Gunner's radio silence over!

We're sorry! Please forgive us... Total radio silence our end on the blog front. We decided we didn't want to update the blog so often and keep our news page up to date. Our blog will now focus more on events and what the Gunners get up to when we're out and about. That said - we have lots to talk about!

Awards news first, and 3 of our directors have picked up a bunch of awards over the last few months.

Jonty Toosey picked up several awards for his Kaspi Bank film starring Antonio Banderas, including the festival Grand Prix at Red Jolbers Festival and Gold at Best of Central Asia Awards. If you haven't seen the film, watch it HERE. 

Olivier Venturini picked up best film idea at the Australian International Fashion Film Festival for his film for The Fableists - a sustainable kids clothing company. (watch the film on his reel)

And finally Joseph Oxford has won a load of awards for his amazing short film ME+HER, including Best Animation at the Aspen ShortsFest, and the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Monadnock International Film Festival. Joseph's work has also been featured on The New Yorker's video page.

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On to new work and Calum Macdiarmid has just shot his first music video for the amazing Chloe Black for her first single '27 Club'.

Calum has obviously found his music video feet, as he spent yesterday shooting another! Watch this space for more info on that!

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Both Laura Gregory (GG Founder) and GG director Remo Camerota have been doing talks recently.

Laura has just done a talk in Dubai at Dubai Lynx awards. She was joined by director Omar Hilal, and together they attended the ECD talk in Dubai, which was attended by all major ECD's from the Middle East.

Laura Gregory and Omar with Johan Olson, Attila Nyeki, Falvio Zanni, Jamil Assidy, Ahmed Nazzal, Eli BouChayaa, Mario Daou, Alain Mhawej, Ramzi Moutran, Sascha Kuntze, Akram Dohjoka, Ossama ed Kaoukji and Paul Shearer.

Remo hopped across the pond to Hamburg to speak at the latest BBDO Directors Lounge. His talk was very well received with BBDO Creative Director Steffen introducing him as "one of the most inspirational directors" he has seen in years.

Remo managed to steal a few moments of calm in his crazy 48hours on the ground to capture some of the city:

Cheers to a great talk Remo!

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You might remember a news article about Andy Morahan directing a live opera for the ENO back in May 2014. Peter Grimes was a huge success, and screened to cinemas across the UK live from the ENO. It was so well received that Andy has been asked back to direct round 2. This time it's La Traviata. It will be screened LIVE across the UK tomorrow in selected cinemas as part of the ENO Screen. For more information, visit your local cinema's website.

Andy comments: "This is a fantastic opportunity to film an overdue revival of Peter Konwitschny's very stylised version of Vedi's classic Opera 'La Traviata'. A moving tale of society and morality, this masterpiece combines characters you care about with powerful melodies you’ll recognise right away. It makes for one of the most emotionally engaging and popular operas of all time and I feel very lucky and privileged to be able to film it for the ENO at the Coliseum and take it 'live' into over 400 cinemas in both the UK and Europe."

Let us know if you're going to see it, tweet us @greatgunstv

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Seeing as we love to finish off a blog post with a great lunch, why break tradition? We had a lovely lunch with some of the Rainey Kelly team last week at the York & Albany - and took along two of our directors Calum Macdiarmid & David Hartley. 

Unfortunately we were all so hungry by the time the food came that we forgot to take photos! Hopefully these pictures of the pudding we had last time make up for it?

Gorgeous profiteroles, smothered in melted chocolate, with a scoop of chocolate ice-cream on top of chocolate soil. 

And our favourite - a salted caramel apple cheesecake, laden with caramel sauce and accompanied by a tart apple sorbet. 

Go on, have another look at it close up.... don't lick the screen! 

We highly recommend the York & Albany. Part of Gordon Ramsay's collection of pubs and restaurants, it's located at the top of Parkway, just by Regent's Park. Pop in for a afterwork drink, or after a long walk round the park. Their bar snack menu includes pizzas, sausage & mash and crispy squid rings. Though we go for the pizza every time ;-)

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We promise not to leave it so long next time! We have lots of exciting things coming up, so keep your eyes peeled.

