#gunhillstudios

August is usually a quieter month with everyone attempting to chill out a bit in the sunshine but we still managed a pretty full diary!

Silvertip Films came in to record their vlog and we enjoyed showing them around and making their presenter Jess very dizzy on the turntable! You can see the vlog here https://youtu.be/1X6hnDQBxjg

Next up we had MOI Global in to film an online security video with the talented Johan Bjorklund flexing his DOP muscles. We can’t divulge too much on this one yet as the campaign hasn’t gone live at time of writing but we’ll update in due course...

Colour of Noise were back in the cove mid August (well Matt and Bruce at least), this time to film and record a Zeppelin cover. We had our young recruits in to assist with haze and lighting and gave them free reign to set the look for the shoot. We think they did a pretty awesome job! Track to be released soon, we’ll post updates when we have them.

We were contacted by The Morris Minor Centre to take a few shots of a particularly large van frame for their website and a magazine article. Graham brought the frame in and we got talking about some particularly cool pedal cars he’s making...more news soon!

Rounding off the month we had a coupe of vehicle shoots. First up was a van shoot with a difference. Neva Consultants fit out the inside of vans so we were photographing the inside to be made into wrap for the outside. See below, you’ll get the picture ;-) Great to be working with our neighbours Bea-utiful Design and Print again who did the wrap on this vehicle.

We had a Mercedes SL 320 in for the Gun Hill Treatment and as well as our collection of straight vehicle shots we threw a little wide angle lens action at it too.

A surprise bank holiday visit from The GB Sexpert and our kitchen wall is now adorned with a few tips! Rebecca has a new book out, 101 Sex Tips, for more info visit her website... http://www.thegreatbritishsexpert.co.uk

Gun Hill Studios took to the air for our local airstrip (yes folks, you can fly in by plane or helicopter to Deanland Airfield, just a 2 minute drive from the studio) and put together a series of images for Flight Sport Aviation’s new website. 

Friday 23rd October saw the first film night held at our new premises. It had been a dry day which came as quite a relief to the owners of the open top cars that came into the studio to be put on display. Our thanks go out to Bob Appleby who brought his Lotus 7 over and also to St John for trailering the Jaguara Racing car all the way from Southampton to take pride of place in the cove.

In addition to the two cars, we thought it only right to display a selection of motorbikes too so Mark from Reverb Motorcycles and his friend Andy brought along a Honda CB750 FII, a brat custom from 1978 now named ‘Rat Bat Blue’, a Honda CR750 - winner of the 2015 classic F750 and 1300 Multi-cylinder championships - and finally the incredibly rare Suzuki XR41 GS1000R F1 (there are only 3 in existence and this one was raced by Barry Sheen).

We had brought in the Little Beer Boutique with their fabulous horse box bar to provide the all important refreshments for the evening and stocked it with wine from Hailsham cellars and the branded Firle Hill Climb wine as well as the zesty and refreshing pale ale from the Gun Brewery.

Prestige Paintworks provided us with stacks of e-type tyres which worked marvellously with wooden trays on top as handy tables. 

The scene was now set and before we knew it we had a studio packed out with Hill Climbers and other specially invited guests. Chatting and mingling was in full swing by the time we put on our first short of the night...Rupert’s Motorbike Crash! Commentated by Rupert himself, the audience caught their breath, laughed, commiserated and applauded the tenacity of a man determined to get to the hill climb. 

A short break and a chat from Rob Bryant the Hill Climb organiser then lead us into the main feature. We’d shot from all areas on the hill and in the paddock and it was edited together into a 12 minute flavour of engine noise, speed, audience appreciation and many many wonderful cars.

The film will be available in due course on DVD and Blu-Ray. In the meantime all the pictures are still available at https://gunhillstudios.smugmug.com/Firle-Hill-Climb

A big thank you must also go to our wonderful events team Rachael and Claire who put in sterling work behind the bar and out front collecting glasses and taking names and generally keeping the place looking tidy.

Rounding off our week of the Bienville Legacy in residence was a wonderful trip to the Goodwood Revival. It was a great chance to catch up with Andrea from Poppyseed and the NEC Motor show gang. We are proud to announce that Gun Hill Studios are the official photographers at this years NEC Motor show so we’re looking forward to bringing you all the footage from that as it happens in November.

The week after Goodwood saw the studio packed out with chairs again for the Burgess Furniture shoot as well as GForces back in the house with yet another car.

Then saw this year’s trip to Sywell Pistons and Props, much action was shot, more links to galleries in due course....

Following on from Sywell it’s been Aston after Aston followed by...Mustangs! We’ve had the pleasure of shooting a V8 Volante for Byron International and a partly restored DB 2/4 with an incredible paint job courtesy of Prestige Paintworks. 

Drive Wild Horses brought us two of their Mustangs for a photo shoot. They have a selection of American Cars for hire as self drive vehicles and boy have they restored them beautifully. The interiors on these cars were immaculate! We look forward to bringing you a gallery of the whole shoot soon...

