Like an Egg Productions makes films for business and communities

Astroid Boys are back with one all mighty bang!!! They’ve returned with one of the tunes of the summer. Having collaborated with the group on the video for their previous hit ‘BadA$$’ we fully understood what style they wanted. Making a music video is very much a collaboration between musicians and filmmakers, a culmination of creative minds. As with all musicians, letting go of the creative control of something that is very close to their hearts is always difficult. But having previously worked closely with the group they already trusted us implicitly . We enjoy the process and getting what an artist wants is just as important as getting a great music video. The music always comes first and must influence what kind of video is made.

So when the Astroid Boys returned to us with their new single “minging” we knew we weren’t going to be making a beautiful music video, quite the opposite. What quickly became apparent when listening to the track is that it was going to be raising pulses and making crowds jump all summer long. Taking the best elements of rock, rap, grime and dub-step the guys have created their own genre with an energy filled track. You’d have a challenge to find anything similar and be hard pushed not to nod your head to this.

The video was shot over two days when the sun shone over Cardiff. The mood shifts throughout the video with some extreme slow-mo to some very fast edits. It hurt Chris slightly to make the footage even more “minging” but the result fits perfectly. With over 13,000 hits in five days it’s the start of something big for the Astroid Boys!

April has quickly turned out to be another hectic month for Like An Egg. Off the back of the quality and swift turnaround of the Welsh Water advert, we were soon again approached by Golley Slater to produce an online advert for the Department of Work and Pensions. Thankfully this time we had a little more than 5 days for pre-production, but the task was no less of a challenge.

The ad is specifically aimed at separated parents, and how they can continue to work together to help their child through life’s challenges. It follows two parents as they take turns to help their son overcome obstacles – both literal and figurative – as he grows up. The idea was to keep everything flowing smoothly on screen with some slick transitions as the boy ages from a six to eighteen in the space of a minute. This meant a lot of time was needed in pre-production to meticulously plan and storyboard each section.

Like the Welsh Water ad, production time was limited to just two days. Unfortunately these two days happened to fall on one of the wettest weekends for quite a while, with half of the ad set outdoors! But we carried on regardless, and its unlikely many viewers will even notice just how wet it was. Locations were also key to the project, but one of the benefits of being based in the Valleys is that we are never short of great looking settings and people willing to help.

Currently we are finalising the edit for the ad, though we are already very proud of what we’ve achieved again considering the circumstances. But we would not have achieved it without the fantastic team we had involved on this project. Everyone in every area of production were on top form and were always able to think on their feet. They also made production a fun and enjoyable experience, and in many ways that’s what its all about.

Look out for the advert here soon.

We know that what sets us apart from our competitors is our ability to rise to any given challenge. We pride ourselves on our ability to make any idea happen, whether they’re big or small we conquer the obstacles and pressures we face. So when Golley Slater, one of Wales’ biggest ad agencies came calling with an idea no-one else could do, we got extremely excited! Welsh Water wanted an advert to be played on the big screen during the Wales-England rugby Six Nations game in the Millennium Stadium.

The challenge that lay ahead was a tricky little seven day turnaround from pre-production to completion. But this didn’t deter us; over the years we’ve built up strong relationships with our community, the key to our success. A few phone-calls, favours and meetings later we were ready to shoot.

Production was limited to two busy days but with our hard work and the great directing skills of Luke Jacobs we were able to capture some breath-taking footage. We filmed all over South Wales and Rob got to play with the awesome Sony FS700. Post-production was a quick two-day challenge but we knuckled down and put it all together.

We’re immensely proud of what we created in such a short space of time. The advert is evidence of the high standard of work we continue to create at Like An Egg. We look forward to expanding our client list and testing ourselves again in the future.

Below is an extended cut of the advert we made without the voice over.

Like an Egg are ecstatic to announce that we’ve been named Best Enterprise for the Welsh region in the Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards.

Last week we traveled down to the Wales Millennium Centre for the business pitch and awards ceremony. Chris even put some smart trousers on and left his shorts at home. At the ceremony we met some other great businesses such as North Wales Hydro Power Ltd and Dr Zigs who made some impressive giant bubbles.

We were proud just to be considered for the award but when they announced we’d won we couldn’t believe it!

We will receive £5,000 for winning and we’re already planning what equipment we’re going to use the money to invest in. We’ve also been given a mentor that will offer invaluable knowledge and they’ll help us as we continue to expand our company.

As we’ve won the regional award we’ve qualified for the national Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards Grand Final held in April. We look forward to another awards dinner networking with other companies on a national scale.

This award symbolizes the hard work that we’ve put into the company over the last two years. We’ve grown from nothing to an award winning young business, but we won’t stop there. We’ll continue to evolve and we look forward to the exciting future we have ahead of us.

It’s been an exciting start to the year for Like an Egg as we’ve finally found a great place in Pontypridd to be our new studio!

Finding somewhere we can call home was a challenge as we’re not your typical tenants. Our environment needed to allow us to work both efficiently and creatively. This of course led us right next door to the Otley Pub in Trefforest. Very convenient for those clients wanting to have a meeting outside of the office! But more importantly we’ve found the perfect open plan studio that allows us to work together and exchange ideas.

