As EU countries begin lifting COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and the department of digital culture media and sport have confirmed filming in the UK is permitted to start , INP Media will be following the relevant advice and guidelines set out by the Joint European Film Commissions Network relating to safe filming. These protocols will be updated on a regular basis should the need arise. If advice changes or legislation is put in place by UK Government these will be adhered to and updated as soon as practically possible.

These guidelines consist of safety measures based on a common EU safety directive and include.
Personal Protective Equipment. Basic protective equipment will be supplied to crew where appropriate including face masks and rubber/latex gloves.

Personal disinfection. Crew members will be supplied with and carry pocket disinfectant wipes or a bottle of personal disinfectant.

On-site organization. Social distancing will be adhered to whenever practically possible, particularly when shooting inside so that crew, clients and talent can be separated.

Temperature measurement. Every crew/cast member will undergo temperature measurement with a contactless thermometer before the start of the shooting day and before entering a shoot location.
Catering. Each crew member will adhere to social distancing on all food breaks.

Securing the location. If required a cleaning crew will visit a shooting location to clean before shooting commences.

Necessary documentation. Risk assessments addressing the coronavirus will be put together before each shoot to ascertain that shooting is safe and viable.

Management during filming. If a large shoot or crew is required a health and safety crew member will take responsibility for coordinating and supervising the anti-contagion measures.

Should you have any questions relating to these guidelines or have questions relating to a particular filming project please feel free to contact us to discuss them further.

Have you ever wondered how Superman appears to soar through the sky on your screen? Or how Harry Potter whizzes around on one of those broomstick thingymajigs whilst playing Quidditch? No, it’s not because of real-life super-powers or wizardry, it’s because of green screen.

It all begins during the production phase with the use of green (or often blue) screens/backdrops. These backdrops can be of almost any colour but green and blue work best as these colours are often considered to be the farthest away from skin tones.

The subject/talent will act or present (in the case of a newsreader or weather forecaster) in front of these large drapes of green/blue and a background will be added during post-production using some very clever technology and editing prowess.

On one of our recent shoots, the brief changed slightly whilst on set from shooting interviews with a plain black background to shooting them against a coloured background. We knew that the change would be very jarring in the edit, so we decided to do something about it and use the black background as a green screen, of sorts. Black is far from ideal though as it doesn’t contrast enough with the foreground content and therefore becomes extremely tricky to ‘key’ out in post-production.

‘Keying’ is the process of isolating a colour and making that colour transparent. This then allows another image to show through these transparent areas, transporting your subject from a London studio to the surface of Mars or an idyllic island in the Indian Ocean. But when the backdrop is of a similar colour to aspects of your subject, i.e. hair, eyes, clothing, then it becomes a more complex and timelier task.

So, what do you do when your green screen isn’t, well, green (or blue) …?
First, we tried Keylight within Adobe After Effects which is our preferred method and go-to option when working with green screen content in the past. It successfully picked out the background colour but also picked out similar tones in hair and clothing – not ideal.

Colour keying within Premiere Pro returned similar results, somewhat unsurprisingly.

Therefore, we needed to ‘mask’ around the subject which would essentially cut them out so that we could apply effects only to the background, but with so much movement in the shot, it became almost impossible to track the subject frame-by-frame. Despite lots of time and effort spent on this method, we just weren’t satisfied with the results, so it was back to the drawing board.

Next up, it was the turn of Adobe Mocha, which can be used to achieve far more accurate and consistent tracking but even this programme struggled with the similarities between tones.

Next on the list, Photoshop. Yes, video can also be used within Photoshop, believe it or not! But this very quickly turned out to be fruitless.

Finally, after much deliberation, we decided that going full circle and trying our luck again in After Effects was the only way we were going to achieve mission almost-impossible. We used an extremely clever tool called Roto Brush to separate the subject from its background. With the Roto Brush, you draw strokes on areas of foreground and After Effects uses that information to create a boundary between foreground and background elements. It’s not a one-click, job done process; it takes some fine-tuning and the use of the Refine Edge tool to create partial transparency around areas of fine detail such as hair but, with time, attention and a lot of patience, the results are astonishing. After Effects will even use the brush strokes that you have made and apply these from one frame to the next, even if the subject moves about on screen.

So, finally, we had managed to remove our subject from the green (black) screen backdrop and we could then place a new image in behind them (see picture) to fit in with the rest of the video.

