Here’s a showreel we cut for our talented presenter friend Anastasia Emmanuel. We’ve worked with Anastasia lots over the past 18 months, here’s a short compilation of her highlights.

Anastasia Emmanuel

’25 years old, very small, addicted to smiling, socialising and life. Couldn’t stand the thought of spending my life behind a desk 9-5, so I am trying to make it in the competitive but exciting world of presenting! Luckily landed a job with newspepper.com presenting event reports for a variety of great clients. Building up my profile and showreel, it will be a long road but hopefully a fun and fruitful one and I am loving every minute!’

Contact Info:
Anastasia Emmanuel
Tel: 07970887157
Twitter: @MiniAnastasia
Facebook: Anastasia Emmanuel – Presenter

Music: ‘Aerodynamic’ by Daft Punk

Shot by Marc J Grundy (KingFilm), Sam Tipper, Dominik Palgan

Editing and Motion GFX: KingFilm

Children of Romania (Congleton) are a British charity which supports, financially and practically, the Saint Francis Foundation, which runs children’s homes in Transylvania, Romania. Most of the children are ethnically Hungarian, and are amongst the poorest people in Europe. The charity have a large say in where the money they raise is spent, tending to concentrate on two aspects of the Foundation’s work – Congleton House, in the village of Torocko, and the after school clubs in Felsosofalva.

Our promotional video would feature supporters and organisers of the charity, focusing on the group’s journey from England to Romania this September. Once there, they would visit groups of children that the charity aims to help. We wanted to show the poor living conditions many orphaned children living in Romania have to suffer with, and to underline the on-going work the charity is doing to help improve their unfortunate situation.

Day 1

Met group at Manchester Airport.
Arrived in Budapest 5.30pm (local time).
Few hours to exploring Budapest, regrettably left camera at hotel.

Day 2

Left Budapest at 9am in two mini buses (group of 18).

Crossed border into Romania around midday, and were pulled over by the police shortly after.
Arrived in Săcueni, at Petofi Sandor. Petofi Sandor is one of the recent places to receive funding from the charity. The building is still under construction but will eventually be transformed into a school for local children. The money raised by Children of Romania to date has paid to have the roof repaired.

Our group stayed here for lunch, where we had our first taste of Pálinka, a traditional Romanian brandy that they start EVERY MEAL with. It is often homemade and double distilled so can be 40-70% ABV.

We went on to visit one of the local schools in Săcueni, where a class of children greeted us with Hungarian songs. Later, we visited two of the school children’s houses, which were little more than a small shed, the first was no larger than 10′ x 10′ and housed a mother and father with their four children. The smell was overpowering at times, with flies covering the bed sheets and furniture. The second was marginally larger but equally as shocking to see.

Next we travelled to San Martin, arriving at Caminul Felix – one of a series of villages (Romania, Thailand, Zimbabwe) that adopts orphaned children, who then live with their new parents until they are ready to leave home (i.e. when they are married, graduate, get a full-time job and are able to support themselves). In the two Romanian complexes there are 16 families made up of almost 200 children.

Stayed by the Caminul Felix village. In the evening, had a chat with Doug Parker, the founder of Children of Romania and former-Mayor of Congleton, who explained how his involvement with the foundation first began and what the charity aims to do in the future.

Day 3

6am – Started the day with (failed) timelapse of the sunrise from bedroom window, followed 4 hour drive to another orphanage where we found a group of kids playing in the backyard, climbing trees and generally having fun. It was a nice contrast to see after visiting the houses yesterday.

After having lunch there, we proceeded to the next another school/orphanage supported by the foundation. The workers here told us hold when the building was first renovated and turned into a place for children to live, it was burned down by locals the day before the grand opening.

Fortunately further fundraising enabled it to be rebuilt shortly after. The children here were seemed particularly curious of my camera kit here.

Stayed at Szekely Land Lodge – miles away from any large conurbation, the sky was infinitely clear. Kept awake by lovely, but very loud and seemingly nocturnal dogs so opted for late time astro-photography.

Day 4

Left Lodge at 10am on buses after traditional Transylvanian breakfast (cheese, cornflour & sour cream and egg and pork fat omelette) – it tastes better than it sounds.

Visited local after school, followed by an orphanage at a farm house where a group of children live, and when old enough, work on the farm. One of the workers at the house introduced us to a four year old girl living there. She had only been found the day the before, naked and alone in the woods. The woman told us that the young girl was unable to speak, but can only ‘bark’ when she needed to communicate. It was difficult to imagine what kind of conditions she had been living before coming to the house, however it was comforting to see her smiling and happy when we came to say hello.

