A number of the Speakeasy team have been enjoying the comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Lots of good acts. Just to give you an idea of what’s been out here here’s top 10 for the Dave comedy award for one liners. Congrats to Tim Vine for wining!

1) Tim Vine “I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.”

2) David Gibson “I’m currently dating a couple of anorexics. Two birds, one stone.”

3) Emo Philips “I picked up a hitch hiker. You’ve got to when you hit them.”

4) Jack Whitehall “I bought one of those anti-bullying wristbands when they first came out. I say ‘bought’, I actually stole it off a short, fat ginger kid.”

5) Gary Delaney “As a kid I was made to walk the plank. We couldn’t afford a dog.”

6) John Bishop “Being an England supporter is like being the over-optimistic parents of the fat kid on sports day.”

7) Bo Burnham “What do you call a kid with no arms and an eyepatch? Names.”

8 ) Gary Delaney “Dave drowned. So at the funeral we got him a wreath in the shape of a lifebelt. Well, it’s what he would have wanted.”

9) Robert White “For Vanessa Feltz, life is like a box of chocolates: Empty.”

10) Gareth Richards “Wooden spoons are great. You can either use them to prepare food. Or, if you can’t be bothered with that, just write a number on one and walk into a pub…”

MagnusM Team News, Tech chat

Fashion, glamour and glitz were today’s game. I found myself enjoying the shopping experience of New Look’s flagship Oxford Circus store. We were there filming an interview with CEO Carl Macphail who gave an excellent interview. All filmed in the heart of the new store (very funky). As he headed away he generously offered staff discount to the whole crew. Needless to say Lucy descended into a permanent state of euphoria and whirled off round the store while the rest of the crew got down and groovy with the cutaways.

So at the end of the day everyone has come out a winner, our client because they’ve got a great video in the can, the nice guys at New Look whose CEO comes across brilliantly, Lucy because she’s had her shopping fix, me because I bought the current Mrs Wake some cool clothes (many browny points), Speakeasy (cos of the new blog story!) and the biggest winner of all Mr Creditcard.

Magnus Wake - Director

MagnusM Team News, Work Completed Funky, New Look

Sounds a bit negative but as I was repeatedly reminded yesterday that’s a national trait ;).

Yesterday saw the first event held by Creative Scotland the new “national leader for Scotland’s arts, screen and creative industries.”. It was a good gig actually with a great band, some beautiful music from a harpist (sorry can’t find her name anywhere on the web), and some stunning physical theatre from Suspended Motion.

We also got a pretty honest overview from the two heads of the new organisation Chief Executive Andrew Dixon and Chair, Sir Sandy Crombie. They both talked about making artists the centre of Creative Scotland and how we needed to do more to recognise and highlight some of the fantastic and creative work that goes on here. They also commented that there isn’t going to be a lot of cash to throw around (not a big surprise) but that they would be keen to strengthen relationships with private partners. Geography got a mention too, with a need to highlight things that were going on in, say, Shetland as importantly as anywhere more central.

However, the details were all a bit hazy which brings me back to the vacuum bit. You see at the moment the board hasn’t met and by the sound of things hasn’t even been totally formed. This means that any kind of strategy isn’t even on the drawing board and that any kind of output from this new organisation is way off into next year sometime.

Having reflected on all that was said one concern I have is that with this body and any others there always has to be success. I think it was Sir Sandy that said they want a wealth of creative ideas so they can choose the best. Sounds logical but art isn’t logical - even a failure is important. If we are only going to look for exemplary success then risks aren’t taken, new ideas will not be tested and grass roots growth will see little benefit from this body.

All in all though, not a bad first step although lacking a bit of clarity. No that’s unfair, they were clear about their lack of clarity.

Ps. thought it was a shame their twitter feed didn’t reflect their event. Could do more to highlight their own light and not keep it under the proverbial. @CreativeScots

Magnus Wake - Director

MagnusM Industry Chat, Team News, speak360

I. Don’t. Wear. Make up.
There. I said it.
But it just so happens I have applied make up. More than once actually…

Because sometimes I go on shoots. And sometimes the lights are hot and the actors need some make up to hide the perspiration. And sometimes I happen to be the closest to the powder puff. That’s what happens on shoots - you have to pull together - and so sometimes the Producer does the make up. Sometimes, as in the case of our shoot for the Criminal Justice Service (part of the Home Office) we have to do a whole lot more…

So here we are. It’s the last day of a three day shoot in London; The clock is ticking, there are eight more scenes to get through before we hit overtime. There are six crew, eight cast members (and two clients) filming in a Crown Court.  It’s a big space so we have lots of lighting. So it’s also roasting hot. The poor cast are dressed in robes and wigs. But the aircon is off because a) it’s too noisy for the sound man and b) it’s broken. Everyone is busy but exhausted and the energy levels are dropping fast. I do what needs to be done - tea and a Twix all round.

