Rogue Robot's Blog

2012-01-26T15:16:00.000Z

2012 and we still haven't colonised the moon. But we have been working hard here, producing 45 HD motion graphics for an awards ceremony on behalf of Q-Base Creative Events. These are in the unusual ratio of 14:4.5 and will be shown on large screens throughout the evening of the awards.

Net Communities asked us to provide opening and closing titles for their web videos and a title strap animation, again, all in High Definition.

The image above is a teaser of our new redesign which should be up and online soon, as will our latest short film 'Disinfection'.

2012: A Visual Odyssey

2012-01-04T10:11:00.000Z

Cinema 4D / AfterEffects / PhotoShop.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-13T15:51:00.001Z

A very Merry Christmas to all of our clients and colleagues, from Rogue Robot!

Per aspera ad astra

2011-12-02T11:32:00.001Z

Lots has been going on at Rogue Robot over October and November, the not least of which is the addition of a new member of the team, Robot Kit who emerged from the production line on October 16th. Another little robot to programme!
Elsewhere, we have had robots JK-01 and Bn2LE helping out on our work for HP, we've produced a series of videos for Stockport Council, some logo stings for NetCommunities, a short promo video for Weaver Vale Housing Trust, and we are currently working on a logo animation for Microsoft 365
.

The beginning of December saw us working for SteadiFacilities, operating Jib at the GMex whilst Will Young performed below to 1500 people.
The image of the R7 rocket is from our short film 'Ludmilla Forgotten' which will, hopefully, be completed soon.

And 2012 is looking exciting and busy, with plenty of work and some changes to RR on the way.

Have a great Xmas and New Year.

Too Busy To Blog - Again!

2011-10-31T14:42:00.000Z

It's a busy time here at Rogue Robot Towers with work for HP, ITProPortal, CPM and Stockport Council.
Hopefully we will soon have time to tell you all about it and reveal some other, exciting news.

September Post

2011-09-30T11:04:00.000+01:00

September has passed in a flurry of activity taking in live shoots, greenscreen presentations, big edits and 3d graphics.

LAS Manchester asked us to provide a series of awards video for City West Housing in Salford. Over the course of three days we interviewed the winners of City West's annual awards and put 11 video packages together for screening on the day. We created some nice light leak and colour saturation effects to give the cutaway footage a home movie feel.

We helped out LAS with more awards footage when we travelled down to CPM HQ in Thame to shoot presenters on a green screen which was then keyed out, placing them in a virtual studio.

We worked with the always active SteadiFacilities as camera crew on the Telegraph Festival of Business at Manchester Central Convention Complex, shooting various panels and presentations which were then uploaded to the Telegraph website.

The following week we spent several days with SteadiFacilities covering KPMG's 'Summer School' in a big tent in Reading.

Indivisual brought us in to help out with a large number of edits for an upcoming Next conference, including a parody of The Apprentice and a Generation Game style conveyer belt game.

We are also gearing up to provide approximately four hours of video training for HP which should see us busy throughout October and November.

The main image is a 3d render from a personal project we are putting together which will should see completion in the next couple of months. Watch this space.

Back to Work

2011-09-11T21:09:00.001+01:00

Summer came and went and Rogue Robot has had a full oil change and lithium cell recharge, and is secure in new offices.
Not that it has been a quiet month...

August Bank Holiday saw us working with SteadiFacilities again to provide live camera for the Main Stage at Manchester's annual Pride event. Over four days we covered live performances by SugaBabes, Blue, Alexandra Burke, Toyah and Bucks Fizz!

We have been helping out HGA again on some edits for their clients as well as providing some filming at Manchester Airport.

And our Robot ID Poster is being made into a large scale print to decorate the room of a child in Alberta after his father emailed, requesting a copy.

September is gearing up to be a big month with a wide variety of work, so until next time...

July Post - We Have Moved!

2011-08-02T10:44:00.000+01:00

July has seen us moving into new premises where we will no longer be banging our elbows against the walls.
We now have two dedicated HD editing suites, a 3D workstation, lots of space for books, and a new coffee machine. Which means we can offer more of what we do best - video production, motion graphics, photography, live event filming, presentation creation and graphic design.