This was by no-means a simple or straightforward task but putting in the extra effort and going the extra mile turned out to be the difference between a good video and a great video; or a happy client and a delighted client! Well worth the blood, sweat and tears!

Whenever you film a timelapse, there is always an element of luck involved. There are so many variable that can be out of your control that can make or break your shot. That said, there are still plenty of things you can do to put luck on your side. This is the INP Media guide to filming the best timelapse possible.
 

1. Get the right kit – Because most videos go out at 1080 HD, most cameras will shoot stills at well above this, so any DLSR should be up to the job. At INP Media we tend to use the excellent Canon 5D mkIV for our timelapses. The in-built intervalometer function means no extra cables, and the new Canon LP-E6N batteries easily last for a few hours. We also have a dummy battery to D-Tap which allows us to run the camera on a long lasting V-Lock battery which will keep the camera powered for a couple of days when you need the extra life, and then for even longer projects we have mains adapters to run the cameras for a few months.
2. Lenses – you can obviously shoot a timelapse using any lens that fits your camera, but a good quality lens will also make a big difference. Wherever possible we always try and use a prime lens rather than a zoom. Particularly when shooting wide angles, the edges of a shot on a zoom lens always look a little soft and distorted, so using a prime lens creates a much sharper and nicer looking image. We have a full set of Canon Cine Primes, which have a beautiful look to them, although these are pricey and are fairly heavy as well, so if we need something lighter and more discreet we will use the Canon L Series primes.
3. Filters and grads – These are essential for your timelapse, and make all the difference giving you a lot more flexibility on the settings you can shoot (which I’ll come on to a little later in this article), but also ensuring that your sky isn’t completely over exposed (or your subject under exposed). In our kit bag we keep a set of 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 ND grads in both hard and soft edge, which we use depending on what it is we’re shooting. It also seems very basic, but make sure that you clean both your grads and you lenses before you start shooting! A tiny spec on one bit of glass can completely ruin the shot!
4. Grip – Always consider how you’re going to mount your camera. Unless you’re shooting a hyperlapse, you want your camera to be completely solid and not move at all. Where possible I always like to try and use a K-Clamp mounted to a fixed pole, but obviously this isn’t always possible. Having a solid tripod also works well, but be sure to keep everyone well away from it, as even the slightest knock will ruin the shot. A suction mount on a piece of glass can also work, but make sure your suction mount is suitably heavy duty enough to hold the weight of your DSLR for a prolonged period of time.
5. Camera settings – The settings you use on your camera will have a dramatic difference on the style of your timelapse. Firstly, I always shoot RAW + Small JPG. The small JPG allows a very quick and basic build of the timelapse in the edit suite to make sure that the shot has worked, and is suitable for the edit. If it works, and is worth creating, our editors can then spend a bit more time on the RAW files to get the best possible image. You never know what the weather will do, and if the sun comes out or a heavy cloud darkens the landscape, having the RAW files allow you to rescue what could otherwise be an unusable shot. For camera settings, this is completely dependent on the shot you want to get, and how much time you want to spend getting it. If you’re shooting a day to night timelapse, I always think the nicest setting is to switch your camera to ‘Av’ mode (Aperture Priority Mode). This will automatically change the settings of the shutter speed depending on the light available. What this means is that as the sun is setting and the light gets darker and darker, the sensor allows more and more light in to the camera, giving you a much longer timelapse. However, as the cameras are now so good, you can be shooting in almost complete darkness, and the camera will still make it look like the sun has barely set! To counteract this, when I get to a point where I feel I’ve got enough out of the timelapse, I very carefully (making sure I don’t knock the camera at all) switch the mode over to ‘M’ (Manual Mode), ensuring that the settings from the last taken shot remain exactly the same. This then allows your camera to dip to black in a natural way. If I’m not shooting a day to night, and I’m just looking to get a nice shot of say people moving around, or a clouds passing in a landscape I will always shoot in ‘M’ (Manual Mode). The setting I use will be dependent on what it is I’m shooting, such as if I want to shoot people moving around, I will tend to shoot at 0’‘3 shutter taking an image every second. This gives a nice flowing movement of people, not too blocky, but not to washed out, and also not too much movement between each shot.
6. Intervalometer settings – How often, and how many shots you take will always depend on what you’re trying to get out of your timelapse, but the best starting point is to work out how long you’d like your finished timelapse to be. As a general rule, I tend to allow for about 10 seconds per timelapse. In the edit our editor can then choose to speed this up, or use it at the speed it was shot at. So allowing for a 10 second shot, you will need 250 images (assuming you’re editing at 25 fps, 25×10 = 250). Now you know how many images you want to take, the next step is to consider how long you want the time to lapse in your shot. If for example you’re shooting a landscape of clouds passing fairly quickly, I would normally shoot 1 frame every 2 seconds or so, creating 30 images per minute. Allowing for the 10 second rule, this means I will shot for roughly 8-9 minutes. If however, I’m wanting to show a much larger passing of time, say for instance a day to night timelapse, I will shoot with much larger intervals between each shot, perhaps say 20 seconds between each shot, which will then take roughly an hour and a half to get 10 seconds of footage. Remember, though, you’re always better off having more images than less! The editor can always speed the shot up, but can’t slow it down, so if your card and battery allow, always shoot as much as possible!
7. Framing – Finally, the framing of your shot is also crucial. Consider how things will look if they are sped up. Things like flags and trees can look jarring shot on timelapse as they will tend to shake violently if they are in the foreground. Remember as well, that if you are shooting RAW, there is plenty of resolution for the editor to crop into the image, so shooting slightly wider than you otherwise would can also be a good idea as something may happen that you weren’t expecting on the edges of frame, but also allows the editor to do a move on the image if it helps it such as a zoom in, or a move from left to right.

