Archive for the ‘All News’ Category

The Pinewood Studios Group has recently played host to three new and very different, British films. The first, Tamara Drewe directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen) and starring Bond girl, Gemma Arterton, gets its UK release on 10 September 2010. The film was partly shot at Pinewood Studios on a number of stages including H and L Stage and in Pinewood’s picturesque gardens.

Tamara Drewe © Momentum Pictures

The film, which also stars Roger Allam, Bill Camp, Tamsin Greig and Dominic Cooper brings to life the comic strip character ‘Tamara Drewe’. Gemma Arterton stars as Tamara, the glamorous newspaper columnist, whose past catches up with her when she returns home and meets an old flame. Now, with a rock-star boyfriend back in London, Tamara finds herself caught up in a love triangle and becomes the focus of gossip for the local villagers.

The second film is Basement, a new British horror film that was released this month in selected cinemas as well as on DVD and VOD Sky Box Office. It is the first feature film from Paperknife Ltd – a tenant company at Pinewood – and was released through Revolver Entertainment.

Basement © Revolver Entertainment

The film was shot at Pinewood Studios on H Stage and post sound was carried out by Reelsound which is also based at Pinewood. The film stars Danny Dyer, Jimi Mistry, Kierston Wareing, Emily Beecham and Lois Winstone and was directed by Asham Kamboj.

Last, but by no means least, is Chatroom, developed by Film4 and Ruby Films and directed by renowned horror director Hideo Nakata. The film which was partly funded by the UK Film Council and distributed by WestEnd Films, screened at Cannes 2010 and had its UK release this month. The film shot on Shepperton’s E stage and S stage in addition to using the Korda Theatre.

Chatroom © WestEnd Films

Chatroom started life as a stage play, performed at the National Theatre by the highly acclaimed stage and screen writer, Enda Walsh. The film explores the relationship of a group of teenagers who meet online.

Paul Baker, Sales Director at Pinewood Studios commented:

“Pinewood has been extremely successful recently in attracting large US productions to its studios and we are proud to be associated with films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret which are both currently filming with us. However, we also have a strong heritage of supporting and working with home grown talent. Pinewood and Shepperton Studios have hosted 15 of the all time top 20 UK films at the UK box office. We work with films of all sizes and budgets and it is this flexibility that has, in part, led to our success. We have been lucky enough to host some of the best up and coming, as well as established, British directors and producers and I wish all of these great British films every success.”

To watch the trailer for Tamara Drewe click here

For more information on Paperknife Ltd, to see the trailer for Basement and to join the facebook page see the following links:

http://www.paperknife.com/

www.basementthefilm.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Basement-the-movie/142484318951

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World © Universal Pictures

A new action comedy, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, from director Edgar Wright (‘Shaun of the Dead’, ‘Hot Fuzz’) and based on the comic book series by Bryan Lee O’Malley gets its UK release on 25 August. The film was partly shot at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Canada and is one of the first major feature films to be produced since the launch of Pinewood Toronto Studios. In addition foley for the film was carried out in the UK at Shepperton Studio’s Theatre 2.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a 22-year-old slacker who plays bass for garage band Sex Bob-omb and is casually dating a pretty but vacuous high school girl. When the drop-dead gorgeous Ramona V. Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) rollerblades into his life, Scott falls head over heels for her, but there’s a major catch: Ramona’s seven evil ex-boyfriends stand in his way, each one more violent and malicious than the last and all equally intent on obliterating her new love interest.

To view the trailer click here

Pinewood is never out of its depth when it comes to water filming. From underwater action to large exterior water sequences, the group has an impressive range of facilities including, tanks on stages, a vast exterior tank and the impressive underwater filming stage. These coupled with our on-site water filming experts, allows any shot to be achieved in complete safety.

Amazing results can be achieved for films, TV and commercials from underwater blue screens that are permanently on site to “wet for dry” that gives the impression of weightlessness when bubbles are removed in post production.

Underwater Stage 

Tank Dimensions 66ft x 33ft x 20ft deep (20m x 10m x 6m deep)
Tank Capacity 1,200,000 Litres

Commercial shoot for Comparethemeerkat.com

Europe’s first studio-based, permanently filled, underwater filming stage. It is available for all types of surface and underwater filming.

The water temperature is maintained at a comfortable working temperature of 30 degrees C (87 degrees F) which means that there is no need to spend time heating it.

The ultraviolet filtration system not only produces crystal clear water but reduces the need for large amounts of chlorine therefore reducing red eye making it a really comfortable environment to work in for both cast and crew.

Viewing windows are located on the west, south and east sides of the tank. The stage also houses single sex showers, changing facilities & two offices which can be adapted for clients use.

Diving Services UK provide a range of project consultancy and planning services to productions that are using the stage.

Exterior Tank

Tank Dimensions 221ft (67.4m) narrowing to 105ft (32m) wide 198ft (60.4m) long, 3 ft 6ins (1.06m) deep
Tank Capacity 806,000 gallons
Inner Tank 51 ft x 40 ft x 7ft 10ins (15.5m x 12.2m x 2.4m)

The Exterior Tank at Pinewood Studios, known as the Paddock Tank, has a huge blue screen backing measuring 240ft (73.2m) x 60ft (18.3m). The tank can be used for model units or live action sequences and is conveniently located next to the Pinewood Studios Underwater Stage. The inner tank allows the depth needed for stunts or complex set construction within the tank.

