious and industrial, with some great natural light" said Mark Brindle
 Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media
<more info on our Video production services>..
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October 2008 - New website for Pix Tattoos now live
We have built a new website for highly talented tattoo artist Mike Stocks at Pix Tattoo studio in Forda. Thanks to Tanja for her creative flash designs. Check out some of the examples in the Tattoo gallery at www.pixtattoos.co.uk. "people have sworn they can see round the edges of the photos in the gallery..the 3d effect is a real mind bender and is a fantastic way to view our work" said Mike from Pix Tattoos. We will be adding more 3d views of Mikes work, like the Tattoo example here using 3d model and original artwork from Pix, plus some morphin sequences to show the before and after tattoo 'cover up' work which Mike specialises in.
<more info on our photography and website design services>..
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October 2008 - Battlefield Sports ecommerce site live
It has taken a while but the new ecommerce B2B website for Battlefield Sports Bideford is now up and running for UK and European sales of the Battlefield Live outdoor infra-red gaming equipment. The site features all new product photography and an easy to use interface for selling Battlefield Live gear to customers running their own battlefields. Check the new site at www.battlefieldsports.biz. We are still working on the live gaming side of the website with new video and flash content. "I can now update all my product information and pricing online - its so easy!" said Paul Diamond from battlefield Sports Bideford.
<more info on our photography and website design services>..
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October 2008 - More SEO and pages for Schepens removals
We have been doing some more website updates and search engine optimisation for south coast removals company Schepens International to cover the wide range of local removals and international shipping destinations they cover including Southampton, Bournemouth, Newbury, USA, South Africa, France, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. More information from www.schepens.co.uk
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October 2008 - Half Life wins at IOV awards 2008
The annual Institute of Videography convention was held at the Ricoh arena Coventry this year and included a trade show, seminars and panel Q&A sessions. We were visiting to see some of the latest production gear and Mark was on one of the panels, answering questions on corporate video production. The evening awards event was held just upstairs from the main exhibition hall and was designed to celebrate the best of video production in the UK and Europe. Our Scotland surf documentary Half Life scored a Highly commended award in the best documentary category. Press release (PDF) about the IOV Awards IOV Event Report (PDF)
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October 2008 - Work placement for Tom & filming for new SATR guns
We have had award winning stop-motion animator Tom Ball in this week for work experience so we dressed him up in camo and got him running around the battlefield near the Big Sheep in Bideford to help with new promotional filming for the latest infra-red guns from Battlefield sports www.battlefieldsports.biz. Tom also came up to the IOV conference for a couple of days to check out the latest video equipment and listen in on the seminars.
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October 2008 - Filmaka / Cisco Digital Cribs competition entry
Filmaka (www.filmaka.com) with brand sponsorship from Cisco Systems are running a Digital Cribs film contest. We have submitted a film to the contest to show how technology is used in someones 'crib', how it impacts their life and a brief tour of the house and the technology. "we suddenly got fantastic weather at the end of September" said Mark Brindle "perfect to do a more outdoor style film with Croyde local Mike Cotton (who runs Baggy Lodge). This is a combo of the two films entered with a slightly elongated end - thanks to Doug Powell for the music - we used a couple of all-acoustic tracks from the new album The Iron Coast with a bit of extra ambience..".
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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October 2008 - Visualise project close
The UKTI funded Visualise project has finally come to an end, the audits are all done and the exploitation events are underway. The Visualise project led by the University of Bristol and 3C Research was a 2 year project to look into enhancing spectator experiences at large scale live events - such as the World Rally Championships, the Olympics - any sporting or music event that is spread out geographically or to provide additional data (video, audio, statistics) which would enhance the viewer experience at any event. The main idea was to provide spectator-driven content in a 'pull down on demand' basis to allow users to choose what content they wanted to see and to be able to set alerts to inform them of upcoming data which they had chosen to keep tabs on. More information on the project is available from the Watershed event videos and slides
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October 2008 - The Iron Coast now available
The new album The Iron Coast from North Devon acoustic musician Douglas E Powell is now available - we finally got the artwork through and have been busy printing and duplicating CDs. You can get your copy of the CD from Dougs website www.douglasepowell.co.uk or from one of his gigs. We have also added MP3 samples from the new album to Dougs website too.