We finish (almost) on time, hang up the costumes, put away the gear, load the truck, tidy the location, kiss the luvvies goodbye, and head home. The next few weeks are taken up with editing, re-editing and approvals, resulting in three case studies that explain the process behind criminal sentencing. These will be cut up and put on the client’s website, joining a pilot programme we shot earlier in the year. Thousands will see it and interact with it. Perceptions will be changed. Our client will be happy. The hard work will be worth it.

My other tasks on that shoot included dressing a judge, checking a script, four trips to Marks & Spencer, directing the second unit filming, wearing a police helmet and, as you can see, taking the shine off an actress’s forehead with a powderpuff.

And it wasn’t just me - my colleague Lucy organised catering for 16, kept a written log of each shot, taxi’d folk to the tube station, and was an on-screen extra (as you can see, she favoured The Method when playing the Defendant’s put-upon girlfriend…). We did all of this so that our director Magnus could concentrate on the important job of getting the right shots and performances, so there was something to edit. Oh, and also taking embarrassing photos of his colleagues applying make up.

Hard work, but we love it. It’s not about the job description, it’s about a team effort, and if you want to see what all that looks like go here.

Mark Turner - Producer

MarkM Speakeasy Company News, Team News, Work Completed

It’s been a while since we last did a newsletter but that’s because we’ve been so busy – here’s just some of the things we’ve been up to in the last few months.

For the view here for the actual Speakeasy Summer Newsletter 2010.

USER GENERATED MEDIA –
ENGAGING YOUR STAFF
We recently completed a job for Co-operative Financial Services where we suggested the use of some ‘user generated’ videos for the on-screen content in an awards ceremony. We sent out 50 low cost HD cameras along with mentoring instructions and asked each participant to film a single one minute piece. We got the cameras back edited the pieces and gave them a bit of polish then played them in at the ceremony. It was a fantastic way of getting the teams of staff round the company involved and produced some very funny and unique videos. View more on staff engagement

OUR OFFICE WITH A VIEW

In April 2009 we took over Orchard Communications. Since then we’ve merged them into Speakeasy and moved that operation and Speakeasy’s existing London operation into a new production office based in Covent Garden. If you’d like a wee tour then please just give us a call and we’d be happy to see you and introduce some of the team. As part of our new expanded team Andy Zanelli-King formely of The Edge Picture Company has joined us as Head of Client Development.

LLOYDS 2012
“A Journey of Opportunity” was produced to engage and enthuse Lloyds staff about the London 2012 Games.
It features three young athletes on the Lloyds “Local Heroes” scheme. We hear their thoughts as we see them training, giving the audience an insight into their aspirations for the future.
The entire film is shot on the RED camera, to give stunning, high definition footage, which includes slow motion and time lapse sequences. View a clip

AWARDS
We’ve picked up some pretty amazing awards in the last 6 months. Most recently, in June, we had two videos shortlisted for the best video award at the IoIC (formerly CiB) Gala Awards for video productions made for Lloyds Banking Group and NHS Leicester City. Lloyds won!

DEPT.FOR HEALTH REGIONAL EVENTS
The month of March kept us extremely busy with the Department of Health’s “National Strategy for COPD” regional events roadshow. They were staged in 10 regions throughout England. Delegates travelled from all over the country to listen to Chief Scientific Officer, Sue Hill, and the Clinical Directors for COPD discuss the new strategy. They then voted on the suggested recommendations.

By Magnus Wake, Director, Speakeasy

MagnusM Speakeasy Company News events, Lloyds 2012, new office, newsletter, staff enagagement, video

Well one of the big buzzes at the moment is User Generated Material (UGM) or maybe it’s CGM or possibly UCC but whatever acronym you know it as - the principal is the same. Getting the end user to generate some kind of media content.

Not essentially a new idea (’Letters to the editor’ in that old fashioned newspaper world for example) but now being utilised in a very hi-tech way, where corporate and public sector organisations can get their users to create useful and interesting content about their company.

So how can this work in practise. Well recently a Scottish pop singer asked her fans to make a pop video for her. She posted the track online and got inundated with ‘unique’ video promo versions of her song. However in a more practical sense companies can enhance their employeed engagement programs through using UGC with their staff.

Our latest example of this was at an awards ceremony for Co-operative Financial Services. We were providing the backbone logistics for the event and also supplied the on-screen content. As part of this we suggested getting entrants to film a one minute piece shot and edited on the camera. This was then sent back to our in-house edit suites where we added a bit of gloss and made them ready for the ceremony. We facilitated all of this by sending out 50 low cost HD easy shoot cameras along with instructions and mentoring on how to go about it. The resulting videos were surprising and genuinely engaging.

