Following its takeover of Orchard Communications last Spring, Speakeasy has announced that the acquisition is to be fully integrated into the Speakeasy family and brand. The team will shortly be moving from its Woking premises into new offices in Covent Garden, from where it will offer an enhanced video and events production service.

Speakeasy MD Jim Adamson is bullish about the prospects of the Group’s London operation. “Our intention is for the Covent Garden team to at least double in size over the next 12 months, allowing us to provide a more comprehensive service to our growing portfolio of London-based clients”.

The name change and office move is expected to take place at the beginning of April, with the new production office open for business from day one.

Tomato with Chickpeas and Stilton soup;

Here’s how I made it:

Ingredients

• 10Floz Vegetable Stock
• 6 cups of water
• 4 tins of plum (or chopped) tomatoes
• 2 tins of chickpeas
• 3 Tablespoons of rapeseed oil
• 1 Red pepper
• 7 cloves of Garlic
• I teaspoon each of White Pepper, English mustard powder,
• Thyme and Oregano (both dried).
• 2 rashers smoked back or streaky bacon
• I handful of roughly chopped Basil (and some to garnish)
• 700 gms of Stilton
• 600 gm chestnut mushrooms
• 2 -3 Tablespoons of double cream

Method

1. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of rapeseed oil into a big soup pot or stockpot.
2. Add the chopped bacon and fry until crispy.
3. Add the chopped onion and Garlic, Carrot, pepper, and sliced mushrooms.
4. Add the herbs and the remainder of the rapeseed oil. Put a lid on the pot and sweat this lot down on a lowish heat until they’re cooked.
5. Pour in the vegetable stock. Add the chickpeas and the tomatoes along with the 6 cups of water.Bring the whole lot to a rolling boil and then on a low heat simmer for about 45 -60 minutes.
6. When it seems ready blitz it either with a hand blender or transfer to one of the bigger processors and return the contents to the pot. Crumble in the Stilton and stir over a low heat until it has all melted in.
7. To finish remove from the heat and stir in the double cream.
8. Serve garnished with a few bits of Stilton and ripped basil leaves.

Yum!

Cramming 125 years of footballing history into 90 minutes was never going to be an easy task. But from the very first mention of the St. Johnstone Anniversary DVD, I knew I wanted to be involved…  football is near-enough all I think about anyway, so having a legitimate reason to do it all day at work was a major coup.

As with all great DVDs, we started with a script - adapted from the Official Club History - but brought bang up to date to include Saint’s latest triumphs (including a Challenge Cup win and promotion back to the SPL). With that in place and a temporary voiceover recorded by Speakeasy’s resident Saintee (Jim) we plundered the Scottish Football League’s archive for some goalmouth action.

With St. Johnstone being established in 1884, a bundle of goals from the last couple decades was never going to be enough. So we rustled up some key figures from Saint’s progress, including John Brogan (their record goalscorer) and Alan Main (who holds the record for most appearances made) to add some commentary.

200 photographs, 25 tapes and 8 interviews later, we nearly had ourselves a feature length production worthy of any Saints fan. The icing on the cake came on a drizzly Saturday night, when we filmed Stuart Cosgrove’s presenter links at McDiarmid Park after a game.  Filming went on late into the evening, but the resulting footage tied the video together into a neat little stocking filler for any St. Johnstone fan.

We were lucky enough to meet some of Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls for London 2012, on a recent shoot for Lloyds Banking Group. We spent a day each with four athletes on the Bank’s Local Heroes scheme - Tom Gibbs, a gymnast, Harriet Owen, a cyclist, Jonny Hay, a runner and Alan Mansell a paralympic Basketball Player.

Shooting on the RED camera system for the first time, we produced stunning slow motion footage of each of the athletes training and performing their sport. All four young athletes were unbelievably talented and an inspiration to watch. The hard work and dedication they put into their sport is incredible – and should be an example to all of us!

We wish them all the best for their preparations and training on the road to 2012.