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September 2008 - Animal Surf Academy promo short complete
For girls only! Fancy learning to surf in Newquay with pro Animal team riders ? Check out the short version of the Animal Surf Academy promo featuring music from the Universe Inspectors. We will have a longer version of the promo coming soon. Thanks to Katie at Animal for all her input and to all the girls who had such a great time in and out of the water.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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September 2008 - Visualise Cricket demo at Bristol cricket ground
We have been up to Bristol to the Gloucstershire cricket ground again to provide filming coverage for the latest Visualise demo - streaming live action and replays to spectators via Wifi to their mobile phones and PDAs. We had a new flash-based system for the demo from Bristol University which will incorporate cricket highlights from the 3 day game and be used as a stand alone demo in future. We supplied video monitoring and downconversion hardware plus filming crew to gather highlights (plenty of wickets!) and roaming camera feeds for the live demo. We have been editing a highlights package for the stand alone demo which can play back on a computer or mobile phone.
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September 2008 - Eyeball Saunton back online
It looks like someone forgot to pay the phone bill for the telephone line at Saunton beach, so the main Saunton webcam on the Eyeball website has been down whilst we wait for it be reconnected. Thanks for all the emails and messages on the eyeball forum asking when it will be back - its now back and running again!!
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September 2008 - Wavedreamer Countdown for 'One Day' filming ready to start
Richard Gregory has launched a new Wavedreamer website with a 5 day countdown clock for the start of filming for One Day. The clock hasnt started yet but keep an eye on it as were due to be filming with Richard from sunrise till dawn on the one day which goes towards his new film - from surfing and beach parties to wild flowers and sheperds!
The filming will be one day sometime in September-October depending on the weather and surf conditions. Visit the One Day microsite for samples of the test footage that Richard has shot over the past few years. Its all going to come together on one glorious Day in Devon very soon.
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September 2008 - LambLand branding and website rebuild
The LambLand website is going through a rebranding exercise, with new colour scheme, logo and layout design for the existing site by Barrett Design. We will be creating new lifestyle product photography and integrating the new designs into the existing online shop. "I'm very excited by the new designs" said Paul from LambLand.
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September 2008 - Green screen signing footage for Royal National College for the Blind DVD
We have been filming some new sign-language green screen footage to sync with Artauras' Audio Haptics DVD at our studio in Devon. The footage will be used on a new verison of the DVD, to include subtitles and several versions with and without signing. We will be re-authoring the DVD and mastering for a replication run very soon.
<more info on our video production and DVD authoring services>..
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September 2008 - 2nd Unit filming on Risen
We have been up to Wales to do some 2nd unit filming for Risen, the story of Howard Winstone, by Burnhand films, directed by Merthyr born Neil Jones. A lot of the film has been completed and we were getting some more montage scenes with the Sony F900 to cut-in with existing footage. Final parts of Risen will be filmed in November.
Risen is the dramatic story of world featherweight boxing champion Howard Winstone. The Risen trailer is on Youtube here
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September 2008 - ULB3 Universal rod mount bracket from Ronford Baker
We have just got in a new ULB3 Universal support bracket for the Sony F900 from UK engineering firm Ronford Baker. The ULB3 also fits the Sony 700,750,XDCAM and Panasonic Varicam and HDX900 and allows us to shoot cinema-style with matt box and follow-focus on 15mm rods. The ULB3 is also available in our rental equipment.
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September 2008 -Substance screening at Croyde Deckchair Cinema
September sees the end of the weekly summer film night programs - Saturday 13th is the last chance! We are having a break on the 20th due to the Paddle4Relief gig at the Aggie and are back on Sunday 28th September with the North Devon screening premier of Eye candy award winning UK surf film Substance (along with another selection of shorts). We have a lunchtime and an evening screening on Sunday.
Check out the deckchair cinema listings for any changes
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September 2008 - Pix Tattoos website started
We have started on a new website for Pix Tattoos, based in Forda, North Devon. Mike Stocks has a fantastic new studio in Forda and wants to show off his work. If you cant wait for the new site and want a tattoo or just a chat (he does removals and reworking of old tattoos as well) then call Mike on 07920043861.