There are a number of benefits to this approach. It extended the feel good factor of the awards by getting the staff really involved early on and everyone seemed to have a great time making the videos. On the night, well lets just say there wasn’t a dry eye in the house and the feedback from the event suggested it was one of the best ever.

So, ‘user generated media’, no matter what it’s called can really add to your armoury of communication tools.

Give one of our producers a call to find out more.

Magnus Wake - Head of Post Production and UGM mentor extraordinaire

MagnusM Speakeasy Company News, Tech chat, Work Completed, speak360

Do your customers give you good service?

I know what you’re thinking - shouldn’t it be the other way round?

Well, yes it should. Except we’ve recently enjoyed a situation where the tables were turned, and a customer (”Client X”) asked us, and its other preferred suppliers, to organise an event… for ourselves.

The idea was that we, the suppliers, would all work together to organise an away-day that would allow us to get to know each other and the client team, find ways to improve how we work together, and come up with ideas for delivering Client X’s new Communications Plan. During the planning meeting, we overcame any concerns that we might find ourselves having to reveal trade secrets to each other, and instead focussed on our common ground. In fact, we designed the day to illuminate and make the most of these overlaps.

On the day itself, we adjourned to a country hotel, and spent a very productive time designing a more efficient way of working together, and a strategy for delivering the Comms Plan that would save us time and the client money. It was a fun day, and genuinely team-building. But the long-term effects will be good for us all. Now, rather than scrabbling to respond to last-minute requests and struggling to produce projects on time, we will be able to prepare for the work and create more effective, considered, creative and joined-up solutions.

In one day, we have gone from reactive and competing suppliers to proactive partners. Which is nice.

It all goes to show, the customer is always right.

Mark Turner - Producer

MarkM Speakeasy Company News, Team News

6 months into the year 2010 and Speakeasy have been very busy indeed. As well as the productions we make for our lovely clients, we have merged Orchard Communications into Speakeasy and moved all our London operations under one lovely roof in Covent Garden. Not only that, but we’ve been picking up some pretty amazing awards along the way!

In February we picked up several at the CIB Scotland Awards for productions we made for Lloyds TSB, Co-op Financial Services, MoD and HMIE.

In May we picked up a Silver at the 2010 Questar Awards. We also won a Silver and Gold at the US International Film & Video Festival and have been shortlisted for winning a Best of Festival Award as well and at The New York Festivals we picked up a Gold Award.

In June we had two videos shortlisted for the best video award at the IoIC Gala Awards Dinner 2010 (formerly CiB) for video productions made for Lloyds TSB and NHS Leicester City. And the Lloyds video won!

We have also just had an office-warming bash to celebrate the opening of our new office in Henrietta Street for current and new clients. It co-incidentally tied in with the England v Slovenia game and we just happened to have an HD tv in our new Boardroom – I wonder who chose that date and was it a co-incidence!?

We’re still entering more awards so watch this space….

Jim Adamson - Managing Director

MarkM Speakeasy Company News, Team News

In a pained and laboured effort to develop my “voice”, I recently wrote a short story for a women’s literature competition. Jim has kindly let me put a snippet up here. Enjoy!

“Unlucky for Some”

On the first morning I went downstairs, I got horrendously lost and found myself in a porch with the door locking behind me. Not wanting another encounter with grandma, I hurried around the border flowers and pretended to inspect the rockery knowingly, in case anybody should be looking at me from inside and think that I didn’t know anything about rockeries. The garden certainly wasn’t in the best shape; they appeared to have left it to nature, in the same vein as the grandma. The grass had needed cutting about six months ago and was now in the process of becoming a field. It was covered in dew, and my flimsy floaty skirt which I’d brought because I thought it would make me feel like Elizabeth Bennett was soon soaked and probably see through. I ventured further from the house just in case the unsavoury uncle was getting any ideas.

A couple of hours later John found me wandering around an orchard looking pretty bedraggled. After he had ascertained that it was because I had snagged my clothes on a couple of twigs and hadn’t been cornered by a crazed feral pensioner, he took me on a walk to the maze like he’d promised. God he was gorgeous. He strode around like he owned the place- which he did. He pointed out all the plants worthy of notice and made insightful comments about nature, whilst I dribbled. A sexy, rich, unconquerable man- obviously he was Mr Darcy, but a Darcy who would rather feel up Mr Bingly than Elizabeth. It was depressing. I had never seen this side of John before. He was always playful and silly, but now he was showing me his home, which he clearly loved despite its insane inhabitants. He seemed like a real man, serious, very different from the John I had known back at home. Inside I think I started to swoon. It should also be noted that I hadn’t yet had any breakfast.

Amy Hawes - Events

If you’d like the full story, please email me at amy.hawes@speak.co.uk. Thanks for reading!

MarkM Team News

Here’s just a live update of our new London office being welcomed by some clients during the big England game. Including Jim sporting the local flag!

MagnusM Team News, Tech chat