In other news for July, we've been working with SteadiFacilities again on more Athletics coverage. Have a look at the footage here.

HGA Creative Communications drafted us in this month to help out on some of their edits for Kelloggs and Zenos IT Training, we've been creating motion graphics for CPM through LAS Manchester, and we've been doing even more 3D and motion graphics work with Exceed UK and HP on their sales training videos.

August sees us arranging all of our books according to the Dewey Decimal System and putting up pictures, as well as taking a much needed break to recharge our lithium power cells and have a nice, warm oil bath.
Enjoy the summer.

Sunny Sundae Smile

2011-07-04T11:17:00.000+01:00

It's been a lovely month of sunshine and work, and we've even seen a 22 degree halo, a fairly rare and spectacular optical phenomenon. Sad and nerdy, perhaps, but undeniably beautiful.
This month has seen more motion graphics work for HP, a lovely summer animation for City West Housing's Summer Garden Party, and filming on behalf of I Am Solanas at Blackpool's Coral Island amusements.
Working for SteadiFacilities again, we provided live camera for two days of coverage of the Under 23 Athletics trials in Bedford. See the great results here.

And in other news, we will soon be moving to more spacious offices in Cheadle, meaning our elbows won't be bashing the walls quite so much!

May Post - Busy, busy, busy...

2011-05-27T12:09:00.002+01:00

It's been a fantastic couple of months with Rogue Robot working on a huge range of jobs for a great bunch of clients. We were so busy last month, we didn't have time to blog, but we'll make up for it here in our May round-up.

First up, two jobs for CPM (we're never sure what they do, but we do lots for them, through LAS Manchester). Firstly we had a great time in Barcelona, visiting a CPM call centre dealing with HP Designjet Printer enquiries. Rogue Robot produced a five minute video about the call centre for screening at the recent Dubrovnik conference. We also visited the HP Designjet HQ and salivated over the fantastic large-format printers on display.
For the aforementioned conference, we produced an opening video showing a CPM branded spy satellite zooming in on the conference venue.

Conference Opener from Rogue Robot on Vimeo.

Live events have included the Fashion Kicks event at The Point, Lancashire Cricket Club, where Manchester City paraded the FA Cup and Chris got his picture in the Sun! The following week we provided live camera for City's Player of the Year at the City of Manchester Stadium.

We also covered the How Do awards 2011, again at The Point, for HGA, but didn't win anything, which was a bit of a shame.

Most of our time this month has been taken up with producing a series of eight training modules for HewlettPackard on behalf of ExceedUK. It's been a fantastic job, with plenty of 3d and AfterEffects work and some challenging deadlines, and it has turned out great.

In between times, we have been working on our short film project, Ludmilla Forgotten about the legend of the first woman in space. Find out more at www.ludmilla.roguerobot.co.uk . Here are some test renders of the launch. Enjoy!

Ludmilla Forgotten Clips from Rogue Robot on Vimeo.

Too Busy to Blog

2011-05-04T14:28:00.002+01:00

This month's blog is delayed due to work on a big project that's taking all our time up.
All will be revealed soon.

March Post

2011-04-03T20:29:00.002+01:00

Epson 'All Together Now' Logo Opener from Rogue Robot on Vimeo.

We've had more work with Epson this month, producing a conference opener for them highlighting their sponsorship of Manchester United. The final 3 minute video mixed motion graphics, supplied HD footage and still images to create an uplifiting video to launch the annual conference.
To tie the different source footage together, we also did some colour correction and grading, creating an overall filmic look.

Online Media Direct from Rogue Robot on Vimeo.

Old friends, Online Media Direct commissioned us to produce a logo animation for their Internet Marketing Company. They were particularly keen to reflect early 1980's logo animations for Hollywood Studios like United Artists - hence the lens flares, transparencies and rainbow colours.

We've also completed work this month for LAS Manchester, working for their clients at City West Housing, CPM and S.J. Bargh Milk Logistics. Who knew there was so much involved in transporting milk!

Live camera work has included the annual Red Cross conference at Manchester Convention Centre, work for Henderson Grime Associates in both Manchester and Chester and working for SteadiFacilities, covering the Reading Half Marathon.
The event had Rogue Robot operating SF's new 40 foot jib and getting some beautiful shots as 20,000 runners went past.

