Before the World Cup kicked off last month in South Africa, Sony ran a competition in which entrants were asked to recreate past FIFA World Cup™ moments from a list of ten selected by Sky Sports football "expert", Andy Gray. 

Our Studio Manager, Jonny Franklin, chose Denis Bergkamp's last-minute winning goal for Holland against Argentina in the 1998 quarter-final and managed to bag himself and three mates tickets to the England vs Slovenia game in Port Elizabeth! This trip of a lifetime included flights, transfers, 4* accommodation, match-tickets, VIP hospitality; and fortunately a 1-0 win for England. Take a look a winning video above.

So ... even though England have now crashed so disastrously out of the tournament, there's still something to cheer about here in the Spectrecom offices!

He even brought me back a vuvezela, which I plan to inflict on friends and family for the 4 remaining matches. 

Fantasy Football with Baddiel, Franklin & Skinner

Here's Spectrecom's latest video blog for Cunard. It features Entertainment Director for Cunard Line, Alastair Greener, interviewing Sir Terry Wogan on Cunard's Queen Victoria.

Sir Terry had been spending a week or so on board with his charity TOGs - Terry's Old Geezers & Gals. They managed to raise a staggering £83,000, which will all go to help children in the UK.

For more information about the voyage and Terry's Old Geezers & Gals, click here.

In December 2009, London Mayor Boris Johnson laid out plans for 25,000 electric car charging bays to be in place across London by 2015. And in March this year, the government also announced financing for three regions – London, Milton Keynes and the North East – to install over 10,000 charging locations as part of its ‘Plugged in Places’ initiative. 

Spectrecom were asked by Infracharge Technologies Plc - the parent company behind the POD Point charging unit - to produce a short, presenter-led film to support their launch of two brand new electric vehicle charging products, FastCharge and HomeCharge. Here's the result. 

If you read this blog regularly, you'll know that over the last six months or so, Spectrecom's creative team has been busy documenting the construction of Cunard's newest cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth.
Cunard is gradually unveiling details of the ship’s unique design and last week we were asked to cover the unveiling of a stunning art deco feature, which shows the port bow of the original Queen Elizabeth ploughing through the Atlantic waves.

Created by the Queen’s nephew, Lord Linley, the feature will be the centrepiece of the ship’s Grand Lobby and work is currently under way. Once complete, the piece will be shipped during the summer to the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, where it will be installed over four days.

Watch the video above to see the artist's impression unveiled at David Linley’s Gallery in London’s West End. Spectrecom filmed this event on Wednesday evening and edited the material over night for a quick turnaround - the film was online at 11:00 am the following day.

 

Spectrecom moved to new premises at Waterloo in January and we've been very busy transforming the building, originally a news distribution warehouse, into a fully integrated 4 studio complex.

Given that the premises was still essentially a building site and that the hospitality areas were rudimentary to say the least, we refrained from publicising the studios beyond the pages on this website. However, there's been a steady stream of clients using the new facilities - despite the limitations - and the good news is that we're almost there. Studio 2 became operational in mid-February and Studios 3 & 4 soon followed. The kitchens are finished and the 3 green rooms comfortably furnished. 

We're now making good headway with Studio 1. At 2,000 sq ft, this is the largest studio and we've had to put in a new concrete base to level off the sloping floor (the image of a camera crew riding on a track & dolly, and hurtling down-hill into the cyc wall, just didn't bear thinking about!). So, like the other studios, we're building a 'U' shaped cyc wall, sound-proofing the walls and ceiling, and installing a lighting grid. This studio though, will also have a viewing gallery, and finally, with vehicle access through a shutter door, it'll need two giant steel-framed doors to be specially constructed. The first shoot for Studio 1, running for 5 days, is set for 7th June and we're comfortably on schedule.

To those clients who have already hired one of our studios, thank you for your patience and tolerance as we've continued to build (quietly, I hope) around your shoots. And if you haven't yet visited us, we're ready to welcome you and give you the guided tour.

And no, you won't need to bring your hard hat!