New Video: Simon's Cat Logic,'Territory'

Here's a new video I've just made (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd. This episode looks into Territory.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic,'Playtime'

Here's a new video I've just made (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd. This episode looks into Playtime.

New Video: Simon's Cat Care 'Looking After Kittens'

This is the second episode in a series of 'Cat Care with Nicky' web videos that I'm directing for the Simon's Cat channel. Over the years I've been shooting and editing a lot of the 'extra' video content for the Simon's Cat YouTube channel.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic 'Body Language'

Here's a new video I've just made (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd. This episode looks into Cat Body Language.

New Video: Simon's Cat Care 'Kittens'

Here's a new video I've just made (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd. This is the first episode in a new informative web series all about looking after cats.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic 'Water'

Here's the latest episode in the series 'Simon's Cat Logic' I have been putting together (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd.

New Video: Simon's Cat BTS 'Art Direction'

Here's the third in a series of short 'Behind the Scenes' videos I was asked to make for the Simon's Cat YouTube channel. In this episode Art Director Isobel Stenhouse describes her approach to bringing colour to the Simon's Cat (animated) world for the first time.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic ep08 'Hunting'

Here's the eighth episode in the series 'Simon's Cat Logic' I have been putting together (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic ep07 'Feeding'

Here's the seventh episode in the series 'Simon's Cat Logic' I have been putting together (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic ep06 'Cleaning

Here's the sixth episode in the series 'Simon's Cat Logic' I have been putting together (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic ep05 'Sleeping Places'

Here's the fifth episode in the series 'Simon's Cat Logic' I have been putting together (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic ep04 'Boxes'

Here's the fourth episode in the series 'Simon's Cat Logic' I have been putting-together (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd.

New Video: Simon's Cat Logic ep03 'Let Me In / Let Me Out'

Here's the third episode of 'Simon's Cat Logic'. This is the web series I make for Simon's Cat Ltd. Simon's Cat creator Simon Tofield and cat behaviour expert Nicky Trevorrow discuss the 'ins and outs' of cat behaviour.

Simon's Cat Logic: ep2 gets a million views

Here's the second episode in the web series Simon's Cat Logic I put together for Simon's Cat Ltd. Launched for Valentine's Day a couple of weeks ago, this episode asks 'Do cats fall in love?'. The series features Simon's Cat creator Simon Tofield together with cat behaviour expert Nicky Trevorrow and is a Simon's Cat/Cats Protection collaboration.

New Video Series: Simon's Cat Logic

This is the first episode of a new series of videos I'm putting together (directing/shooting/editing) for Simon's Cat Ltd. It's a fun and factual series of videos featuring Simon Tofield talking about his work with cat behaviour tips from Nicky Trevorrow of Cats Protection.

The live action interviews were shot using the Canon C100 camera (both mark 1 & 2 models were used here), the first edit is done in Premiere then the fancy second edit in After Effects.

I hope the Internet enjoy this video, there are more to follow ...

New Book Promo Video for Simon's Cat

Today is the launch of Simon Tofield's new cartoon book 'Off To The Vet.'
I shot and cut this promotional/interview video for Simon's Cat Ltd. and the publisher Canongate Books.

I've been working on quite a few more 'corporate' video projects over the last couple of months, but most of these are 'secret' things that can't be shared. It's nice that the video work I make for Simon's Cat at least gets a decent airing. I wish Simon and his team continuing success.

Simon Draws 'Squirrels'

Here's a newly-released episode in the Simon Draws series of videos I put-together for the Simon's Cat YouTube channel.

We recorded Simon Tofield talking whilst he's drawing to make these entertaining tutorial-style videos. Simon draws these digitally using a Wacom tablet and Adobe Flash software. We captured his drawing performance directly using the Quicktime 'Screen Capture' option.

The audio was recorded simultaneously using my Tascam DR07 mk II recorder and Rode VideomicPro microphone. The editing on these videos is pretty minimal; we combine the best takes and put these together on one 'page', then round the episodes off to a neat three minutes each. Although we use 'best takes' and cut-out unnecessary pauses, we don't speed-up the drawing footage, so these really do show what a talented artist Simon Tofield is.

The music track was composed specifically for these by Russell Pay a.k.a 'Shrooty'.

Simon's Cat 'Vet Visit' - Half a Million Hits!

Here's the latest video I made for Simon's Cat Ltd. It was uploaded to the Simon's Cat YouTube channel just before Christmas and has clocked-up over 500,000 views already. In this video we follow Simon Tofield on a reserch visit to the UK headquarters of the Cats Protection charity in Sussex.

Vet Visit: New Video for Simon's Cat

Just released online, here's the new video I made for Simon's Cat Ltd. In this film we see Simon's Cat creator Simon Tofield going on a day-trip to the UK Headquarters of the Cats Protection charity in Sussex. I wrote a short blog post about the trip here.

I shot this video using the Canon C100, Canon 24-105 f4 lens and Senheiser G3 lav radio mic. kit. For support I used my Manfrotto monopod.

You can read more about the visit on the Cats Protection blog here or at the Simon's Cat website here.

Out Shooting With the Canon C100

Vet Emily Billings, Simon Tofield and me (Chris Gavin) with the C100 camera. Photo by Emma Burch.

Last week I was out for the day shooting for Simon's Cat Ltd. The plan was to follow Simon's Cat creator Simon Tofield on a visit to the Cats Protection Headquarters in Sussex. The visit has been documented already on the official Simon's Cat website.

I travelled with Simon and producer Emma Burch by train to Haywards Heath, and we spent a good day being shown around the site and meeting the very dedicated staff there.

My role was to shoot documentary material there which will appear shortly as an online video. I knew we would need to be pretty nimble at the location and we would be shooting some interviews too, so I took along a rented Canon C100 camera and not too much other gear. I needed a very portable system for one-man shooting and capturing usable audio too.

This was my first time out with the C100 and I really enjoyed using it, especially compared to using DSLRs like my Canon 600D. We hired the C100, the 24-105/2.8L Canon zoom lens and a Senheiser lav radio mic kit from Cameraworks.

I ended up shooting everything with my Manfrotto 561BHDV-1 monopod. I find this one (with its tiny fold-out feet) gives pretty good stability while being quick to deploy and move around for this kind of rapid shot-getting. The Canon 24-105 zoom lens turned out to be a real time-saver too, so I never did use the tripod or three other lenses I brought with me 'just in case'.

The camera turned out to be a real star. It was possible to get good pictures under difficult indoors and subdued lighting conditions: having proper tools to monitor focus and audio whilst recording was such a joy too. I'll certainly be using one of these again soon.