This year, as the door creaks open on All Hallows' Eve, a legend will be reborn. Determined to put a smile on your face is the not so grim Reaper. That’s right, on October the 31st the big man in the hooded cape will be hitting the dance floor and you’re invited to the premiere.

Welcome to the world of DEAD GOOD.

Dead Good started life as a short film but it quickly became clear the story was destined for a longer run and after all, this is the era of the series. Netflix, Amazon and HBO. Box sets has replaced the one off as we watch the on-going adventures of robots, gangsters and the folk beyond the wall. Everyone’s looking for longer formats.

Developed over 13 episodes the series tells the story of The Reaper’s search for acceptance, as a dancer. Understandably for most people steppin' out with Death isn’t top of their wish list so the Reaper is forced to take matters into his own hands. In classic genre style our hero puts together his own crew of misfits to take on the establishment and the world of street dance will never be the same again.

Script written, time to make a sizzle, put the look and feel down for all to see. But sizzles are speculative, traditionally having no production budget, so it was time to ask some very talented people for more than a little professional help. First…

GRIM NEEDED A COSTUME. Luckily there’s some expertise in the family. Lou Prechezer worked on Sleepy Hollow and The Phantom Menace so she knows a thing or too about the dark side. The challenge was to develop Grim’s classic look but not in a horror style. We kept the hooded shape but we used mirrored shades to bring sparkle to the inner hood. Trademark Adidas Ultrastar 80s, Run DMC style, gave him the Hip Hop vibe and if you look closely you’ll see the legend “Grim” sequined across the back, Strictly eat your heart out. Now it was time for the iconic prop.

NO SCYTHE NO REAPER. The fabulous Derek Brown created something totally original out of driftwood and sculptured metal. It’s was huge and we listed it in the call sheet's risk assessment as an “action prop”. Luckily it was never wielded .

BLACK AND WHITE. I always wanted to shoot the sizzle in widescreen black and white, a classic look for dance videos and movies like La Haine and The Artist. The immensely talented Cliff Evans – see Wine Show – made the dream a reality and we were lucky to have George Simpson AKA SteadyG on steadycam. We shot on an Arri Amera capturing raw colour and then Danny Coster’s team at Locomotion London – graded by Jon Davy – created the wonderful widescreen image. Edited by Ben Harrex at Final Cut. Music was thanks to James Edward Baker and sound by Zane Hayward.

THE CAST. Came from Brighton based dance guru JP Omari, owner of Marine Studios – his young crews have won Street Dance championships all over Europe and you can see them every year at Straight Up which he stages at Brighton’s Dome - the event was somewhat of an inspiration for the story structure of a dance championship.  It was through JP that I discovered Amelie Hurley, the film’s lead. This young lady is sure to have a bright future given her immensely watchable and charming performance. Talent.

THE GRIM REAPER.  Now for the big man in the hooded cape. Dancing in such a costume was like a work out in a hamam, not to mention the challenge of almost zero visibility. So who achieved the miracle? Watch out on social media and all will be revealed but let’s just say he’s a magician, dancer and his bones are quite magical.

Dead Good was an amazingly refreshing experience, a chance to create something original. Here's the trailer I hope you enjoy the sizzle - out on Halloween - and we all look forward to shooting the whole 13 episodes. 

Been to Heathrow lately?

If not, watch out… Wagamama’a new T5 22-metre widescreen is attracting humungous attention. Part signage, part display, this massive offering pumps out mouth-watering food 

The T-Rex of Tabletop. 

But how does a director prepare to shoot for such a giant screen? Can a 16:9 image be adapted or are we talking brave new world?

With a lot of experience in cinema-style-ratios, systems such as Hawk and Panavision anamorphic, I knew we had to adapt our thought process for such a giant ratio, but an early test and conversations with the screen’s supplier determined that anamorphics were out, potential distortion. So we needed to work within a 16:9 frame at a resolution that would hold up when most of your image is surplus to requirements. 

Danny Coster and his team at Locomotion established that shooting 4K would give us enough resolution for the 22:2 frame and we began storyboarding based on our new tech spec. Also, working directly for the client meant no agency backup. We had to get it right and we only had 2 days to shoot over forty set ups. So...

High speed special effects – EG: PHANTOM see Philips blender, were out. Too expensive and no way to pump high light levels into a live restaurant without frying the diners. This was all about appetising food shot in a quirky appealing way. We needed to be clean and straightforward, like the dishes. Locomotion had previously shot stop frame for Wagamama Takeaway so we knew a more graphic animated route worked. 

Shot on location at Wagamam Great Marlborough Street excellent home economist Lisa Harrison teamed up with my talented camera crew of The Wine Show fame: Cliff Evans and Jamie Knights. Whether it’s tabletop, location or UFC breakdown these guys can make it look great, but this was a real mission. 

We decided to use the live restaurant downstairs to give depth / a big backdrop and set up two mini tabletop studios upstairs on the mezzanine. Directing both simultaneously was a task - you should have seen the spreadsheets needed to coordinate the storyboards,  almost as epic as the giant screen.

But how did we view the monster 22:2 frames?  Trade secret.  No, joking aside, we programmed a mattes into the monitors and split the result between two displays. In fact the technical challenge wasn’t the monitoring it was working out how to shoot that wide. You have to retrain your brain to use a whole different set of lenses and staging, or else you end up with a twenty two metre mouth eating noodles, not so nice. Luckily…

The result was stunning.

In fact the campaign was so successful we went on to shoot social media content for Wagamama displayed on Instagram, Snapchat and other platforms.

That's waga-tastic!

Finally, it's official!

The Wine Show will begin its run in April - ITV4 Sunday 10th April + ITV1 Saturday 16th. The 13-part, one hour shows will be hosted by Matthew Goode and Matthew Rhys. Yes that's Matthew Goode of Downtown Abbey and Matthew Rhys, star of The Americans.

After nine months filming on location - Australia, Chile, USA, France and Europe - the show ended in my homeland, Italy. Why? Because in every show Mr Goode and Mr Rhys search for a wine that represents the spirit of Italy. Completing a "mission" set by wine guru Joe Fattorini.  It's a wine-off and believe me, things get quite competitive.

Our Italian Odyssey kicked off in Rome where my loyal camera crew decided to test their crane, inside the hotel room. As the afore mentioned piece of kit was too big for the executive double they opened the window, allowing the camera to poke out into the street, directly above... a nunnery. Needless to say the pole was immediately retracted. Papal disasters avoided we moved onto a story about ancient wine and, as Mr Rhys eloquently put it, the bouquet crossed "manure with leather". What he didn't know was that our Roman historian had added her own secret ingredient - cheese. Believe me, there was no acting in the ensuing facial expressions, it was pure Stanislavsky. All of that before we'd even left the capital. I won't tell you what happened at a barrel race in Montepluciano, just watch on April 10th or 16th.

In short it was a lot of fun, and I'm proud to say that's reflected onscreen. It was great to work with actors and presenters on longer form dialogue and interesting to shoot multi-camera links as well as actuality.

Back to the present April has also brought more stories from the octagon, and two more shows for UFC FIGHTNIGHT. There was also a new TVC for ALPEN GOLD which will premier in the next spotlight, and post production on a secret table-top project that's going to appear on a massive screen at Heathrow later this year.

I hope you all enjoy The Wine Show, love to know your thoughts.