01 5 / 2013
Tough Mudders
About a year ago, Warren and Dan decided it would be a ‘great idea’ to sign up to an event billed as ‘Probably the toughest event on the planet’!
It’s called Tough Mudder
A 12 mile cross country run, interspersed with obstacles that include the aptly named, kiss of mud, artic enema, underwater tunnels, walk the plank, fire walker and electroshock therapy, where contestants ‘Sprint through a field of live wires – some carrying as much as 10,000 volts of electric shock!’ Have a watch of the video on their home page…
www.toughmudder.com
Now, alongside a team of 7 other fellow ‘mudders’, the time has come to enter the final stages of their preparation. As on the 4th of May, in Kettering Northampton this team of brave/stupid Channel Islanders will be battling through their first Tough Mudder.
This event is not just for people to pit their strength against the gruelling course but is also a fund raising event for the charity Help for Hero’s, a charity that is close to Warren after he met Afghanistan veteran Chris Kirk last year.
‘Last year we tried to make a program on Chris Kirk, a British soldier who had recently returned from Afghanistan. Just 19 years old, he lost his leg after stepping on a roadside IED whilst leading a patrol in Helmand province. 18 months later, and about to be discharged from the Army he was heading out to Kosovo to begin training for a new career, as a civilian bomb disposal expert.
This courageous young man told me stories of his tour and how he had fought the Taliban, one time talking with a Taliban leader who minutes later shot at him with a rocket propelled grenade, just missing him! His story was inspirational, and despite losing his leg, he still wanted to re-train and go back into service in some of the most hostile places on earth. We hear the stories every day on the news, but when I sat down and heard first-hand what these guys do day in day out and the risks they take you can’t help but be in awe of them, I know I couldn’t do what they do.‘
If you feel inclined it would be great to make a small donation, which will help people like Chris when they are re-building their lives.
https://www.justgiving.com/teams/CIMudders
P.S Wish us luck, and May the 4th be with us!
22 3 / 2013
Jess made us this great little film to say thank you for her three week work experience stint with us at Spike. She blew us away with her film and has been an asset to the team in the short time she’s been with us, we’re sure she’s going to go onto do great things!
20 3 / 2013
We’re still amongst top 50 UK corporate producers
The creative video team at Spike Productions is pleased to have retained their place in Televisual Magazine’s Corporate Top 50.
The Channel Islands production company has moved up by one space in the list that includes heavyweight corporate producers like London based Imagination and The Edge Picture Company.
Operating in such a competitive marketplace during the current economic climate creates some exciting challenges for Corporate Producers. The Magazine’s survey and subsequent ranking of the top 50 reveals some interesting statistics:
- The average budget for a ‘moving image content’ project in the UK is - £23k
- Average number of staff employed – 31
Spike employs six highly skilled staff across Jersey and Guernsey in a variety of production roles including producer/presenters, cameraman/editors and creative motion graphics artists.
The Televisual magazine survey includes questions about the state of the sector, how businesses are faring and what the main issues affecting companies are.
Spike’s Managing Director, Warren Mauger is quoted in the industry publication, “In the middle market where we do most of our work we do see clients going for cheap one man operators although they often come back after a bad experience. As a result we are more creative in our approach in terms of the added value we can offer to win the work.”
Commenting on the latest ranking, Jersey Director, Phil Bouchard said, “It is nice to be up there in the top 50 with the best in the UK. Being Channel Island’s based has never stopped us from working internationally. We film all over the world for clients in different sectors like Finance, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Mining and Renewables. Our local client base can rest assured we strive to offer the very best creative solutions with real marketing purpose at the heart of every production.”
Spike is a production company that has for many years understood and employed social media technologies to leverage results for targeted video communications. Our team don’t just make engaging films, we understand what each client needs to achieve and work with them on how to distribute content and get as much value out of it as possible. It is after all the most powerful communication medium available.