What started as a trip to the pub after Salon Prive ended with an overnight stay in Gerrards Cross and a fantastic meal with our Bienville friends. We were thrilled when they suggested they leave their stunning bike with us for four days instead of just the one.

We decided that The Six Bells on a Sunday lunchtime was the perfect place to get some opinions on The Bienville before it came into the studio and we weren’t disappointed. Thanks to some sunny weather the car park was full of motorbikes and the riders all crowded around to stare and chat and take photos of what is undeniably a work of art. Opinions were divided, discussions were had but mostly there was much appreciation for the craftsmanship.

Then started four days and nights of work with the bike in the cove. She has been photographed, filmed, spun, photographed some more, admired, stroked, filmed again and we didn’t really want to let her go when Thursday came around!

We had arranged for Toby from Fotospeed to bring along a Canon large format printer to demonstrate the beauty of printing straight from the camera. Josh from Canon also joined him to see this unique demonstration live in the studio.

The Bienville Legacy is a journey through time and as a homage to this we chose to let the guys behind this machine be involved in creating an image based on a technique that Picasso used of light painting their vehicle. The results were incredible and we were proud to present them with the printed image at the end of the shoot.

The bigger and better Gun Hill Studios is now up and running, here’s a little look back at the final week of building...

Monday 17th August...morning...plastering the lower curves on the side

Monday 17th August...evening...first bit of paint goes on the walls! An exciting moment!

Tuesday 18th August was a slightly frustrating day with not a lot going on whilst lots of drying took place.

Wednesday 19th August things were picking up again, the plasterers were back tackling the tricky corner pieces.

Thursday 20th August and there seems to be an awful lot to do. Electricians were in hanging our space lights and getting our dimmer panel wired up.

More screed and latex down on the floor to complete the smooth cove to floor transition...

Friday 21st August and the painting continues...in fact it’s never ending! Turntable primed and the infinite space is starting to become, well, infinite! Our dressing room, kitchen and toilet all had their latex levelling screed this morning and this afternoon had their vinyl and carpet put down.

Saturday 22nd August, space lights are hung, floating ceiling frame is in place and we’re still painting....meanwhile in other areas of the studio a kitchen is being fitted!

Sunday 23rd August and it’s the final countdown, we’re open tomorrow! The studio is a hive of activity, more plumbing, more - yes you guessed it - painting and a lot of tidying and dressing of the place.

And finally, after painting themselves to the door, Rupert and Andrea get to go home somewhere around 2am...

But here we have it, from this...

to this...

in just 5 weeks. 

We have dug out, sunk turntables, screeded 200 square metres, built a 10m wide x 10m deep x 5m high infinite cove, re-wired, built dressing room and kitchen and painted until our blisters had blisters and now we’re...

So here we are a week and a half away from opening and things are moving on a pace. Totally level floors in both shooting areas, awaiting a good sweep and a lot of paint once they’ve dried out properly. Having put the screed down in the cove first this will be completely finished and ready to rock over the next week.

With plasterers due to arrive tomorrow to plaster the flat sections of the cove walls the builder chaps set about getting our kitchen and dressing room / vocal booth built. Kitchen should also arrive tomorrow so there’s just the little matter of getting that installed and plumbed in too.

The curve supports are all ready for Friday when the curve should be properly fixed for plastering.

And perhaps the thing I’m most excited about is the power possibilities now we have three phase on tap!

Still super hectic juggling building, editing, social media...blah blah blah...

Quick update from the new build - cove walls are being built at the moment and they’re much higher than in our old studio, reaching a full 5m to the left and across the back with a slightly lower wall on the right for filming / lighting / viewing from the walkway.

Some of the roof lights are being covered tomorrow so a quick wash down was in order once the builders had finished with the scissor lift for the day.

And to give you a sense of scale here’s a little panoramic from the back of the cove.

So here we are back from a crazy wet weekend at the Silverstone Classic (more on that later) and we’ve finally got a moment to update you all on the progress of the studio!

The beginning of last week saw the bulk of our equipment packed up and moved into temporary storage at our audio facility, leaving just the turntable, floating ceiling and lighting rig to be moved. Looking at the busy schedule ahead of us it seemed like Thursday was as good a time as ever to get the whole lot dismantled and loaded into a van. There was a short debate on appropriate footwear as Emma bounced in ready for the day sporting flip flops and immediately tried to take a toe off with the end of a metal sheet...Rupert had taken the sensible option of steel toe-caps...think we can all learn a lesson there!

Several trips later and the original turntable was stacked against the wall in the new building ready for installation. 

Fast forward a few days to yesterday when the chaps from Spin-it arrived with our enormous new turntable. Drawing on our experiences in the old place we have made some changes to the design of our new cove. Our main turntable is 5m in diameter, large enough for any car (including that long wheel base Phantom!) and has the added advantage of a socket on the turntable. Being able to plug in and spin is a really exciting prospect not only for our spinning work but also for some of our video and TV work. 

And here is our new finished turntable sitting proudly, awaiting the screed around the outside...