We’ve been decorating for a few days and we’re more than pleased with the result.  Posters of our work hang proudly on the wall between other film memorabilia we’ve amassed. The studio reflects our love for film and the work we do. Why don’t you come have a look for yourself? Give us a call and come in for a cup of tea!

We can’t wait to get started on new projects in fresh surroundings. Our studio is ready and so are we!

It’s been a busy few months to end a fantastic year for Like an Egg productions. It has been made all the more exciting by the release of a new music video that we made back in October. Bridgend band When We Were Wolves came to us wanting a video that suited their highly emotive and ferocious new single “Hounds.”

With a very tight deadline the video was shot over four busy days and edited in just one week.   The video features some of the most talented actors Wales has to offer. These include George Goding as a homeless man, Lisa Zahara and Jack Brown as a troubled young couple and Nicholas McGaughey as a grieving father.

For such a long song it was essential we got the balance right between the story elements and the performance. We also had a great crew for the performance section including Luke Jacobs, Chris ‘CJ’ Jacobi and Cyrus Mirza Shafa.

We are very happy with the result, check it out for yourselves.

It’s fair to say that sometimes we find ourselves involved in some rather unusual projects. Last week was no exception as Artes Mundi came calling. Artes Mundi is one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art competitions and it’s held biannually in Wales.  One of the featured artists in this year’s competition was Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera. We had the pleasure of filming her famous piece Tatlins Whisper #5.

We set up our cameras around the great hall in the National Museum of Wales before the 150 strong crowd arrived. We then slipped in amongst the unsuspecting crowd before the piece began. Suddenly two impressive horses appeared with South Wales Police officers mounted on top of them. Within the amazing backdrop of the National Museum the audience were controlled and herded around for 20 minutes in a fantastic emulation of police crowd control.

This was a definitely one of the most surreal projects we’ve worked on but this made it even more enjoyable and exciting for us. Take a look at the video to see this incredible piece of contemporary art.

Atlantic College is part of the United World College and is based in St Donat’s on the south coast of Wales. The school is set in the stunning location of St Donat’s Castle, which overlooks the bay. This year the school celebrated its 50th Anniversary. To celebrate this occasion and share the events with the world we were asked to live broadcast key events online.
Using state of the art equipment we streamed the events live across the globe. The feedback has been fantastic with the USA College Principle stating, “it was like being in the same room.”

We were also commissioned by the College to create their brand new promo video and document the 50th Anniversary celebrations including a visit from Queen Noor of Jordan. The school is in such a beautiful part of the world, which gave us a fantastic array of imagery to use. We filmed a wide collection of different events ranging from rock climbing to workshops and a performance from their choir.

Our aim was to capture the beauty of the college alongside the fun and laughter the young people were having there. We definitely achieved our aims with the video, see for yourself below.

The Wales Millennium Centre or WMC as it is affectionately known in Cardiff is one of the UK’s best and most iconic theatres. We are always excited to work with the WMC team, as they never fail to challenge our creativity and bring new expectations to what we do.

They asked us to film a piece of stunning areal theatre, performed on top of their fantastic building.  It was produced over a 24 hour period including an intense overnight edit to get it ready for Cardiff’s Paralympic celebrations. But we thrived under the short time restraints, creating an emotive film that not only captures the skill of the performers but also the beauty of the building.

We were also asked to produce a promo video showing the other elements of Cardiff’s Paralympic celebrations.  Unfortunately weather somewhat dampened the evening, but those that braved the wet weather were treated to some great performances and spectacular fireworks.  We also provided the live footage for the big screen making it a busy shift for the team. However we rose to the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed playing our part in the Paralympic celebrations!

At Like an Egg we love making music videos but we never get to make enough of them! We’ve found that artists are struggling to fund their videos after the expense of producing their music. This is a shame, as a great music video can do so much more than act as another format to get people to listen to your music. We approach music videos in the same way we approach any promotional video. We ask what is the artist trying to sell? While a promotional video for a business may lean heavier on the substance over style, when it comes to music video the style informs the substance. Meaning what you’re trying to say needs to come from the style portrayed in the video. Recently a fantastic opportunity arose to create a video for a Cardiff rap group called the ‘Astroid Boys’. Our brief was to make a video that captured their lives as skateboarding, care-free, young kids. The influence of Larry Clark’s ‘Kids’ on the lives of the band perhaps makes the undercurrent of the video a little unnerving. We used the 90’s heavily in our style choices bringing a bit of grunge to the dubstep sound of the band. Any excuse to play with aspect ratios and filters! Adding layers to music video is what makes them stand out. We felt the song has a certain carnival feel so we decided to shoot them skating in the funfair at Porthcawl. To continue the carnival atmosphere we thought a clown party would be a great scene to cut in. It was a fun day of filming that gave us some brilliant memorable images. A big thanks to our team of clowns, they were all amazing! We are so pleased with the final result, especially in achieving the brief that was set. Enjoy the video and let us know what you think. Ten points and a bag of popcorn for those who spot the film references!