<more info on our website design and hosting services>..
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August 2008 - Redrock m2 delux shoulder mount kits
We've added a couple of Redrock delux shoulder mount kits to our production and rental kit. These shoulder mounts have carbon fibre rods and can be used with ordinary non-shoulder mount cameras (like the Sony Z1, V1 and Panasonic HVX200) as well as with the Redrock M2 lens adapter system, giving front and back rod mounts for Matt boxes, the Gekko lenslite and battery plates.
"we broke our old Ikegami shoulder mount tripod plate when filming Rogue and have been looking for a replacment system for a while" said Mark Brindle. The Redrock kits are very modular and can be used in multiple ways"
<more info on our Video production equipment rental services>..
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August 2008 - DVD cleanup authoring and duplication for Forches film
We have been helping finish off the Lottery funded Forches film for youth worker Mike Bentley and North Devon College student Adrian Brayley. The film was shot by children in and around the infamous Forches estate in Barnstaple, with interviews of new and old residents, charting its history to the present. We helped cleanup the audio as best we could and provided basic DVD authoring, disk printing and duplication with a few 'special' versions made for the filmmakers themselves.
"Its great to see kids getting into filmmaking - they did a good job of the whole project" said Mark Brindle from Maniac films. PR link : North Devon journal article
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August 2008 - Filming Animal ASA girls-only surf day
We were invited down to Newquay by Katie from Animal, to film the Animal Girls-only surfing day at the Animal Surf Academy. Animal Pro riders Nicola Bunt, Kirsty Jones and Gwen Spurlock were there showing the girls how to surf, along with Yoga sessions, Q&A sessions and great Animal goodie bag giveaways!
Richard from Wavedreamer came along with his special board-cams to help filming in the water. We will be editing up a selection of videos for the Animal website and general web usage to help promote the ASA girls-only days.
Pr links:Collermag article. Video clips coming online soon.
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August 2008 - New Azden FMX 42-4 4ch audio field mixer
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We have just got in a new Azden FMX 4ch audio field mixer - the FMX42-4. Providing 4 balanced XLR line/mic inputs with individual level and pan controls plus switchable 48V phantom power and limiting with a great backlit UV meter, 1K tone generator, 2 balanaced XLR mic/line outputs with headphone monitoring in a rugged outdoor field bag. This unit is battery powered from AA batteries which last a good while.
<more info on our equipment rental services>..
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August 2008 - CD audio mastering for Douglas E Powell
We have been helping finish off the new album The iron Coast by Devon folk singer Douglas E Powell. "the recording quality is really good on all the tracks, so we didnt have too much to do really" said Mark Brindle from Maniac films. "The album sounds great - there are a few experimental tracks, new songs and a few new arrangements of older (Stocks and Powell) songs, but you wont recognise them!" The Iron Coast is due out in September when the artwork is finished and we can produce the CDs. We will be updating Dougs website with new mp3 samples when its ready for release.
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August 2008 - Erin music website nearly live!
After a bit more chasing around we have the final photos for Erin Matthews new music website - the site was designed by Helen Blackman and built and hosted by us with a flexible admin interface for adding page text. Erins just got married and so we are still waiting on the text - but the site should be live very soon now!
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August 2008 - work placement for Alice
Alice Titcomb joins us from her media degree at Bournemouth University for some work experience - she is specialising in Audio production and we are hoping to get her doing lots of sound recording and audio post production.
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August 2008 - Half Life shortlisted for Awards
Half Life has been nominated for the eye candy award at this years surfstock festival in Cornwall and also for best documentary award at this years Institute of Videography (IOV) awards to be held at the Ricoh center in Coventry.
"this is fantastic news" said Mark Brindle "although i suspect Mr Bs Substance will win the eye candy award!". The IOV awards will be held in October so fingers crossed.
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July 2008 - Creation fest 2008 - Big screen filming and live mix
We have been helping out at this years Creation Fest in Woolacombe - providing front of house cameras and live mixing for the big screen on the first day of the event. "The rainy weather held off all day and we had a great show" said Mark Brindle.
