Saturday, 03 August 2019 by Jack Buck
Open is a sci-fi short that marks the inception of what we hope will be a long and fruitful journey producing films loaded with stellar VFX. EMAGIC's dream is to set sail hard and fast into the world of cinematic film and for us, everything about production: from the origin of each story to script, from camera work to the creation and integration of CG elements and from casting to music composition, has EMAGIC at the helm. We want uncompromised, full creative control and artistic licence.
Open illustrates exactly what we mean by this and serves as a tasty sample of what's to come. It's the first project that showcases our capabilities. Here's a brief overview of EMAGIC's journey from the start of Open to the finish. First, the drone was imagined and created. We then wrapped a story around the drone, and an actor for the lead character sprang to mind. After hearing the concept and seeing a preview of the drone, he accepted the role readily. Next, the location was sourced and a reccy was carried out, with stills taken for shot and CG reference. Then the other CG elements were modelled and tested, a script and shot list written up and the shoot date booked. After the shoot was complete, we edited, added sound effects and added the CG elements in. Finally, music was composed and the film was complete!
Currently awaiting feedback from 12 Festivals
Check out our 'Behind the Scenes EMAGIC' video and stay tuned for our next production:
Sunday, 28 April 2019 by Jack Buck
EMAGIC have been fortunate enough, for the second consecutive year, to work with the fabulous Class Act Theatrix on a joint cinema project.
This year's production was School of Rock, the musical. The students of CAT work hard, week in, week out during rehearsals and towards the end of term EMAGIC arrive and work closely with them and their coaches to capture their best performance. CAT then commandeer a cinema screen for a day and host exclusive showings for cast and coach family members, friends and special guests, who arrive in waves to see the result of the school's hard work! The film is then also available on DVD/Bluray so that parents can keep it forever and relive their favourite moments.
It's such a fun and jam-packed shoot with tight scheduling around the venue hire, and obviously hoards of children to organise, light and film! It's great to see a youth programme with so much time and effort being put into a project like this, where the childrens' confidence and performance skills grow and develop over time. You can see the difference in cast members that were filmed in last year's CAT production, Oliver, compared with this years' which is great.
There were only two and half days to shoot a 35 minute production at a high cinema standard. It was a challenge and one we met head-on. Everyone was over the moon with the results which is always gratifying and it was great to be involved. We are looking forward to the next one! Our hats are off to the incredible Ashley, director of CAT, for such an amazing job. She has only been running the school for two years and both years she has commissioned us and produced a beautifully filmed project for parents to treasure for ever!
Saturday, 23 February 2019 by Jack Buck
So January has been a really fun, interesting month for us. We had the pleasure of putting together our 2019 VFX Showreel, to give a little taster of what is to come for the rest of the year. If you require 3D, Motion graphics or animation for your business get in touch now!
Wednesday, 23 January 2019 by Jack Buck
2019 is going to be an exciting year for EMAGIC, promising cool regular contracts locally from some meetings we have had already. We are also content investors for two video-heavy projects, which will be about creating regular, engaging and fun content for users. It's all hush-hush for now, but keep your eyes peeled for launch updates! For the second year running, we have been commissioned to produce and deliver a film for cinema. This will be delivered as a DPX sequence, which if you don't know already, is a cinema-specific way of delivering files. We may only just be looking at locations now, but we're already looking forward to getting suited and booted for another premiere!
This year we are also pushing out 3D like never before. We have invested in new technology that renders animations and CG elements over 12x faster than before, allowing us time to get creative and think about camera angles more. On top of this, we have partnered with a render farm, enabling us to render more cost effective, time-saving animations and CG Sequences.
3d animationbriminghamcgFilm Productionvfxvideo production
Our New Cinematic LUT pack
Sunday, 11 November 2018 by Jack Buck
Dear all filmmakers, we just launched our new LUT pack!
We love the way that colour grading can change the mood of a shot completely, or draw the attention of the audience to certain details. Also, retaining correct colour detail in skin tones can literally make or break a grade, So most of the LUTs in this pack retain skin tones, obviously all grades can't do this, for example, the Saving Private Ryan grey-blue look would look weird if the only reds and pinks were visible in faces.
