Aimee Spinks Archives - Aimee Spinks Photography

The Invisible Woman Movie

Aimee Spinks — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:22:36 +0000

Credit: David Appleby

Back in June, I got in touch with legendary stills photographer, David Appleby, to see if there was any chance I might be able to assist him during any of his upcoming work. I am a HUGE fan of David’s photography and his prowess with a camera has seen him work on over seventy different feature films across a 40 year career. Shooting the likes of Brad Pitt, Robert Downey Junior and Arnold Schwarzennegar, David has worked with legendary directors including Stephen Spielberg and Ridley Scott to produce some of the most iconic film stills to some of the greatest movies made.

Despite the glitz and glamour of his work, David remains an absolutely lovely guy with a humble appreciation of all those who work in the industry and those who aspire to do so. Seeing an eager eyed photographer keen to step up in her career and learn from the best, David very kindly invited me to shadow him for a day on the set of Ralph Fiennes’s latest feature film, ‘The Invisible Woman,’ which he both directs and stars in alongside the beautiful Felicty Jones and, Game of Thrones actress, Michelle Fairley.

Credit: David Appleby

The day itself was one out at an exterior location in Harrow where the weather was feeling somewhat schizophrenic and couldn’t decide whether it should rain down a storm or keep us roasting in the sun. It was a fantastic day and I took the most of the opportunity to bombard the ever patient David with questions. He gave me great advice both on the business end of high level stills work and also about on set etiquette and general workflow from shooting to delivery that has been absolutely invaluable to me. By the end of the day’s filming, I had David so fuelled up on coffee that he invited me back for another few days of filming later that month, as well as negotiating me a paid position on the specials shoot as his assistant photographer.

The advertising shoot was done at Sands Studio in London with art direction from Mia Matson from The Creative Partnership. I took care of sourcing all the equipment we would need and once again ended up renting most of it through The Flash Centre – a rental house I highly recommend with branches in London, Birmingham and Leeds. They were both cheaper and better stocked than rival rental houses and enabled us to get everything we needed at very short notice.

Credit: David Appleby

We checked out Sands Studio the night before and whilst David checked things over with the proprietor, I got to work rigging up the backgrounds and lights for the first of the shots. Satisfied everything was ready to go for the morning we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s kip!

The day of the shoot we got there nice and early to do our final checks and thus began a day of nailing the shots to be used in the movie’s ad campaign. We hit a few technical glitches on occasion, mainly with the radio flash triggers but we were able to overcome them and finished the day on time with Ralph, David and Mia, happy with what we had shot. Though a thoroughly exhausting day of moving lights and equipment about, it was also thoroughly enjoyable. I learned a huge amount and also had the opportunity to impress Ralph and Mia with both my technical help when things went wrong, but also my creative eye in suggesting ideas for shots. The whole team were lovely to work with and the highlight of the day was getting a photo with Ralph as I stood in for Felicity during a test shot. I’ll have to see if I can get permission from Ralph before I can pop it up on the blog but until then I’m afraid it will have to remain safe and secret on my hard drive!

Working with David and the rest of the crew and cast of, ‘The Invisible Woman,’ was an absolutely amazing experience. I learned more in those few days than I ever thought possible and more importantly, I’ve made a great friend in David whom was kind enough to invite me to his wedding a few weeks ago.
I look forward to working with David again next week on the specials shoot for, ‘Belle,’ starring Tom Felton, Emily Watson and Miranda Richardson and will no doubt write another blog about that shoot shortly after!

In the meantime, why not pop down to Swanage and check out David’s exhibition of iconic stills from Pink Floyd’s, ‘The Wall,’ showing now at the Photographers’ Lounge Gallery!

http://www.photographerslounge.co.uk/index.php

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Casting Call: Presenter Needed for Online Tech Show

Aimee Spinks — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:26:18 +0000

Please note that this is a casting call placed on behalf of the production company, iBrow. To apply, either contact them through their website: http://www.ibrow.com/ or, if you have a Shooting People account, you can apply using the links below.

Online Tech Show

We’re looking for talent to host an online tech show. We’ll be regularly posting content online about the latest trends and gadgets, from mobile phones to games and apps. The content will be used in a space that already has a large online following, so there’s potential for some great exposure.

Shoot Date: 1st Feb 2012 – 1st Jan 2013

Shoot Location: International

Production Company Name: ibrow

Budget: Up to £100,000

Form: Short

Is project insured: Yes

More film details: http://shootingpeople.org/castcrew/project/view/2109

Roles on Film:

Presenter/Reporter

We’re looking for a presenter/reporter to front short sketches about all the latest products and trends in the tech world.

Role will involve interviewing people, chatting about the latest innovations in a informative but humorous manner.

This could be a long term role

Following criteria essential:

– Rich online social following (twitter followers and or run a blog that gets good traffic)

– Friendly, approachable presence

– Sense of humour

– Good at ad-libbing vs reading from a script

Pay rate: £250 – £400 per day

Appearance details:

Playing Range: 20-30

Apply: http://shootingpeople.org/collaborate/cast/view/4825

The post Casting Call: Presenter Needed for Online Tech Show appeared first on Aimee Spinks Photography.

Casting Call: UK Feature Film

Aimee Spinks — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:48:07 +0000

Please note that this casting call is being placed on behalf of Silly Wee Films and I am not responsible for any casting of this production. All enquiries and applications should be addressed to Fraser Coull at www.sillyweefilms.co.uk

Get Funded
Get Funded sees the adventures of three determined filmmakers, Chris, Katie and Mark, as they take their blockbuster screenplay to investors, only to get the door slammed on their face constantly. Determined not to give up and follow their dreams, our heroes are forced to question their morality as they embark on a life of crime… robbing little old ladies tearooms and robbing small banks in the remote parts of the country!

Shoot Date: 9th Jul 2012 – 10th Aug 2012
Shoot Location: Great Britain
Shoot Region: Scotland
Production Company Name: Silly Wee Films
Production Company Url: http://www.facebook.com/GetFundedMovie
Budget: Up to £1,000,000
Genre: Comedy
Form: Feature
Is project insured: Yes
More film details: http://shootingpeople.org/castcrew/project/view/2020

ROLES ON FILM:

Mark
Mark is still living at home with his disapproving father constantly trying to convince his son that a career in filmmaking is nothing more than fanciful and he should take a job in a call centre “just in case” while his doting mum just wants to keep everybody happy. Mark is the heart of the team and all he wants is to write films that matter to people.

Is position paid: Yes
Pay rate: £200

Apply: http://shootingpeople.org/collaborate/cast/view/4620

Katie
Katie has just moved into her own little flat to escape the controlling nature of her mother, while her younger sister, Michelle, is doing her best to play the rebel in the family, forcing Katie to step in to keep the peace between her sister and their mum. Katie is the brains of the operation and is the most grounded of the three.