Reading Half Marathon 2011 from BRITISH LEAGUE TV on Vimeo.

February Post - Huge Events, Big Clients and Movies!

2011-02-28T12:12:00.001Z

February has seen us working on a wide and diverse range of projects with a whole host of clients and companies.

We produced a new version of a presentation video for Blackbridge which they have been using to introduce their company to new clients.
Work has finally completed on a video for City West Housing Trust, six months in production, promoting their skills programme,
Most of exciting of all, we are creating a HD video for Epson to show the quality of their new range of HD projectors. The job requires two edits, one for the Western market and one for Asia, and is scheduled for completion later this month.

We've worked with Blitz this month, covering an emergency council budget meeting at Stockport Town Hall, filming live in the council chamber and feeding the cameras to a screen in the main hall for the benefit of members of the public. It was a lively event!
The last weekend of February saw us commandeered by SteadiFacilities as part of the ten-man crew covering the England Athletics Indoor Age Group Championships 2011 at the NIA in Birmingham. The events were filmed and vision mixed live before being instantly uploaded for view on the England Athletics website.

For two days of February we were at Mosscare Housing in Moss Side providing media training to the marketing team, including building a photo library file system, photo manipulation and media file preparation.

We've also been working on a film for Workhouse Pictures called 'Marvin's Song', providing post production and colour grading, and Chris has had some of his photos from a visit to the Lake District published in Amateur Photographer.

March is already looking interesting with a logo animation for Online Media Direct, more live events and a personal Rogue Robot project hopefully being completed.

January - Sony Ericsson, Live Events and a big project coming up.

2011-02-03T15:55:00.003Z

Happy New Year to everyone!

January has been a busy month for Rogue Robot.
We produced an piece for Sony Ericsson's 'Ideal Day Out' competition where a lucky person won a £10,000 day out for her and her friends!
The video is to be used to promote the competition online.

We've also been providing live camera for HGA Manchester on a week long conference in Newcastle and Leeds.
Several colds days have been spent shooting videos for a large milk delivery company, we've been providing media training for a local housing association, and February sees us start work on a big, but as yet hush-hush, project for a major technology manufacturer.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-19T15:24:00.002Z

Merry Christmas from us here at Rogue Robot. It's been a fantastic year for us with lots of exciting work and clients, and we're sure it will continue in the new year.

We'd like to thank everyone who has supported us in 2010, and hope to do lots of great work in 2011!

Pocket-lint Gadget Awards Graphics

2010-12-13T12:09:00.001Z

Rogue Robot produced a series of motion graphics for this year's Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, held in London on the 8th of December.

Each award nomination and winner was announced with an animated graphic on a full-size cinema screen.

All the graphics were produced in HD and were turned around in 4 days.

Clips coming soon....

Sports Fashion Launch at Gorton Monastery

2010-12-08T14:39:00.001Z

Rogue Robot provided live camera support for sports fashion company's latest product launch at the spectacular Gorton Monastery.
5 live cameras including SteadiFacilities' Jason Torbitt on SteadiCam provided coverage of a fashion show and presentation.

6 Birthday Robots

2010-10-19T11:24:00.000+01:00

2010 unfortunately doesn't see us making first contact with alien life, as predicted by Arthur C. Clarke, but it does see Rogue Robot's 6th birthday.

A set of 6 limited edition photocards has been produced to celebrate the occasion and one has been sent out to each of the wonderful and varied clients we have worked with since we started in 2004.

Over the last six years we've expanded our services and can now provide HD Video Production, 3D Motion Graphics, Photography, Crewing, and much more.

Remember - we are always at your beck and call, so if you ever need our services, just get in touch in which ever way you see fit.

Bank of New York Mellon

2010-10-11T16:17:00.000+01:00

Working once more with SteadiFacilities, Rogue Robot provided live camera coverage for Bank of New York Mellon's 5th birthday celebrations at Manchester Town Hall.
Event production by Fat Cat.

Website Update

2010-09-30T12:33:00.000+01:00

The Rogue Robot website has been updated with some new graphics and portfolio items.
Enjoy!

