Pirate - High Speed Video & Film

Human Hair in Slow motion - 'BLOW' film

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:58:35 +0000

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Production: 'BLOW' - self-funded movie by Blink
Director: Stuart Parr

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A stunning short film by Stuart Parr, represented by Blink, featuring people with striking hair. By blasting the subjects with two powerful wind machines, their hair form dramatic abstract fluid shapes as revealed at 2000 fps.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/Blow_Blink.qtl

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Lucozade Commercial, Ireland 2007

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:04:43 +0000

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Production: Lucozade 'Moments of Truth' Commercial - Scorpio film and tv commercials
Director: Michael Geoghegan

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One of a series of Locozade commercials shot for the Irish market featuring Irish sporting heros. A physically challenging shoot involving handling electronic equipment in freezing conditions in a windswept muddy sports field in March. The conditions were so poor that the time slice cameras (supplied by Tim McMillan) has difficulty firing simultaneously. Despite a difficult time schedule (a combination of long shot list and short winter days), the shoot was complete under the tight direction of Michael Geoghegan.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/lucozade_moments.qtl

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Rugby Players - ITV 'Rugby World Cup 2007' Titles

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:47:34 +0000

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Production: 'World Cup Rugby 2007' Titles - ITV Creative
Director: Jimmy Quigley

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A hero English rugby player runs through a ghostly field of opponents who fail to tackle and stop him from scoring a try. This was shot at Black Island studios in a large studio which had been turfed over - some 20m x 30m. Fortunately, the shots required an 'out of the darkness' look, which was easily achieved using a relatively small number of lights: if the entire area had been needed to be lit, there would have been considerably more lights!

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/itv_rugby_world_cup_2007.qtl

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Exploding Apples - Channel 5 'CSI New York' Titles

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:23:35 +0000

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Production: 'CSI New York' Titles - Channel 5 Television
Director: Dominic Sykes

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A complex, layered title sequence for 'Crime Scene Investigation New York' featuring a bullet travelling through a number of environments and several apples (= New York, geddit?). Using one of our air cannons, we fired ball bearings at apples suspended from the ceiling of our bunker studio. Our Microsecond Trigger Delay Kit was used to enable the air cannon to trigger our digital high speed camera to begin recording at the instant the ball left the end of the barrel. In order to create crisp, well defined shattering pieces of apple, we first froze some apples in liquid nitrogen to embrittle them. In addition, a Longstrike light was used, giving 100,000kW output for the duration of the take. Other layers, such as the revolving torch at the head of the clip, were shot using our SD video equipment on our motion control equipment.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/CSI_New_York_Title.qtl

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Classic Water Drip - Arts Programme Titles

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:49:16 +0000

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Production: 'OnShow' Titles - BBC Wales
Director: Nick Wall

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An extremely elegant sequence forming the titles for the BBC Wales' weekly arts programme 'OnShow' featuring a single water drip falling into a beautifully lit pool of water. The lighting cameraman used a deceptively simple lighting set up in which several coloured gels were attached to a frame to light the pool surface: when the water surface is disturbed, additional (green) gels come into play as the water prismatically refracts the light towards camera. This is a shot that Pirate have a lot of experience with and we have developed a set of equipment.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/BBC_Wales_On_Show_Titles.qtl

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Exploding Condoms - Sexually Transmitted Diseases Programme Trailer

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:46:48 +0000

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Production: 'Love Hurts' Panorama Programme Trailer - BBC One
Director: Susie Harrison

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Inflated condoms exploded whilst shot at 2000 fps for a trailer promoting a programme on the rise in sexually transmitted diseases in the UK. The lettering was tracked on in post production. Some comdoms were 'filled' with a little talcum powder to create a little atmosphere as the skin of the condom peeled away after it was pricked.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/BBC_Panorama_Love_Hurts.qtl

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Dogs in slow-motion - 'BIRDS' film

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:01:06 +0000

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Production: 'BIRDS' - self-funded movie by Pleix
Directors: Pleix
Music: Vitalic (Pias Records) 2006
Producers: Pleix/Blink