Lucy Trendle - Producer

Andy, formerly of The Edge Picture Company, said “I am excited to be joining such a fast growing, forward thinking organisation. Speakeasy’s success is based upon the recognition that clients need partners that can collaborate on a range of different communication challenges - with a range of different budget levels! That flexibility is key within the present economic climate”.

Andy’s appointment consolidates what has been Speakeasy’s best ever year, with a raft of new clients, including Tesco and the recently merged Co-operative Financial Services, adding to a long standing roster which includes Deutsche Bank, BAE Systems, NM Rothschild & Son, Metropolitan Police, the Department of Health and the COI.

Speakeasy’s 35-strong in-house team offers a wide range of business communication services, including events, video, webcasting and disc-based interactive applications.

“I have worked extensively in video production but it’s increasingly clear that agencies with all-round expertise offer a more attractive proposition to clients,” says Andy. “Speakeasy not only has the best in-house post-production facilities I have ever seen at an agency, it also has a broad range of production expertise across different media. It’s this cross-discipline experience and the new opportunities it offers that really attracted me”.

Bringing Orchard Communications into the Group in the summer of 2009 was a major step forward in bolstering Speakeasy’s production base in the South of England, complementing the existing office in central London and the company’s Scottish HQ in Perth.

Speakeasy Sales and Marketing Director Jonathan Young said “Orchard had a great reputation for producing quality work and we were keen to retain the goodwill attached to the name. In fact, it wasn’t just the name that was retained - the entire production team remained in place”.

Jonathan added - “this has been a fantastic year for Speakeasy, one in which we have continued to buck the trend. We’re delighted to welcome Andy to the team and are confident that, with his help, we will maintain our position as the UK’s fastest growing communications production company”.

When an event is running, the crew, especially in large venues, need to speak to each other. It’s important because we need to know exactly when to turn the lights down or run a video. We do this with a talkback system of microphone headsets (or ‘cans’). Sometimes, not much technical is happening during the presentation and the crew might share a polite anecdote - punctuated by the occasional countdown to a video or request for a lighting change. As they listen to their colleagues on stage, the audience are never aware of this simultaneous whispered dialogue, conducted by our black-clad crew who lurk behind control desks in dark corners of the room.

This was the case on the roadshow we have just completed for Co-operative Financial Services. Over one month, we have run events all over the UK for the entire workforce of 12,000. The theme was the Next Chapter (which is why the staging looks like a giant book). The event boasted a show crew of 20, and three sizes of book to fit different venues.

So, picture the scene backstage: you’re working on a roadshow for a major financial client. You’re on your 12th day away from home and just finishing the 20th show. It’s gone off without a hitch (again) and the audience have lapped it up (again). You’ve watched the closing video so often, you find you know the words to the soundtrack. As it starts for the umpteenth time, you allow yourself a final indulgence - a talkback singalong.

We apologise for neglecting you.  But it’s been unavoidable, we’ve been working!

It hit busy season and work was coming at us from all angles.  That’s videos for The Department of Work and Pensions, The Scotch Whisky Association, Scottish Power Renewables, The Student Loans Company and Learning Teaching Scotland to name but a few.  Events for the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, Newton Investment Management and a huge roadshow for Co-operative Financial Services and Britannia.  We have also been completing interactive work for celebrity chef Nick Nairn and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE).

I’m sure most of these projects will get their own little blogs with pictures and everything, in the near future as we get back to normal.

But for now here’s a little article we thought you may find interesting.  A lot of our clients and our staff use Link’d so here’s some tips on getting the most out of it.

And if you have the desire to find us, come and say hello.

Jim Adamson - Managing Director

Jeremy Hewitt - Head of Production

Simone Bett - Production Manager

Magnus Wake - Head of Post Production

Mark McKenna - Producer

It’s full of hugs and smiles and cheer,
We think it’s super duper,
So wish Jes well, he’s 41,
and really quite a smoothy!

Happy Birthday Jes!