Visit the Creation Fest website for photos and videos from this years event
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July 2008 - Cricket filming at Cheltenham for Visualise promo
We have been filming Cricket highlights at a 3day festival held at Cheltenham cricket ground and helping out with a Visualise test at the event - providing live video and edited highlights of the event to be played out over wifi to PDAs and mobile phones. The testing is in advance of a bigger Visualise demonstration to be held at the grounds in September.
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July 2008 - Event filming for DC-KTN
We have been up to the Watershed in Bristol to film the presentations at the latest DCKTN Seminar: Collaborative research in Digital Communications. The event featured Roderick Snell from Snell & Wilcox, Professor Andrew Nix from the University of Bristol and Peter Walters discussing collaborative research and the new EU 7th framework funding programme.
The presentation videos, powerpoint slides and mp3 audio-only versions will be up on our site and the DCKTN website soon.
<more info on our Video production services>..
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July 2008 - Album cover photoshoot for Saint Onyeka
We have been getting some great portrait photos for exeter-based gospel singer, Saint Onyeka to choose for his new album cover, plus filming an interview about his music beginnings, to use for a sky tv channel program.
<more info on our photography and Video production services>..
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July 2008 - ANALOG Tag Team surf contest Podcast from Downend, Croyde
We have been filming the recent Analog Tag team surf contest held at downend, Croyde this month - we were invited by Analog teamrider Cotty to make a short video podcast from the event. It was very windy, the surf wasn't amazing but we found lots of talkative competitors who really enjoyed the team format and the sun was shining most of the time! There were some great tunes being played all day by RedBull DJ 'Jay', with deck chairs for spectators, a tasty barbecue and a very relaxed atmosphere making up for lack of real quality waves. A great day out for all.
Some local press articles from the North Devon Journal: before and after
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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July 2008 - Audio cleaning software from Izotope: RX
We have invested in some great audio post production software tools from Izotope - the Izotope RX for MAC comes as a standalone application, but also integrates seamlessly into Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut Pro as plugins. "Its simply fantastic! Seriously, I can't believe how good it is at removing noise and audio damage" said Mark Brindle
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July 2008 - ASTRALS project promo for DC-KTN and UoB
We have created a short promotional film for the Digital Communications knowledge Transfer Network (DC-KTN) to explain the ASTRALS project, with special emphasis on the collaboration between partners and how this helped UK companies in the consortium. ASTRALS was funded as part of the EU FP6 program and deals primarily with audio-visual streaming of high quality video in the home.
The video will be played at the DC-KTN conference 'Collaborative Research in Digital Communications' to be held at the Watershed, Bristol at the end of July.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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July 2008 - Paddle round the point charity paddle
Due to the unseasonal weather in June, the paddle race was called off at the Oceanfest. Unis bass player Ralph Freeman was determined to complete his charity paddle from Saunton to Croyde (and back) and set off in July with a group of friends including Oceanfest organizer Shaun Latham and Croyde skateclub organizer Chris Burrows to paddle round 'the point' and raise money for charity. You can support Ralphs cause by visiting his page on the Justgiving website. Local press article from the North Devon Journal: here
More pictures from the paddle coming soon to the photo gallery.
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July 2008 - Rogue: A Vampire Chronicle trailer
Producer/director Stuart Brennan has made the first trailer for Rogue: A Vampire Chronicle, based on the footage we shot in April. Its been left pretty raw - we did a very minor colour grade but were leaving it until shooting completes later in the year. Its not classified yet, so watch it if you dare!.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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June 2008 - Redrock rental for Two Short Nights bursary film
We have been running some training workshops for director Toby de Burgh and his DoP with some of our Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter systems for a bursary film they are making for the Exeter Pheonix Two Short Nights program. The filming is taking place over several long weekends, with a lot of night time shooting involved. Toby sent us some ungraded screen shots from the raw footage, made using our Redrock gear and Nikon lenses. The finished film is going to be screened at the Exeter Pheonix in November this year.