Check out our latest timelapse showreel here, along with a couple of projects where we’ve utilised timlepase filming: https://inpmedia.comservices/film/timelapse/

Socially
/ˈsəʊʃ(ə)li/
ADVERB

1. In a way that relates to society or its organization.

Optimised
/ˈɒptɪmʌɪz/
VERB

1. Make the best or most effective use of (a situation or resource).

In today’s world, social media is BIG news. So, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when one of our longest-serving clients tasked us with creating some video content that is “socially optimised” and that got us thinking… what exactly does that mean and what impact has social media had on the way we interact with videos online?
Here are some statistics we found interesting:

• Contrary to popular belief – the shorter, the better. The attention-span of the average person on social media has decreased significantly and apparently our interest starts to dwindle after about 7 seconds of video; down from 12 seconds in 2000 (we’re now dangerously nearing gnat levels…).
• Within 15 seconds, 43% of people have decided whether they’re going to continue watching until the end.
• Therefore, you need to ensure that approximately 50% of the value of your video is within the first 3 seconds.
• And around 75% of its value is within the opening 10 seconds.
• Punchy graphics and big, bold lettering are a hit but make sure your impact statements are near to the beginning because, don’t forget, we have the attention span of… oh, look, a bird!
• Something we’ve seen that we like the look of is ‘mirroring’ – where an image is mirrored on itself two, three, several times in one shot. It’s unusual and effective!
• An incredible 1/3^rd of all internet users are spending their time watching video.
• And almost 2/3^rd prefer those videos to be under 60 seconds which must feel like a feature-length film to those tempted to turn off after only 7 seconds!
• But the one I, personally, find most shocking is that a whopping 85% of videos are watched in MUTE! If only they knew how much precious time had been spent choosing a track and creating an audio mix … painful.
• And, don’t even get me started on the almost 75% who watch videos in portrait mode…!

Statistics and figures aside, there’s no doubt about it – social media has radically transformed the way in which we now view video content online and its impact will continue to grow as these platforms develop & improve.
So, ‘Socially Optimised’ in essence, means following these guidelines in order to gain the maximum impact for the videos we create for our clients.  That is what we are doing now and we will be doing in future.
(Statistics and figures extracted from various websites)
Written by our excellent and longest standing in-house Editor Sean Male.

