UNDERDOG - Feature Doc. Premiere

After many months work we finally had the Premiere of ‘Underdog' at the Genesis Cinema in East London.  

Charting the life story of Andy Swallow - the infamous founder of West Hams Inter City Firm (ICF) - the film starts with the football violence of the 70’s & 80’s through to the rave culture of the late 80’s. Andy was involved in running illegal raves and pirate radio stations playing drum & bass and jungle etc. through to the advent and importation of ecstasy and setting up Centreforce 883 radio station which is still running today.

Great to see the film on a big screen and the footage stood up really well. We shot the film using Fx9’s, A7’s and DJI Drones - all set to 4k / S-Log3. With extensive filming all over east London we also ravelled to Italy to film the Lazio Ultra’s and to Switzerland and Tenerife.  It was a great project to work on and a wonderful team to work with.

The film will be going public soon so do try and catch it!

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Filming Feature Documentary, 'Underdog'

We are fast approaching the end of filming of a fascinating Feature Doc. for Revelation Films. ‘Underdog' charts the history of Andy Swallow, the man behind one of the most notorious football gangs of the 1970’s - West Ham's Inter City Firm (ICF). The film moves from hooliganism and violence through to the acid-house scene, ecstasy and the rise of rave culture.

With insightful cultural commentary from Irvine Welsh we have been filming in London, Switzerland, Rome and Tenerife, shooting with Sony FX9’s, Sony A7’s and drones.

The film includes a variety of interviews with a selection of very interesting characters and some stunning locations. It should be something of a tour de force when it's finished.

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Live Streaming Tyson v Ngannou Boxing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

We’ve just got back from a gruelling but exciting trip to Saudi Arabia where we were filming and live-streaming the Tyson v Ngannou Boxing Match.

With a venue in Riyadh that was barely completed by the day of the fight through to 40 degree heat we were up against it but it all worked seamlessly in the end with our stream being picked up by over 50million people across Africa.

We had French commentary coming from Italy, fight coverage coming from TNT Sport, commercials from the US and promo inserts we had filmed and edited so a lot of plates to juggle but even with patchy broadband we completed the job. We had been filming for a few days before fight-night, picking up various shots of Riyadh using in-car gimbals and Sony A7s cameras through to fully loaded Sony Fx9 units with cine lenses, a range of filters, sliders and time lapse. The day of the fight was a long one - 20 hours non-stop but very satisfying to complete with no issues! We were up against it for sure! Well done to our teams in Saudi and London.

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'LAND OF THE FREE‘ Feature Documentary Wins Award

I’m proud to say ‘Land of the Free: Out of the Shadows’, a recent feature length Doc. we worked on has won the Prestigious Award of Excellence at the Accolade Global Film Competition. It was an amazing project to be involved with and a pleasure to work with Producer Lynn Santer whose tireless efforts to stop this disgraceful industry are to bet applauded. Why would anyone want to shoot a Lion, Rhino, Baboon, Zebra or Giraffe?

This hard-hitting 40 minute documentary unearths the darkest secrets of the trophy hunting industry. Hollywood royalty including Priscilla Presley and Tippi Hedren, join Her Majesty The Queen, and British icons such as Dame Dr Jane Goodall, Virginia McKenna OBE, BAFTA winner Peter Egan, Chairman of the All Party Group to help ban trophy hunting. The UK campaign was founded by Sir Roger Gale MP, along with Eduardo Goncalves and many others to put an end to the legal practice of slaughtering endangered species for ego, pleasure and profit.

Filmed both overtly and covertly in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, the UK, the USA and Australia, this remarkable film was directed by Emmy nominated James Ganiere, with a musical score by Grammy nominated Mauritz Lotz, sound mix by Oscar winner Nigel Christensen, and features original songs by the Mzansi Youth Choir of Soweto and title track from Richard Loring’s international stage sensation “African Footprint”. Conceived, written and produced by Lynn Santer.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/728706549/65b774d2fb The full film is available on MojoStreaming.com

'The Real Manhunter' Series II - Revelation Films & Sky Crime

Filming is well underway for the Series two of the highly acclaimed Sky Crime show, 'The Real Manhunter', which follows Ex-Murder Squad Detective, Colin Sutton as he looks back at important murder cases and examines how they were investigated and solved. Series I, which we also worked on, looked at Colin’s most important cases, such as Serial KIller, Levi Bellfield and Delroy Grant - 'The Night Stalker'.

For Series II the remit has widened with Colin looking at other important murder cases and the background to solving them.

Bluefin TV are supplying all the camera, sound & lighting equipment for the series along with all the production & editing crew. We are filming this series with Sony FX9 cameras and shooting in full-frame & S-Log3.  The FX9 dual ISO facility has been put to good use with lots of night shooting and the Panasonic GH5s - in V-log mode - has been the go-to camera for all the in-car & gimbal filming. We have been using Zeiss CP2 prime lenses for all the interview shoots and Sony G-Master lenses for location filming. One camera has been mounted on a Track & Dolly system for all the interviews to impart a content sense of movement with the full-frame sensor & lenses giving a more cinematic look.

Bluefin TV are also editing the series and covering the final grading & delivery to Sky.

Revelation Films are Producing with Trevor Drane Directing. 'The Real Manhunter' is due for transmission in June 2022.

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True Crime UK - 6-Part series for MTV / Viacom

Bluefin TV’s Ant Leake recently worked as DoP on the second season of, ’True Crime UK’ for MTV / Viacom. The 6-Part series is currently airing on MTV.

Presented by Linda Adey, this reporter-led investigative series looked at six murders and missing Person cases, interviewing family, friends and Police Officers involved in each case.  It was a fascinating, insightful and sometimes harrowing look at these dreadful crimes and the effects they have on family, friends and the wider community. 

We used Sony Fs7 and Sony F55 cameras for this run - as we did for the first series - shooting S-Log whenever possible.  Most of the set-up interviews involved 2-3 Cameras and sometimes a roving camera to pick up cutaways.  Our lighting package consisted of Forza 500 Nanlights with soft boxes.  This powerful, dimmable LED daylight source produces a lovely soft light and is perfect for keying.  For fill we used Kino Flo LED Diva Lights and a 5-head kit of Dedolight DLED7’s helped with backlighting and light pools for backgrounds.  The DLED7’s are pricey but very well made and far more powerful than the old style Dedolights.  They are dimmable & bi-colour too which is a major bonus.

The series took us all over the UK with a fantastic team from MTV assembled and overseen by Series Producer Nick Kenton.

Catch it now on MTV!

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Volvo Round The World Yacht Race filming in Cardiff

Ant Leake from Bluefin Television working with Bavaria Films filming at Cardiff Docks for SAP, who provide much of the race software for the Volvo Round The World Yacht Race. We supplied two Lighting Cameramen along with a Drone Operator to capture these state-of-the-art boats going through their paces at sea off Cardiff.

We also filmed in-depth interviews with the technicians who monitor all the yachtsmen wherever they are on the globe. At a glance they can tell if they are eating properly or getting enough sleep, so fine-tuning their race efforts. Highly technical stuff and fascinating to film.