For more information or to discuss production requirements contact:
Phil Bouchard, Tel: +44 (0) 1534 738263 Email: phil@spikeprodcutions.co.uk
Warren Mauger, Tel: +44 (0) 1481 749033 Email: warren@spikeproductions.co.uk
25 1 / 2013
Here’s the latest episode of Industrial Minerals TV. Uploaded on 25th January 2013 (by IndustrialMinerals1).
08 1 / 2013
Spike Delivers Global Industrial Minerals Web TV News Programme
You can see the first programme in the series here
Using our combined broadcast television news experience the Spike team has delivered another news programme for yet another London-based publishing company.
For a few months now we have been working closely with the editorial team at Industrial Minerals in London to bring the first of regular bi-monthly programmes to life.
As part of Euromoney PLC - the international publishing, events and electronic information group - Industrial Minerals wanted to launch a brand new video product to support its magazine, website and Ipad app.
Industrial Minerals is the world’s leading resource for non-metallic minerals intelligence, with coverage of over 40 minerals from mine to market.
It is an exciting time for Spike and it is great to start the New Year with a new product for an exciting new client. The team at Industrial Minerals quickly took to our idea of producing a ‘virtual studio’ based news programme for their website and other digital outlets. TV news is a genre the Spike team is well versed in delivering having a combined broadcast experience of over 50 years.
We hope to build on the programme in the coming months and deliver more content and international event’s coverage going forward. More and more publishing companies are looking for innovative digital solutions and the team at Industrial Minerals are right at the cutting edge.
Check out this loveley client kudos…
Richard Russell, Managing Director of Industrial Minerals, said, “We at Industrial Minerals are delighted to launch our new series of newscasts working closely with Spike Productions. We wanted to be able to introduce high quality video production to our premium Industrial Minerals Insight service offering clients a further platform to access the very latest high value news, analysis and industry comment to complement our existing print, online and app services,”
“The addition of video provides the next vital developmental step in our quest to become the indispensable partner to firms operating in and supporting the world of industrial minerals. At a time when new technologies are facilitating many of the most exciting new developments in today’s world, it’s important that Industrial Minerals, with the help of Spike, is central to supporting the industry through that change,” he added.
You can see the first programme in the series here
11 12 / 2012
This actually is brain surgery…
In late November our crew was once again in Italy working with long standing Spike clients and global brand leader,LMA , to film one of the most critical medical procedures - the Awake Craniotomy (open brain surgery) to remove a brain tumor (click here to watch the film).
This procedure involves the patient being put to sleep with a general anaesthetic while the surgeons gain access to the brain, then the patient is brought back to a conscious state while the delicate removal of the tumor is carried out. Throughout the procedure speech specialists communicate with the patient to monitor any deterioration of speech patterns which would signal potential damage to the brain. This film explains why the LMA Supreme(TM) is the tool of choice for this type of complex procedure, and how the anaesthesia team manage the patient’s conscious state and pain control.
Before we started filming I was very nervous about how I would react to seeing a live brain - but as soon as the patient was wheeled in I swung into action and there was no time for feeling nervous. During the seven hour procedure there were about twenty people in the room performing various essential tasks - and one Australian cameraman trying to stay out the way whilst capturing all the action! The Italian Neuro-surgery team were absolute professionals and it was a career highlight for me to see them in action.
But be warned - this film is a medical case study and contains some graphic surgical footage.
05 12 / 2012
Swoffers TV Launches
Guernseys first property news programme #swofferstv is launched today. This is a monthly programme that gets under the skin of Guernsey’s housing market with commentary from legal and financial experts and also market commentary from the Swoffers negotiators.
Spike have produced filmed and edited all of the content including the production of the animated graphics and studio. It was filmed in our green screen studio in the Channel Islands.
The music was composed for the news programme by musician James Sinclair Stott. James is a singer/songwriter, session guitarist and composer based in London, UK. Having played in a number of bands in the past, he has toured in support of many high profile acts ranging from the likes of Papa Roach to Example. These days he spends less time on the road and can be found mostly working as a guitarist for other artists as well as composing for a wide range of different projects.