Recent film productions to have utilised both the Underwater Stage and the Exterior Tank include Robin Hood, Clash of the Titans, Sherlock Holmes. Television and commercials that have used the Underwater stage recently include Doctors, Casualty, Carlsberg, Speedo and Compare the Market – Journey of Courageousness.

In addition the Underwater Stage is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. For any enquiries about water filming – whatever your budget – speak to Phoebe Rudomino phoebe@divingservicesuk.com

The pop promo for Kylie Minogue’s new single ‘Get Outta My Way’ was recently shot at Pinewood Studios. It was shot by Factory Films, produced by Jon Adams and choreographed by Tony Testa. The single for EMI Records Limited is set to be released on 27^th September.

During the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Pinewood will again be at Tempus Bar, The George Hotel, Edinburgh, from Friday 27th – Sunday 29th August.

Please drop by to catch up with either Paul Baker (Sales Director) or Mark Hackett (Sales Team Manager) or contact us via email or on the phone number below, to set up a meeting.

Alternatively, speak to any member of the TV Sales team to find out more about Pinewood Television:

Mark Hackett – Sarah McGettigan – Meryl McLaren – Beryl Earl

T: 01753 656767    E: sales@pinewoodgroup.com

A League of Their Own © Sky 1/HD and CPL Productions

A League of Their Own, Sky’s comedy panel show starring James Corden is set to return for a second series – this time at Teddington’s TV Studio 1. The first series was filmed at Pinewood Studios in front of a live studio audience and we wish the production team even greater success with series two.

To catch up on any of the first series and to find out more about the show please see: http://sky1.sky.com/about-a-league-of-their-own

Pinewood is working in conjunction with The Associated Press which has won the rights to market and sell footage from the archives of TV-am. Pinewood will be storing the assets from the archive and supplying clips as and when required. The TV-am programme library features ten thousand hours of programmes from 1st February 1983 to 31st December 1992.

Pinewood Mixer, Ian Tapp, along with Mix Tech, James Corless are currently working on The Nine Muses from production company ‘Smoking Dogs Films’. This experimental film, which is part documentary, part personal essay, combines archive imagery with the striking wintry landscapes of Alaska to tell the story of immigrants’ experiences of coming to the UK from the 1960 onwards.

Cinesite, one of the world’s leading film visual effects houses, has completed over 650 shots on the new Twentieth Century Fox film, Marmaduke, which features the voice of Owen Wilson as the loveable hound. Marmaduke opened in cinemas across the UK this month.

Originally based on a newspaper comic strip by Brad Anderson, the film follows the story of a suburban family who move into a new neighbourhood with their large, loveable Great Dane, Marmaduke, who has a tendency to wreak havoc in his own oblivious way. Directed by Tom Dey, the film plays host to a raft of celebrity voices including Owen Wilson (Marmaduke), Steve Coogan (Raisin), Kiefer Sutherland (Bosco) and Fergie (Jezebel). 

Working for a total of 11 months on the film, Cinesite’s visual effects supervisor Matt Johnson and his team centred their pipeline on existing proprietary software and custom-built tools to overcome the series of challenges that animating ten different live-action dogs created. “It was a massive task for us,” explained Johnson. “Placing CGI faces over live-action animals sounds like a simple task, but each breed of dog or cat brought its own unique challenges and the detailing involved meant we had to push our pipeline to its limits.”

“Because the dogs had human traits about them we had a team of artists studying facial expressions and writing muscle codes that could be added into our pipeline,” continued Johnson. “We carefully studied Owen Wilson’s mannerisms and reflected this in the expressions we gave Marmaduke beyond simply making the dog talk. We were attempting to capture a real sense of Owen Wilson in a 200lb Great Dane.”

For more information please visit www.cinesite.com

Places are now open for ‘Working the Tax Credit’, The Production Guild’s latest day long industry training course covering the complex nature of film funding.  Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis so please do book as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

With the ever growing complexity of film funding, the demands on the production accountant to report to various interested parties in a number of different ways are increasing. For example a UK/Hungarian co-production claiming the UK and Hungarian tax credits requires the same set of information to be presented to auditors in each of the countries in differing but equally detailed ways in order for them to streamline and optimize the tax credits that they can achieve for the production.

Jane Corden and Dan Palmer who have worked with auditors, financiers, completion guarantors and producers on multiple, complicated co-productions around the world will present a workshop for accountants to help them manage the information requirements on all productions from the simple UK tax credit system to the more complicated multi partner co-production with multiple tax credit claims.

This one day long training course will take place at the Production Guild Offices, Pinewood Studios on Monday 27th September 2010. Places are priced at:

PG Members: £120 (+ VAT)
Non-Members: £200 (+ VAT)

Places can be booked by e-mailing Gareth Blake at Gareth@ProductionGuild.com.