As always you can contact us / tweet us / send us stuff / chat to us via twitter @greatgunstv

Love,
The Gunners x

cheers to a leisurely long weekend

The first long bank holiday weekend of the year has reared its head and we've got some great weekend suggestions for you. But first things first - we have some new work out! 

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Olivier Venturini and Great Guns joined forces with Brothers & Sisters to film the first brand film for Matt Cooper's new venture The Fableists - a totally sustainable children's clothing line. 

Shot on location around London, the film follows the journey of Finn, a fearless young boy who escapes to an urban jungle on his skateboard. 

The two minute film is the first in a series of films which will document extraordinary kids around the world. Kids with gifts, drive and ambitions who have overcome adversity.  

You can watch the film on YouTube - CLICK HERE and read the full press release on LBB HERE.

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Some of you might already know but Vaudeville owned by the lovely Dan Jones have a sound suite in our London office in the basement. Dan's just made a move across the pond, and when he was looking to set up shop over in LA it seemed apt that it would be out of our LA office. 

LA looking b-e-a-utiful on the day of the Vaudeville launch. 

We don't have many pictures from the launch and have yet to show you all what our LA office looks like. But here's a little party pic from the outside terrace. 

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In awards news - Ilya Naishuller's 'Bad Motherfucker' has just been awarded an Official Honoree of the 18th Annual Webby Awards. With over 12,000 entries this year, we're so pleased that it's been recognised in the top 20 percent of all work entered! You can watch the film on YouTube - CLICK HERE. 

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On to our bank holiday suggestions. First up TURN is screening this sunday at the London Independent Film Festival. From 1pm onwards on Easter Sunday you can watch it alongside a selection of other great short films at the Short Wave cinema 

Sticking to the film theme, if you want to get stuck into something slightly longer & a lot more violent - Great Guns producer Sheridan Thomas recommends THE RAID 2. 

press pic from The Raid 2

Packed with a relentless barrage of action scenes, the two-and-a-half hour epic impresses with its amazing combat scenes entwined with a surprisingly gripping crime-drama story. Watch the trailer HERE and if you can handle the gore, catch it at pretty much any cinema. 

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Now no bank holiday weekend is complete without a great meal. And Laura Gregory has suggested The Perkin Reveller. It's situated on the grassy bank below the Tower of London - you could kill two birds with one stone... pay a visit to the Tower and then pop for lunch afterwards. 

If the weather is nice we suggest sitting out on the terrace, but knowing London it will rain... which is fine because the inside is just as nice! 

All their food is seasonal and homemade, using local produce and fresh ingredients. Their menu changes according to season, so the best way to find out what's good is to go and try it for yourself. 

At Easter you can't go wrong with a gorgeous leg of lamb and lashings of mint sauce. 

They do killer cocktails too! Here's one for the grownup kids. 

(all pictures courtesy of The Perkin Reveller) 

You can reserve online or give them a call : +44 (0)20 3166 6949

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On that note we hope you all have a wonderful & relaxing Easter. 

Love, The Gunners x 

www.greatguns.com

spring has sprung!

London finally seems to be heating up (having said that it has just hailed in Camden and it's now raining) However, there is blossom on the trees, the sun has been shining and people are starting to sit outside with their morning coffees - the clocks even spring forward this sunday (see what we did there?) We think there's no better way to start a new post than with good news...

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We're excited to announce that we've just signed one of New York's emerging beauty director's Austin Lynn Austin. His portfolio is charged with stunning imagery and energy. With an extensive visual range which is graceful, elegant, avant-garde and dynamic. 

You can read the full press release HERE and watch his showreel HERE 

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In other news Ron Scalpello is just putting the finishing touches to his new feature film Pressure. 

He talks all about it over on David Reviews and you can read the full interview on our news page right HERE. Keep a look out here for release dates etc! 

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We have some new work out as well. Doug Keeve has just shot a new short titled 'The Fight' in collaboration with Victoria Bartlett of NY fashion label VPL and legendary fashion writer and New York Bon Vivant, Glenn O'Brien. 

The brand's stylish active wear-inspired clothing is showcased by Belgian model Hannelore Knuts who comes to blows with boxer Kwame Davis, over the course of an unpredictable boxing match between the sexes. You can watch the film HERE

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Moving on from new signings and work - last week Gunners Jane and Elise stepped in for Ilya Naishuller at the Creative Circle awards at the Roundhouse in Camden (he's currently finishing his first feature film). Ilya was up for Best Direction and he took home GOLD on the night!