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June 2008 - Summer Weekly Film Nights starting
The infamous Croyde Deckchair Cinema is now starting weekly in the Summer season - Surf film Sunday will be screening a selection of short surf, skate, mountainboarding and random films shot or made by local filmmakers in North Devon, including Gordy from Extremeboardshots, Richard from Wavedreamer, Matt from Artaura and lots of Maniac films films too! The main feature will be North Devon Surf History screening each week through the summer at Croyde Village hall.
If your coming down to Croyde this summer then make sure you check out the Croyde deckchair cinema - come early or we might run out of chairs...£3.50 on the door adults £2 kids. Includes free popcorn and we have a bar selling beers, wines and soft drinks.
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June 2008 - Work experience for Calum
We were joined for the week by Calum Patanosta from Ilfracombe school. Calum had a great time learning to take stills photographs using a variety of manual lenses and macro lenses with bellows units and reversing rings. Calum learned a bit of photoshop retouching and filmed some surfing at Putsborough for Pointbreaks.
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June 2008 - Battlefield Live Bideford filming and new website work
We have been out in the rain filming an adult group playing Battlefield Live at the Big Sheep in Bideford, to make some promotional video clips for a new website and help promote the games to others. "I loved filming the guys running round in the rain!" said Kirsten Noel. We have also started on a new ecommerce site to replace the existing Battlefield Live website to make it easier for Paul (who runs Battlefield Live) to update descriptions and pricing. We will be re-doing most of the product photography too. More updates and new website for battlefield Live coming soon.
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June 2008 - Goldcoast Oceanfest 10th anniversary event in Croyde
Goldcoast Oceanfest is back again for its 10th anniversary celebration with an extravaganza of freesports and music filling the fun-packed event on the edge of Croyde beach over the summer solstace weekend of June 20,21,22. With a fantastic music lineup headlined by Donovan Frankenreiter and featuring an eco expo, kids education day and a host of beach and water sports from beach soccer, foot volley, beach volleyball to aquathon and ironman competition, its set to be another great event.
We will be back at Goldcoast this year too, filming the events and music for promotional video clips for the event organizers Urban Safari (USP)
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June 2008 - Work placement for Kirsten
Kirsten Noel joins us for a six weeks placement from her media degree course at Bouremouth University. Kirsten is studying to be a camera specialist, so we will be getting her involved in lots of filming work (even in the rain), but also lots of post production (editing, photography etc) too.
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June 2008 - Devil dey shake girigba music video complete for Saint Onyeka
One of two new music videos for Nigerian gospel singer Saint Onyeka - filmed in DVCProHD1080/25p and produced to DVD and broadcast tape for playback on sky tv channels at standard definition sizes. We did a lot of green screen filming and synced up the background with the audio using Motion audio behaviours. There are a few stock images used and some Futurismo backgrounds. We added a few effects to the dancers using Genarts Sapphire fxplugins for FCP. Thanks to the skaters in the square at Barnstaple and to the council for permissions to film in the street.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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June 2008 - Papa I Salut music video complete for Saint Onyeka
One of two new music videos for Saint Onyeka - Papa I salut was filmed in Barnstaple and in Croyde, North Devon - when the sun came out! A lot of green screen filming was planned although anyway, but external sections were moved indoors due to the weather. We used a few more new effects from the Genarts Sapphire fxplugins for FCP and some Futurismo backgrounds (soda bubbles, sky). More production stills coming soon to the photo gallery.
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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May 2008 - Gekko daylight LED lenslite kit with flying ballast
We have added a Gekko Lenslite into our production and rental kit. The lenslite is a daylight LED ring light system which mounts on 15mm rods and can fit cameras with lens diameters up to 110mm. Our unit has a top flag, diffuser and clear holder for gels, a flying ballast with dimmer and seperate on/off for each of 4 quadrants of the light ring. It works great with our Redrock 35mm lens adapter system and fits the Sony F900 just fine.
The lenslite is ideal as a daylight fill (6000k, 128 fc at 3foot), as a beauty light or eyelight.
<more info on our video equipment rental services>..
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May 2008 - website rebuild for Doves Christian Bookshop
We have built a simplified website for Doves in Barnstaple to replace the original ecommerce store we made for them several years ago. "It was very time consuming trying to keep on top of the book listings, with titles going out of print and prices changing" said Celia from Doves "our supplier, Crown books, now have an affiliate scheme so we direct all our traffic to them for online sales".