After a quick visit to a local salt mine, we arrived at Felsosofalva, one of the after school clubs that Children of Romania focuses its fundraising towards. We were greeted by a group of 20 odd children singing songs and offering the group presents they had made and glasses of Pálinka.

In the last few years the Foundation has opened a number of after schools clubs in villages where children do have families of their own, but where the conditions are so poor that it is impossible to do homework. Many of these homes have no space, no table and no lighting. The after school club provides a space where children can study under the supervision of a qualified teacher. They can also get a hot meal, warm clothes and the opportunity to discuss their problems. Recent fundraising efforts from the charity have paid for a new kitchen and shower block at Felsosofalva.

We stayed the night with a potter and his family, where they put on an epic BBQ for the whole group.

NB: Later that night I witnessed a 78 year old woman dress up in a bear-skin rug and run about knocking on people’s doors trying to scare them. Best. Moment. Ever.

Day 5

Set off at 10.30am to return to Felsosofalva after school club. Many of the group left presents for the children there and Doug presented another donation to the school’s founder, Margit.

3 hour drive to Torocko in the Transylvanian mountains, arrived at Congleton House for dinner. Most of the charity’s funds go to Congleton House; the children’s home the charity ‘adopted’ in 2004. When the property was first bought there was no bathroom or running water, and the only cooking facility was a flat steel plate above a single gas ring. Since then, with the help Children of Romania have given, extensive alterations and modernization has been done. Approximately 30 children now live there.

Spent the afternoon time lapsing the stunning mountain range that surrounds Torocko.

Day 6

6.30pm up early to time lapse the sun rise behind the mountains. We were told that in summer, because of the large mountain to the east of the Torocko, that the sun rises twice over the town. Unfortunately it was a little late in the year for that so we had to make do with just the one.

11am Went with Doug, Cato (our Hungarian translator) and one of the workers at Congleton House to a village 30kms away from Torocko. While there we visited a family, again, living in a shack which was essentially just four walls and a raised flat roof that the family slept on during the hot summer. The father told us that he was unemployed and that there were 5 children living there. It was a stark contrast from the children living in the orphanage back in Torocko, but it was enlightening to see the type of place that the children there had once lived. The kids seemed very excited and exquisite to see us and their father was very grateful for the food supplies we left with them.

After returning to Congleton House, we shot a short interview with Doug Parker who told us how the charity began, the current projects being funded, their plans for the future, etc. His answers will hopefully provide the narrative voice throughout the film.

Spent the afternoon shooting establishing/cutaway footage for the film. Torocko is a very picturesque former-mining town and, as I mentioned, is surrounded by epic mountains and dense woodlands. I had to force myself to stop shooting and go to dinner with the others.

Although out of season, after our final dinner in Torocko, the landlady of a local cellar bar was kind enough to open up for us, where there were many more Pálinkas poured, lots of singing and this happened….

Day 7

9am – 10 hour drive to Hungary. Arrived back at hotel in Budapest 6pm (local time).
Explored more of the city (inc the Citadel looking out over the city and Heroes Square)

Day 8

9am Spent morning exploring Budapest’s epic indoor market, and afternoon sightseeing in 32˚C heat. NB Saw lots of film crews around the city, including an advert being shot for DHL on a 5D and GoPro Hero. Made me smile.

7pm flight back to UK, arrived 8pm (local time).

We’re currently cutting the promo video, it will be published online along with the launch of the new Children of Romania website in the next few months. A DVD copy will also be available as a promotional tool at future charity events.

Marc @ KF

Here’s a little video that we shot back in August at the Foodies Festival in Edinburgh during the Fringe. It features Head Chef at 12 Picardy Place, Mark Greenaway and Australia’s number one magician, James Galea.

During the Festival Fringe this year, James was performing his nightly show in the venue next to Mark’s restaurant. Knowing that James was a big foodie, Mark tweeted him and asked if he fancied teaming up to put on a show at the Foodies Festival down at Holyrood Palace.

Marc @ KF

The PizzaExpress app enables customers to find and book a restaurant table, view menus, and store special offer codes and receipts, all via the touch of their iPhone. Using GeoLocation it can find all the PizzaExpress restaurants near you and save you a table. The app is ideal for diners with limited time; whether they are late for a meeting, the theatre or the train, or eating out with restless kids. PizzaExpress’ new payment option should hopefully take the stress out of waiting to pay the bill, allowing customers to pay and leave the restaurant when they want to via the magic of PayPal.