03 12 / 2012
Graphics projected on the Houses of Parliament, National News and a call from Hugh Grant
With deadlines seemingly getting shorter and shorter at the moment, I was not surprised when I received a phone call from our friend and IT guy Paul asking me to help with a graphic that he needed within the next two hours. Getting this phone call at 10pm Dubai time whilst I was walking home from the cinema did not make his first few lines any easier to swallow! However, his explanation that the project was for the Hacked Off campaign (http://hackinginquiry.org/petition) - which Paul is a part of - and that this graphic was going to be projected in a popular public space made me feel a lot happier. Off back to work I went.
After working on the graphic until just before one in the morning I went home in need of a good sleep before a busy week ahead. I woke up to an email directing me to a link on the ITV website showing the graphic projected onto the side of the Houses of Parliament! I later found out that ITV were running this hourly on their breakfast news show and also that Sky News had picked up the story.
All in all I was pretty chuffed with this, but the best was yet to come. I received a phone call from someone the phone hacking scandal had directly affected, Hugh Grant! After introducing himself he proceeded to call me a legend, and graciously thanked me for the graphic that I had created for the campaign. After this he followed up with a great email thanking myself and the guys at Spike for the work in getting this job to happen in a short time:
‘I just wanted to say thanks a million to you and Spike Productions for the incredible work you did for us yesterday. It was amazingly effective and a big success and we are all in your debt.
David Cameron made a lot of promises to the victims of press abuse over the last few years.
Within hours of the Leveson Report being published he turned his back on the victims and got back into bed with the big press barons. The same press barons to whom five successive prime ministers have fallen over themselves to oblige.
The victims, the Labour party, the Lib Dems and, according to several recent YouGov polls, 79% of the population oppose him .
He proved once again that when it comes to politics, pleasing the press matters more than doing what’s right.
That’s why the Hacked Off petition has already been one of the fastest growing in UK history. Here it is again. http://hackinginquiry.org/
Kudos and many, many thanks to Spike Productions for helping with that.
All the best,
Hugh Grant and the Hacked Off Campaign.’
Great way to end the year.
Dan
23 11 / 2012
We’ve barely stopped for breath this year, since New Years eve 2011 we feel like we have been flat out every week. There have been many highlights from working with Sir Kenneth Branagh (and being one of the first to congratulate him on his Oscar nomination) to traveling round the world to work with many different clients.
The variety is what makes our job so interesting and we try and take what we learn on each job forward so we keep improving as individuals and as a team. This latest review shows some of our highlights since September, it includes a number of local, national and global clients and we have enjoyed working with each and every one of them help them to achieve their goals.
Taking a moment to look back on the year we are also pleased to be included once again in the top corporate producer list for the UK and though we usually find ourselves slowing down as we head towards Christmas this doesn’t seem to be happening this year and we’re looking forward to the various jobs that will come in.
Have a look at our short film, we hope you like it, if you have any feedback let us know; it all helps to keep us improving.
All the best
The Spike team
23 10 / 2012
Ciao da Padova
Padua (or Padova) is an ancient walled city about 60km inland from Venice in Italy which is famous for being the home of Donatello (the artist not Ninja Turtle…) and Galileo’s observatory where he studied astronomy in the 15th century. There is also a large hospital/university complex where our longstanding clients LMA have a state of the art training facility.
As well as filming a travelogue program to show prospective students about the town we were there to film the latest batch of students (all of whom are qualified and practicing anesthetist doctors) honing their skills in a mock operating room (OR). The training OR is equipped with two of the most advanced medical manikins available which the students have to keep alive during a series of very intense ‘real life’ emergencies.
We had a very surreal experience on the way home when sitting in Venice airport a huge electrical storm knocked out the power to the entire complex. It took about 30 seconds for the backup generators to kick in and sitting there in the dark it was easy to think things could get quite a bit more serious than just cold pizza for dinner!
The travel program is in the final stages of approval at the moment and when it is online I will upload the link here.