(apologies for all the overly pink photos - it was VERY pink!)

arriving on the pink carpet! 

We ate watermelon, parma ham and cream with baby leaves. Followed by lamb shank with mashed potatoes and veggies

and topped off with a huge selection of desserts. Strawberry & cream macaroons, tiramisu chocolate pots, mini treacle tarts and a lemony mousse with lavender biscuits. 

A huge congratulations to Ilya for another win! The rest of the evening descended into a dance off with Eliza Doolittle so the photos end here! It was a fantastic night - thanks Creative Circle. 

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To tie it all up here's our weekend restaurant suggestion. If you're in NYC this weekend you have to check this place out. Tucked away in a little corner of Soho Back Forty West is an effortlessly cool bar / restaurant with great food and drinks to boot. 

We highly recommend the Damson Gin & Tonic 

 

It's a great little spot to dive into when you've had enough of shopping or the cold (it's still freezing there!)

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Enjoy the rest of the week & look out for a new post soon. 

The Gunners x 

beat those january blues

Everyone knows that post all that festive fun January feels like a long, dark, cold month, with not a lot to look forward to. It seems like everyone just wants to just get it out the way as fast as possible. Well we don't believe in blue January's at Great Guns, and even if you're a firm believer in them, we hope this post will sway you (even if it's only for 5 minutes). 

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Just before the winter break Gunner Shearer jetted off to LA to team up state-side with Gunner Vincent Laforet to shoot a spot for Nike's new Flyknit footwear. The commercial features some of the greatest athletes on the planet right now: basketball all-star Kobe Bryant, Olympic Gold Medalist Allyson Felix, decathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton, American Footbal cornerback with the Seattle Seahawks Richard Sherman and world champion distance runner Mo Farah. 

This team of world class athletes were filmed training in their Nike Flyknits. The end result is a mix of stunning visuals backed by an awesome track. 

To really capture the tempo and pace at which these athletes train at, the film was shot using a Red Epic and Phantom camera, on a combination of tracking vehicles, Movi and Steadicam rigs. 

The spot 'Light. Strong. Nike Flyknit' was released globally this week, and you can watch it HERE. 

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Moving closer to home, this week also saw the release of 'The Chase' a new spot for KitKat shot by Gunner Ron Scalpello. 

Teaming up with JWT London, Scalpello Takes a Break from his movie to  create this fast-paced car chase which comes to an abrupt halt when they pause to have a KitKat.

The humorous spot is a great come back for KitKat after their 4 year TV hiatus. You can watch the spot HERE (warning: may cause sudden urge for chocolate) 

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Calum Macdiarmid's epic for Russian Standard Vodka is still being spoken about this January, with a new feature in LBB - you can read back through the blog to find out more about this commercial, but we thought we'd share some shots from the shoot with you here. 

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To really beat those Jan Blues we'll leave you with some of our favourite weekend suggestions. 

First up is the Wallace Collection. A firm favourite with Gunner Laura Gregory, her top tip is: go and see the erotic statues & have a cup of coffee in the café... its free and genius. 

Click here for their top 10 things to do while there. They're open from 10-5 all week and you can find them here.

What better way to spend a grey saturday in London than wandering through one of the city's free museums! 

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Jump across the pond to Shanghai, where Gunner Janene Fitzgerald has shared her go to eatery in the city.  

Lost Heaven prides itself on serving traditional food, prepared using unique ingredients and cooked by the best Yunnan chefs. 

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Our January has flown by and we can't believe it's almost February. We're kicking off the new month with Personal Training sessions at GG HQ in London. 2 or 3 times a week Laura Gregory's PT is coming in to the office bright and early to kick us into gear (and get us working on our Cannes Beach Bodies!) Watch this space for updates on this. 

If you're still feeling blue... CLICK HERE & turn up the volume! 

If that's not enough to get you dancing round the office on a Friday we don't know what is ;-) 

Have a great weekend! 

The Gunners x 

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pictures from:

http://www.lostheaven.com.cn/ 

http://www.wallacecollection.org