<more info on our website design services>..
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May 2008 - Interview with Jane Cumming from North Devon Physio for Unis doc
We have been trying to finish filming for our long-running Universe Inspectors documentary and caught up with Jane Cumming from North Nevon Physiotherapy who was treating bass player and big wave surfer Ralph Freeman in the final stages following his broken neck.
"Jane was one of the final interviews for the film. We have re-made trailer and plan to have the film finished this year" said Mark Brindle.
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May 2008 - New website for eco campsite Summer Meadows
We have built a website for a new eco campsite open in Croyde Bay during parts of the summer (they are 30 days a year only due to planning legislation).Summer Meadows website (www.summermeadows.co.uk) needs a few more photos from the campsite, but we can't add those until it opens at May bank holiday - bit of chicken and egg really - speaking of chickens - newlyweds Mike and Karla Stocks who run summer meadows campsite have lots of friendly chickens and will be supplying free range eggs to campers too!
They have a great location in Forda - close to Croyde and Georgeham and are trying to run the campsite as ecologically as possible - with solar lighting, solar showers, communal barbeque and recycling facilities. Why not try camping as it used to be..?
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May 2008 - Work experience for Kiya
Kiya Major joined us for some work experience in May and had a great time helping out with the Saint Onyeka music video shoots, plus learning about stills photgraphy and how to use a crane."Kiya is very talented and picked up skills quickly" said Mark Brindle. Kiya has been playing Rhythm guitar and backing vocals in local Indie band The Chimps with Lipstick
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May 2008 - Music Video shoot for Saint Onyeka
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Weve been filming two music videos for African gospel artist Saint Onyeka. Two tracks from his new album Papa I Salut and Devil dey shake girigba. The weather has been against us in Barnstaple (we even got flooded during shooting!) so a lot had to be done with green screen, but the sun came out enough to get shots in the shiny new Square at Barnstaple and in the main highstreet and central church. The two videos had to be completed over 2 days due to logistics of the dancers, although we did film quite a few extra green screen sections with lots of Saint Onyekas family and friends. Videos coming online soon. Stu got roped into being the devil for a few shots and both Matt from Artaura and Mark both appear on one of the videos..
The videos were both shot in HD 1080 25p and made use of our chroma facility, indie dolly and the smaller abc crane using Panasonic HVX200s.
<more info on our video production services..
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May 2008 - Photos for new Hideaway Lodge Website
The weathers been fantastic in Croyde so we have been out taking photos of Hideaway lodge for a new website. Hideaway Lodge is definately at the luxury end of the Bed and breakfast market! Website coming soon.
<more info on our photography and website design services>..
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May 2008 - Zombies of the Night Trailer 3
We found some time to do more post production on the Burnhand Films production Zombies of the Night, its going a bit slow but we put together a new trailer for producer Stuart Brennan to take to the Cannes Film Festival.
We should get back to the project later in the year and possibly shoot a few more Zombie scenes - i know some of the guys on the eyeball forum want to be in it! Stuart has been very busy on other projects, but once Rogue and Risen have been finished then Zombies will be resurrected (literally!). We got in a new De:noise fxplug and a full suite of Genarts Sapphire fxplugins for final cut pro to give Zombies a more grindhouse look ((no sapphire effects on this trailer though).
Play QuickTime | Play Windows Media <more info on our Video production services>..
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April 2008 - more kit - Rycote s-series windshield plus PAG Vmount batteries and Hawk-Woods Vmount plates
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Weve been getting in more equipment and have added the Rycote S-series modular windshield system to give us good all round protection for audio recording in the UK. "the s-series is very quick and easy to use" said mark Brindle "weve gone for the largest windshields to allow more flexibility for renting and to be able to fit a radio mic tx unit inside too".
We have also added a new 4ch Pag all chemistry charger and a set of six Pag L95 Li-ion V-mount batteries to our production and rental kit. These are certified air transport safe too.
We have been sorting out our powering systems too with a selection of V-mount power plates and specially made regulator plates from UK-based Hawk Woods. We can now power all our cameras, monitors, downconvertors, redrock systems and Dat recorder with V-mount batteries.