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A wonderful short film by the very talented French company called Pleix, featuring many different breeds of dogs performing tricks shot at high speed - 1000 & 2000 fps. Due to the highly subjective nature of what constituted a good take, the directors were given the end trigger button - the camera was left recording in an endless loop and cut after they had seen the shot they wanted (the camera then 'remembers' the 2700 frames before the cut). The most amazing sight to us were the long haired breeds shaking themselves dry - their skins are only loosely attached to their bodies, so simply by twisting their heads they send a spiralling 'shock wave' down the length of their bodies, flinging beads of water off their fur. Why is the film called 'Birds'? Because several shot show the dogs 'flying' (actually they were thrown by the trained dog handler into a stretched blanket). All the dogs seemed to enjoy themselves - no animals were harmed in this production! See their web site for Pleix's other films.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/Birds_Pleix.qtl

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Sports People in slow-motion - UBC Sports Channel Ident

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:36:56 +0000

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Production: English & Pockett 'Sport +' for UBC
Producer: Richard Walman

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Skilled sports people performed a number of tricks in front of our high speed camera, shooting at 250fps & 500fps. In post-production, several shots were combined with computer graphic effects to produce a stunning hybrid of CGI and slow-motion live action.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/UBC_Sport.qtl

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Flames, Water, Grass and Rock - Nature Program Titles

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:58:47 +0000

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Production: 'Explore Your World' - UKTV Documentary
Director: Gregory Millar

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A series of shots featuring flames, water splashing and grass waving in a breeze. The camera was also mounted on the motion control rig to perform a tracking shot across a rock face whilst rain and hail attack the surface. The dramatic shot of water gushing across screen was achieved by using an air cannon under water. Frame rates of 1000 fps & 2000 fps were used, giving the director the flexibility in post-production to cut frames or ramp the action.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/UKTV_Documentary_Explore.qtl

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Falling Petals and Wedding Rings - Charles & Camilla Wedding Titles

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:50:49 +0000

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Production: 'The Marriage of Charles & Camilla' Titles - BBC
Director: Erica Kraftchenko

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A simple but very effective sequence forming the titles for the BBC's coverage of the wedding of Prince Charles & Camilla Parker-Bowles. A beautifully lit white cyc and red ribbon forms the backdrop for falling white petals and a pair of gold wedding bands. The shot took a lot of attempts to get the timing right between the release of the petals and the rings, and for the rings to fall and settle in just the right place. By using the end trigger facility, the prop handlers worked in their own time: had the shot been done on film, there would have been a lot of wasted film - so much so that the shot would simply not have been possible.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/BBC_Charles_and_Camilla.qtl

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Woman's Movements - 'Perfect Dark Zero' Game Title Sequence

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:40:07 +0000

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Production: 'Perfect Dark Silhoutte' - Rare Ltd. Microsoft Game Studio
Director: Noah Harris

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A series of sillouette shots of a sexy gun-totting woman dressed in a black catsuit wielding two handguns. The shots were later edited to create an intro film for the computer game Perfect Dark Zero, one of the launch titles for the X-box 360 games console. Several of the shots take place with the woman standing on our floor turntable - she performs a move whilst rotating in front of the camera. Frame rates varied from 25fps, 60fps to 125fps. By using these slightly raised frame rates body movements appear more fluid and elegant. Close up shots of her hair blowing in the breeze were shot at 125fps, giving a more dramatic look to the hair movements. The shots were very stylish, reminiscent of Bond movie titles.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/Perfect_Dark_Zero.qtl

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Window Breaking - "Krystalnacht" - UKTV 'Inside the Nazi State'

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:14:55 +0000

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''Production: Inside The Nazi State - BBC UK TV Factual Dept''
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Slow motion shot of brick being thrown through baker's shop window into the darkened interior. Several close-up, cut away shots of shards of glass flying off. Several POV's of both the interior and exterior of the shop window.

Video File:
http://links.streamingwizard.com/michael/Portfolio Clips/UKTV_History_Inside_Nazi_State.qtl

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