So there has been some debate in my family about the best Christmas advert.

My brother says it is the John Lewis advert, were as my mother would say its been the whole aldi campaign. What do you think?

There has been plenty of things that have been catching my eye recently from web to tv. For me its very important for me to keep up with what other people are doing and getting inspired by them and their creations.

TELLY BOX

Firstly lets talk TV. If you have ever met me or following me on twitter you probably know I love cooking baking and good food programmes and one of my favorite cookery show is back for a second series.... The Great British Baker on BBC 2, Tuesdays, 8:00pm. I love this programme, it's like some of the programmes I worked on. Its great to see a cookery show with ordinary people creating some awesome cakes, tart, breads etc and on the other hand there are some disasters. In the first ep they were baking cakes and one contestant (i won't say who) accidentally pushes their cake off their work bench and it splats onto the floor, they were so upset and you can really identify with them. I thought I was a good cook but looking at these contestants I have a lot more learning to do.

The judges on the show are great too. Merry Berry and Paul Hollywood (what a name) and there knowledge and palettes are amazing! when they taste any of the food the can identify anything that may have gone a bit wrong, they are truly amazing. This show is defiantly worth a watch.

If you enjoy baking as much as I do have a look at Edd Kimber's (winner of last years Great British Bake Off) website, with some great recipes on there.

WEB VIDEO

This is a fun little idea which digitalrevtv are trying out... "Levitation Photography" Defiantly going to have a go at making some after watching this. 

DESIGN

Watched a  LA Creative Morning where the speaker was a guy called Bobby Solomon creator of The Fox Is Black a website/blog where he and his team share designers creations and is updated every day which is good. There are also wallpapers created by amazing designers from all over the world, and a chance to widen your musical knowledge with the musical mixtapes. I think this is going to be one of my favorite pages. The ones you go on and check when you first switch on your computer at work.

So I was very lucky to be lent this Zoom for a project to test out and see how it would work with my Cannon.

It was really put to the test as I was filming a conference where I was filming every day and also camping for a week.

The Zoom is easy to use and has the potential to really record some great sound. What I discovered was that it was easy to record bad sound.

I was using the zoom mics as the shockmount I have ordered for my me66 had not arrived. That meant the set up of my cannon was basic with the zoom mounted on top and headphones plugged in. The Mics then picked up a lot of the camera clicks from changing appiture and even when really quiet the focus wheel. Who new my camera was SO LOUD.

Also I found that when interviewing/voxpop (in a field somewhere) To get great sound you had to have the zoom quite close to the subject, which is sometime not possible as people who are not used to it don't like a camera shoved in their face. Saying this though I am still going to get myself one and when my mount comes in the post I can mount this onto of my camera if a radio mic is not possible to use. What I loved was have the control back of the sound from the volume the monitoring and the different options it gives me from plugging in xlr and 1/4 inch jacks. 

I think the test was useful to see when, where and in what situations I will need it. The next stage now I have recored the footage and the sound separately is syncing them up together. For this I have downloaded a 30 trial of a programme called Prysm. I will post the results of an interview on this blog.

Over the very long April/May holiday we have just had I managed to go to Switzerland for the last week of the ski season. I went to learn how to snowboard, something that I have watched for many years on the telly always thought its what rich people get to do. I thought it would be now or never and I have to say I am glad I did it. I had a six day ski pass and 5 days of tuition. As I used to skateboard in my teenage years I thought I would get it no probs. How wrong was I!! Each day my friend asked me "from your experience so far would you come back?" This is how i responded.... Day 1 NO. Day 2. YES (it was a good lesson). Day 3 NO. (very bad lesson thinking why am I on this stupid mountain) Day 4 YES. Day 5. YES I CAN TURN!!! Day 6. YES (but earlier in the season) 

The last day it was all up to me. I had to motivate myself, no one else could do it for me and the first run didn't go so well. My body was exhausted and in the morning the snow was just ice. There were lots of snowballs made of ice around and if you hit them you would crash. Went out later and that was much better but you could see the snow had melted so much that now and again you skimmed over the rock face that was appearing through the snow.

Now looking back at my holiday now..... I would say it was amazing. The achievement that even though it took me awhile to get there, I can now snowboard. I am even thinking about when I can get down to the snow-dome to carry on improving my new found skills before I it the mountains again.

I wanted to share about my holiday as an encouragement really to say keep at it. I could have given up so many times but I battled through the bad times and pushed on towards my goal (which was being able to turn and come back with no broken bones). I can say that I completed both my goals and gained confidence and am proud with everything I accomplished that week.

Well I can't believe just how quick this has come around. This week Sarah Cogdon Films turned 1!

I guess this is a great opportunity to look back at my year and remember some of the great projects I have had the privilege to produce and a look forward to what I want for the forth coming year.

Lets have a look back first. Well I will have to start with the amazing people I have met. Knowing no one and having not the best business skills I have been very fortunate to have found great support from local companies and friends. So thanks to Business on Toast (the networking group) that welcomed me in and saw the potential in me, Yvonne Gorman, the lass with the wooooo and knows everyone who is anyone. Sara Gration for her support and knowledge of accounting.... wow their are so many people thinking about it.... Simon Thacker, Clive Astin, Anthony and Nina Flint, Craig Barker, Chris and Ange at cacuts, Chris Redsaw (for one of the most interesting clients this past year) Mark and Mike at S4G who have give me the opportunity to unleash my creativity on their promos. Lets not forget my IT support from Anthony Lay. Oh and Pete, Russ and my bro Andy at CCT who probably got a bit sick of me turning up asking advice and their opinions on things. There are so many more people but we would be here forever if i named everyone.

So what have I done this year? Well its been diverse to say the least from bi-folding doors to running round fields filming and adventure 10k run. Produced a documentary for a pitch to Derby FC and even filmed a mens conference. I have been developing my motion graphic skills and produced a fully motion graphic ad for S4G's TukTuk challenge which has to be one of my favorite things I have produced this year. More recently I have received a new client who wanted to produce some short sketches of what not to do at a tribunal for a session at their companies annual conference. I had a great time working with them. Apparently it went down a storm and look forward to working again with them later in the year. 

What about this next year then? Well I am looking forward to what's in store. I am always on the lookout for new clients and have a list of people I would love to work will. With the sun starting to shine again its the best time for film making. I am in the process of designing some new promotional material (some nice dvd covers for my new showreel) which I have recently produced so look out for them when they are finished. Now I have my new HD camera I am really stepping up my projects, so this year like every other I am sure I will be learning lots (new technology just keeps on coming). But the more I learn the more my clients benefit.

I am off on holiday next week and but have quite a few bookings when I get back, filming for a record label, a online travel magazine and another film for the bi-folding company.

See you all when I get back from my snowboarding trip.

Sarah

Why hello!

So this is my new site. How do you like it? I am still in the process of building and tweaking but let me know what you think. There is plenty to explore and watch so hang around and stay tuned.

Sarah