Aston Martin has been radically transformed since Andy Palmer moved from Nissan in 2014 to become its President and Chief Executive. Not only has he expanded the model range but he has also overseen a move from huge annual losses to record profits and revenues in the first six months of 2018.
Now he has confirmed that some 20% of the company is to be floated before the end of the year – with an expected value of £5 billion being put on the business.
One of Aston Martin’s more recent projects was the DB4 GT Continuation – a run of 25 cars each priced at £1.5 million, and each pre-sold. INP Media was proud to have been involved filming the build process as the cars were hand-built at Newport Pagnell.
Generally, the initial press reaction to the news of Aston Martin’s proposed float has been very positive, but in almost every report, the company is described as “James Bond’s favourite carmaker” or something similar.
But let’s get this straight. In the cinema, Sean Connery as Bond drove a DB5 in Goldfinger and more recent Bonds have driven more recent Aston Martin cars.
But in Ian Fleming’s books, Bond only ever once drove an Aston Martin, in Goldfinger, when he took an Aston Martin DB III from the car pool. In almost every other book he drove Bentleys: mostly a gunmetal grey 4 1 / 2 -litre fitted with a Villiers supercharger, but later a Mark VI in Moonraker, a Mark II Continental in Thunderball and an R-Type Continental fitted with an Arnott supercharger in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Between 1959 and 1963, Aston Martin built just 75 DB4 GT models, of which only eight were the ultra-rare lightweight racing versions. This year Aston Martin Works is building 25 more in a ‘continuation’ series of cars that, like the original lightweights, are destined for the track only.
INP Media was commissioned to film not only the build process – each example is hand built at the same Newport Pagnell premises where the originals were constructed – but also to record the official unveiling of the car and film the stunning new model at Millbrook and in the most appropriate place of all, the Silverstone grand prix track.
That also gave us the opportunity to grab some epic aerial shots using our state-of-the-art drone.
The cost of the Aston Martin DB4 GT Continuation has not been officially revealed but it’s believed to be around £1.5 million pounds – and all 25 examples are already spoken for.

We are delighted to announce we have just been named a semi finalist at the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards for our recent film following Dean McComb.
For Dean, growing up in Belfast has been tough.
Northern Ireland has the highest rate of suicide in the UK and Dean’s family have experienced this first-hand with his partner – and mother to his two children – and two brothers all taking their own lives. His sister was also sadly killed in a hit & run incident in 2002.
Now 25, Dean is fighting not to become ‘just another statistic’. With the help of Jim Donnelly, Active Communities Network’s Northern Ireland Director, Dean has begun volunteering with the charity and is helping to improve the lives of youngsters also growing up in a very challenging city.
Click here to view the film.
The short documentary was shot over two days in December 2017, filming in 4k resolution on the Canon C300 II, Canon 5D MkIV, Canon CinePrime Set & the DJI Inspire 1 Pro Drone.

The award-winning insurance company, Vitality, offers innovative health and life insurance, where they reward their members for being healthy and taking an active role in their personal wellbeing. Vitality’s latest innovation is a new and exciting product, Vitality GP FaceTime.

Vitality GP is a fast and convenient way to see a private GP as well as arrange self-referral appointments for sessions of physical and psychological therapy. To help customers understand how this exciting app works, Vitality enlisted the help of INP Media.

We created a video tutorial guide to showcase the benefits of the new Vitality GP app and how it works. It shows members of Vitality how they can access video GP consultations, book referrals, arrange therapy sessions and find relevant health information. To find out more about the exciting app, view our video here.

Agricultural machinery specialist New Holland is positioned at the very forefront of the industry with pioneering alternative fuel tractors. As part of the company’s sustainable future of farming, it recently launched a revolutionary methane powered tractor concept, and INP Media was there to film a showcase highlighting how the industry is developing new self-sufficient designs.
Our brief was to demonstrate the potential of these innovative tractors in reducing running costs by up to 30% and developing a more sustainable future for the farming industry. We filmed the concept tractor in the rural farming community of Andelnans in France, where New Holland both demonstrated the concept tractor and showed how farms could become entirely self-sufficient by using biomass to create fuel for the essential machinery on the farm.
While reducing emissions and lowering running costs are the primary selling points for the concept tractor, it is also ground-breaking in its design thanks to its cutting edge on-board technology, its quieter operation and its reduced impact on the environment.
Filming in such a beautiful location was a bonus for the INP Media team, and as the weather was kind to us, we captured some great shots of the tractor operating under a beautiful bright blue sky. Check out the video and the concept tractor here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHjBw2HnR8E&t=329s).

There are still a few weeks left to catch the ‘Ferrari: Under the Skin’ exhibition at the Design Museum in London. It closes on April 15^th so if you want to see what has been described by Motor Sport magazine as “not the first exhibition commemorating Ferrari’s 70-year history – but it may be the finest”, get down to High Street Kensington soon.
Our own Martin Derrick had a close involvement, working alongside the curator of the exhibition Andrew Nahum to write, edit and commission the book published alongside the exhibition.
Not only is this Ferrari exhibition the most successful special exhibition ever put on at the Design Museum – it has already attracted over 65,000 visitors – but the book sold 1,000 copies in the first few weeks and has since sold out and had to be reprinted.
It has been described by design guru Stephen Bayley as “the finest book on Ferrari published in recent times”.
Who are we to argue with that?