<more info on our HD rental services>..
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April 2008 - AJA and Redbyte HD converters into production and rental kit
Yet more kit this month including the HD10A-12V HD component to HD-SDI converter from AJA to allow connection of the Sony F900 and HVX200s to our new tamuz monitor (coming soon) and the HD2SD downconverter from Redbyte design to allow us to monitor simultaneously on SD monitors and the modified Sony viewfinder for handheld Redrock work. Weve also upgraded our Panasonic HD monitor to HD-SDI to make it all compatible.
<more info on our HD equipment rental services>..
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April 2008 - MIA Winners show and tell networking in Plymouth
We have been down to Plymouth to meet up with the other Media Innovation Awards (MIA) winners and talk about our Think Tank DVD project at a networking event organised by Plymouth Media Partnership (PM-P)
We gave out copies of the Think Tank DVD along with copies of Half Life DVD too."Its a great way to meet other like minded media producers in the South West" said Mark Brindle from maniac films. If you work in the media industry in this region then think about joining PM-P.
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April 2008 - shorts, dresses and summer surfwear photoshoot for Genesis surf shop
We have been taking more summer surfwear photos for Genesis surf shop with lots of womens Balin and Roxy shorts and Reef summer dresses and tops this time. Congratulations to our model Liz who is now pregnant!
<more info on our photography services>..
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April 2008 - LambLand product photography - yet more cute Lambs!
We have been taking yet more product photos for LambLand in Ilfracombe - lots of cute kids toy lambs plus more from Pauls still-never-ending supply of leather wallets, purses, gloves and boots.
Visit the LambLand website (www.lambland.co.uk) to see whats new in the store or visit one of the real LambLand shops in Ilfracombe. More products coming online soon.
<more info on our website design services>..
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April 2008 - Bristol Oilskins back for more CD duplication
We have been printing and duplicating more catalogue CDs for Bristol Oilskins Foxware range, originally designed by Barrett Design with CD authoring, print and duplication by Maniac films.
Contact us for more information about our short-run CD and DVD production services
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April 2008 - Live Help integration for LambLand and the Pink shop
We have been integrating a Live Help system into two Oscommerce-based ecommerce sites we support for Lambland (www.lambland.co.uk) and The Pink surf shop (www.littlepinkshop.com)."Live help has become a very valuable tool to help close sales and give instant answers to customers" said Gary from the Pink shop "although we are the end of a phone most of the time, some customers prefer to 'chat' online"
<more info about our website design services>..
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April 2008 - Video edits and web cleanup for fitroads.org
We were approached by Martin Cassini to help re-edit some campaign videos and get them up on his website Fit roads (www.fitroads.org). Martin has been campaigning to make roads Fit for People, advocating common sense approaches to traffic controls rather then installing yet more traffic lights and speed cameras. Giving pedestians and motorists a peaceful co-existance and keeping motorists eyes on the road rather then the traffic lights may give us safer and less polluted streets.. watch some of the videos on Martins website and see what you think.
We screened one of Martins Films In your car no-one can hear you scream at this months film night - it was very well received and got a lot of applause.
<more info on our video editing and website services>..
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April 2008 - Peacefire complete and screening at Belfast film festival
Last year we rented out one of our Redrock systems along with a Panasonic HD camera to Chris Martin, producer of Peacefire - a gritty feature film shot in Northern Ireland. We went over to Ireland to help the crew get familiar with the kit and met a great bunch of guys. Peacefire is now complete and there will be a cast and crew screening at the Belfast Film festival in April. You can view video clips from the film on the Peacefire website (www.peacefiremovie.com) It looks great
Update July: Peacefire wins top prize at the prestigeous Galway Film Fleadh!
<more info on our HD equipment rental services>..
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April 2008 - Stu Gaunt joins Maniac Films
After helping out in a freelance capacity for some time, Stuart Gaunt joins us in a full-time role to help with video production and looking after our HD equipment rental services. Stuart has made quite a few skateboarding films over the years - we will be playing some parts from one of these - Progression at this months film night. You can see some of the theatre and music work that Stu's been working on in the past at his old website www.monkeymanfilms.co.uk
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