Those of you that shoot in LOG format, that love the way we colour our videos, can now purchase a pack of 21 premium looks that we use on our client's videos. Autumn has inspired our recently created LUTS, as you may have seen in our location postcards (check out our previous blog post!) and we love muted deep greens or blues and oranges that really pop. But don't take our word for it, see them all for yourself here:
We like sharing our knowledge and contributing to keeping the standard of work in our industry high. Making our favourite original EMAGIC LUTS accessible is a great way of sharing cinematic colour. If you wish to buy this LUT pack go to this link: https://emagicstudios.co.uk/product/emagic-cinematic-lut-pack/
Do you love what you do?
Thursday, 08 November 2018 by Jack Buck
Here at EMAGIC we have a passion for film and you can see that in our work. To keep that creative fire going, we shoot our own projects where we have full creative control over all aspects; composition, colour grading and narrative. Inspired by the beauty that autumn brings with it, we've been exploring contemporary framing and the capabilities of modern cinema cameras when it comes to dynamic range and capturing detail.
Here are two postcards, focussing on locations in Lichfield and Bristol in autumn.
artartyautumnbristolcreativefilmingfunlichfieldlove what you do
New EMAGIC. Dashboard
Sunday, 07 October 2018 by Jack Buck
Dear loyal customers,
It's a comfort to know that we value your custom, right?
Well we're flattered that you think our work is "pretty cool" and we can't help but notice that you like to tell other people. Most of our new clients come from word of mouth and we'd like to reward those referrals.
This month we've launched the EMAGIC Dashboard just for you – it's an incredible new feature allowing you to collect, monitor and spend loyalty points, which you accumulate when you book our services or refer someone who does.
What can you spend your loyalty points on? Well we're glad you've asked! If you work with EMAGIC enough, you'll accumulate enough to spend on a whole day's worth of filming; but that isn't the only option. As you know our journey with you doesn't just end when your video is edited and complete. We're with you every step of the way if you want us when it comes to social media campaigns, and you can spend points on those too! There's even a campaigns section on the EMAGIC dashboard which shows you all active campaigns and the essential analytics you'll want, including the view count, click through rate (CTR), and cost per view (CPV).
To start using yours now: https://emagicstudios.co.uk/login
If you are reading this but have not had your login for your EMAGIC dashboard yet then get in touch and we will set it up for you.
EMAGIC Dashboard
Shooting with Paul Brook
Saturday, 22 September 2018 by Jack Buck
Earlier this year, we worked with amazing mentalist and presenter Paul Brook to create some fresh new video for his business. Paul is creative and full of ideas, so we worked closely with him to make sure that the finished videos met his requirements. He asked for two snappy trailers that promote his skills and services and set him apart from his competitors. We decided to film in and around Birmingham to give Paul and his skills a fresh, trendy and approachable feel. It gives the videos a corporate yet cosmopolitan vibe, just like the city itself.
The magic of mentalism is in the live performance, so we saw an opportunity in the challenge of capturing it well on camera. As we planned Paul's 'Mind/Play' promo, our research deduced many people in his field have videos between 5 and 17 minutes long. They feel drawn out and can lose the interest of the audience. We know potential clients want to see quick examples of what they will be booking, presented in an exciting way. With this in mind, we aimed to consolidate all the best bits and still keep it under the 1 minute 30 mark. You can see there's a real focus on the participants' facial expressions and reactions at the pinnacle of Paul's tricks.
Above you can see some feedback Paul received, including remarks from fellow professionals in the magic and mentalist circles.
For the second promo, we had the opportunity to make the most of Paul's personality since that's what sells him as a presenter. Again using a couple of locations central to Birmingham which we cut between, Paul introduces himself and what he offers directly to camera. Be sure to check this one out too; there's even a neat time-lapse in the street where Paul met the challenge of staying stock still…we don't even think he blinked once!
BirminghamBullringCinematic TrailerCorporate VideoFilm ProductionJewellery QuarterPaul BrookSony FS7Video Production Birmingham