The Shoot:
We spent the morning filming in Great Portland Street, London at one of PizzaExpress’ flagship restaurants. Our presenter, Hermione Way had flown in from San Francisco to explain how the new app worked and what the benefits would be of using it in a variety of situations. After shooting our piece-to-cameras and several scenarios, we had free rein of the restaurant to film the dough being prepared, salads being garnished and our extras tucking into some pre-10am pizza.

Motion Graphics:
The graphics were produced entirely in After Effects CS5, using a 2D image of the iPhone 4 front (plus a second for the rear), which was then duplicated multiple times and layered 1 unit back (or deeper) each time in z-space. This gave the illusion of a 3-dimentional iPhone. First we animated the phone springing in and out of shot with the pizza express logo spinning slowly, out of focus in the background, then we added a few camera movements to give a handheld, natural feel. Finally we animated the steps through the app on the iPhone screen for each of its functions (i.e. booking a table, browsing the menu, paying with PayPal). Here’s a test we did to show the animated iPhone in its 3D environment.

I’ll be posting the Behind-The-Scenes video of the shoot soon.

Marc @ KF

The band played along to the track (playing through the PA) about 5 or 6 times, giving Joe (Canon 5D MKii) and I (Canon 60D) chance to capture close ups of each band member playing the entire track, along with a few 2-shots and wides of the wholes stage. After the run throughs without a audience, we brought in 200+ screaming fans in to surround the stage as we shot the final 2 run throughs, ending with a huge uncontrollable stage invasion, that actually turned out great on film.

We were slightly constrained by our choice of lighting in a relatively small (low ceiling) venue, but we (Joe, the band and I) were happy with the end result. We also shot a few sequences earlier in the day of the band in and around Canterbury. We initially thought these sequences would be cut in with the gig footage, however after looking through the rushes we decided to stick with just shots from the gig, and use the other clips for an alternative video later down the line.

Marc @ KF

In June, KF accompanied PhD students from the Open University, Sophie Nixon and Euan Monaghan to the International Space Conference: Exploring Mars Habitability, held in Lisbon, Portugal. Following the conference was the International Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group meeting (MEPAG), proceeded by a field trip to the Rio Tinto river in Spain. During the conference and field trip we would interview representatives from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) and other scientists such as Royal Society Research Fellow Dr Zita Martins, whose primary research is the astrobiology of extraterrestrial bodies and detection of organic matter on space missions.

The conference focused on the habitability of Mars (both ancient and modern), the effects of planetary evolution, atmospheric evolution, climate cycles and transitory events on the habitability of Mars. These help to address the origin of life both on Mars and on Earth, as well as its potential for preservation. There were also discussions addressing upcoming missions to Mars (e.g., MSL, MAVEN, Exomars orbiter and rover).

The two days post-conference field trip to the Rio Tinto river in southern Spain (organised by the Centro de Astrobiologia at Madrid) is of particular interest to Mars scientists and researchers as it is an analog site for a Martian environment (you can read more about it HERE). The trip gave us a good opportunity to get footage of an analog site firsthand and conduct the rest of our interviews with Martian Speleologist Penelope Boston, Managing Editor of NASA Astrobiology Magazine Leslie Mullen and Design Engineer at NASA Ames Research Centre Lauren Fletcher.

Stay tuned for more NGL updates.

Marc @ KF

Next, we covered the Claims Club Awards, which is essentially the BAFTAs of the insurance industry. Employees from Aviva, LV, Hiscox, etc, all suited and booted, entered the Grand Connaught Rooms, Central London for an annual dinner and celebration of the many achievements within the insurance sector during past 12 months.

Marc @ KF

And the second for a new client, E-Factor Legal Issues on Raising Investment.

Marc @ KF

This year the KF team spoke to the event organisers (Will Tew & Mark Turner) about the history of BSKC and where it is heading in the future, we also managed to grab a few of the drivers and their supporters in between races to see what they thought of the event.

Marc @ KF

Throughout the event, we (Newspepper.com) shot a series of interviews with a few of Latitude’s clients (Group On, Yahoo, Google Analytics, Wired, Facebook, etc) to chat about their areas of expertise (PPC, SEO, Social Media, etc). These videos would later feature on the Latitude website, under the relevant categories of marketing. We also spoke to a selection of Latitude’s own staff

and personnel, whose responses were cut into a HR video, outlining ‘Why Latitude is a great agency to work for’.

Marc @ KF