posted on November 17th, 2011 by Andrew No Comments »
After a month filled with shoots in Norway, Nigeria and Italy, Pukka wrapped the final day of shooting for its latest Saipem film in Wimbledon studios.
Inside the Wimbledon warehouse space was a full-scale recreation of an Indonesian bazaar, complete with skeins of fabrics, a massive spread of spices, and a real live wok filled with a steaming batch of curry (which, having been stirred vigorously all morning, was complete mush by lunchtime). Despite the miniskirts pictured above, it was actually quite chilly on set, so the cast and crew gathered around a massive heat lamp between takes. Later, we actually wound up using the lamp’s red light to cast an ominous glow on the threshold of a brothel door.
We rounded out the day with a steamy bedroom scene featuring two (nearly) nude actors and some crazy, lo-fi video effects conceived by Paul. While the actors got a bit raunchy in bed, Fergus and Rill used two video projectors to place images of gonorrhea, syphilis, and other nasty STDs growing on their skin.
After shooting, the Pukka crew packed up and went on their way, but not before grabbing some veg and spices from the market — there’s no need to let a delicious-looking sack of whole onions go to waste!
posted on November 10th, 2011 by Andrew No Comments »
It’s that time of year (or more specifically that month in the year) when despite the protests of our wives and girlfriends, the Pukka team have joined forces to raise money for Prostate Cancer by growing their Mo’s.
Dan looks like something out of True Blood, Paul has something of the RAF about him, Fergus has gone for the Mexican look and I’m just about hanging in there with my hairier colleagues. As for Ana, I think she thinks we’re all mad…
posted on October 22nd, 2011 by Andrew No Comments »
The Pukka crew have just returned with the rushes of their third big drama for Italian clients, Saipem. Shoots in Norway, Italy and Nigeria have been completed with another coming up in exotic Wimbledon.
The Italian leg was a welcome extension to the summer with blisteringly hot days and a wide range of locations (thanks Ivano!). After long hours we ate like kings and on a couple of occasions were serenaded in the bar by our principle actor, Samuel Anderson.
The last night was the moment everyone had been waiting for, when Dave Judge’s stunt boys performed a 50mph car crash, obliterating a Fiat Punto at 3 in the morning. Rinse, who drove the car, told us afterwards that it’s important to scream before impact to expel air from your lungs and avoid injury – but we think it’s because he’s a scaredy cat.
Barely any time to sweep up the broken glass, and we were on a flight to Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Our armed escort of non-smiling security with AK 47s was waiting and chaperoned us through the towns and villages to the Saipem yard. A security induction included phrases like ‘killing zone’, ‘Mortar Fire’ and ‘wait for the all-clear’ and lots of handy tips on what to do ‘in the event of an attack on the base’. Fingers crossed, then.
A day and a half’s filming flew by in the tropical humidity and before we knew it we were bouncing back down the potholed roads to the airport again. We had just enough time to snap a pic with our (now smiling) security before entering the purgatory of customs and collapsing onto the flight home.
We have just completed a series of films for NEST (National Employment Savings Trust) to launch a new scheme for providing employees with an automatic workplace pension.
We had three days to put the pitch together and came up with the idea of a man having a conversation about pensions with himself at four different ages. You can see the result here
This was a very complex shoot technically and logistically and, achieved in a very short timescale (less than two weeks from shoot to delivery).
CLIENT COMMENT “As part of our work to raise awareness of NEST in the run up to the launch of the scheme, we commissioned a series of short films. Our objectives were to inform people about pension reform, generate support for this change in workplace pension provision and educate them about the role NEST will play in delivering the reform.
We had just over a month from sending out RFQs to delivery of the films. We needed three audience-specific films and we anticipated an approach similar to films we had commissioned previously. So we were happily surprised to receive a creative approach that delivered complex messaging in a highly original and accessible way with a central idea that reinvents the way you look at the subject.
We were keen to do more than just ‘tick boxes’ with this communication and feel we have successfully delivered a series of films that will engage our audiences through comedy whilst informing them.
It is too early to measure effectiveness of the films beyond informal feedback. So far that has been very positive from across the full spectrum of our stakeholders. We certainly consider it a valuable piece of communications.”
Decision Aids are designed for patients with certain conditions who are facing healthcare decisions prompted by the alternative treatments available. They are used to facilitate shared decision making by providing the information that helps patients weigh up all the treatment options available to them, based on different consequences, long and short-term outcomes and support the process of constructing preferences appropriate to their individual situation.
Commissioned by Addenbrookes Hospital, we developed and produced the first set of UK decision aids in 2008 for localized prostate cancer and BPH. Subsequently in 2010 we delivered a knee replacement PDA and are now working on a further set of films for hip replacement, cataracts and end stage renal failure.
Structuring these communications to achieve the right balance of medical information and patient anecdote makes the development process challenging, especially given that our patient contributors have to be handled with great sensitivity (as do many of the consultants!). Given their importance as a recognized treatment option in and of themselves, we have been required to work closely with senior consultants and subject matter experts ensuring that all contributors stay on message and that where there are competing interests between policy and clinicians the films deliver the correct policy messages. There have also been the logistic challenges of finding the right patients and juggling multiple availabilities on the same shoot days.
“We were very pleased with the relationship that developed with your team and your immense patience with our developing materials and lengthy consultation. Please accept our sincere thanks for all your help and for an excellent finished result.”
Dr Mary Archer, Chairman, Addenbrookes Hospital
It has been shown that Decision support interventions have performed better than usual care interventions in a number of ways – including, most crucially, by showing reduced rates of elective invasive surgery in favour of conservative treatment options. This in turn has resulted in lower treatment costs across the health service.
We’ve worked extensively with the NHS and DH over the years, making films for Connecting for Health, the DH, NHS Direct and NHS Choices, as well as many PCTs and SHAs.
To see how the NHS use the Decision Aids films please click here
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