Media Training Services Launched

2010-08-16T10:18:00.000+01:00

Today sees the launch of Rogue Robot Media Training Services, offering a series of short, detailed courses aimed to help those working in media, PR, or marketing businesses get to grips with the basics of image editing, file types, video formats and asset delivery.

As a production company we are more than aware of how much time, and therefore money, is lost going back to clients to secure the right assets in the right formats. Everytime a design company has to extract an image from a PDF, convert a Quicktime video into Avi, or track down an image online, it costs the client money. This money could be saved simply by knowing some basic information.

These courses are designed for those who regularly deal with image or video files, who may have to prepare graphics for clients or design companies, who are unsure how to deliver large assets, or who wish to quickly and simply manipulate an image file.
Perhaps you or your staff are unsure exactly what Photoshop does, why a Jpeg is different from a Tiff, or whether the video being commissioned should be produced in SD or HD.

The courses are flexible and can be tailored to your business' needs. Each runs for 3 hours, either over the course of a morning or an afternoon, and costs £500 for up to 6 delegates.

For more information on the course content, visit www.training.roguerobot.co.uk, and please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Rogue Robot Tutorial On AETuts

2010-07-29T20:16:00.001+01:00

We are very pleased to announce that a tutorial created by Rogue Robot has been published on the respected AfterEffects site, AETuts.

The tutorial shows AfterEffects users how to create a Saturn-like planet, the moons orbiting it, a sun and a starfield - all within the one software package.

Click here to see the tutorial in full.

Scout Moor Windfarm

2010-06-22T15:24:00.001+01:00

Between November 2006 and Sept 2009, Rogue Robot filmed the construction of Peel Energy's Scout Moor Windfarm.

In weather ranging from blazing heat to Arctic cold, workers constructed 26 huge windturbines on the hills above Manchester.

The resulting video acted as both a record of the build as well as a promotional and educational piece for further developments. It is now available to see here.

Weaver Vale Housing Trust - Supporting People

2010-06-18T19:37:00.001+01:00

Rogue Robot has also recently completed a video for Weaver Vale Housing Trust in Cheshire.

The 10 minute piece promotes the organisation's floating support unit which helps people to access the services they need.

City West Housing

2010-06-18T19:30:00.001+01:00

After almost two months of work comprising filming, motion graphics, 3d graphics and editing, Rogue Robot, working in conjunction with LAS Manchester, has finally completed two major video projects for Salford based City West Housing.

The first is a spoof news report highlighting developments in the marketing strategy of the organisation. This uses a series of animated graphics, stings and straps to build a City West News Channel identity, with the members of the marketing team acting as presenters and interviewees.

The second video looks at 24 hours in the life of the organisation. Over ten hours of footage was recorded and edited down to an 8 minute piece using mutiple screens to tell up to four narratives at the same time.

Blackbridge Introduction Video

2010-06-03T09:16:00.000+01:00

Rogue Robot has just completed an introductory video for Blackbridge - a HR Resourcing and Communications company.

The video, produced in HD, uses 3D text to show the core beliefs, values and attitudes of the company.

The Red Rider

2010-06-02T10:18:00.003+01:00

Rogue Robot recently completed an 'animated graphic novel' for Stockport Council.

The film, made in conjunction with a group of young people, relates the legend of the Red Rider at Stockport's Bramall Hall.

See the film here.

Christie's Charity Sportman's Dinner

2010-05-08T19:34:00.001+01:00

Working, once again, with the incomparable Jason Torbitt of Steadi-Facilities, Rogue Robot provided camera coverage of a recent Christie's Hospital Sportsman's Dinner. A host of famous sporting figures, including Mancini (again!), Ferguson, Allerdyce and Moyes took part to raise money for the Manchester based cancer charity.

Rogue Robot is Published!

2010-05-07T12:05:00.001+01:00

It's an exciting day as this month's Computer Arts magazine (issue 175) is out containing a specially commissioned After Effects tutorial created by Rogue Robot.
Please buy the magazine and have a look - but don't try the tutorial out. I wouldn't want clients learning all of our secrets!

MCFC Awards 2010

2010-05-07T11:50:00.000+01:00

Working with SteadiFacilities again (www.steadicam-facilities.co.uk) Rogue Robot provided camera coverage for the illustrious Manchester City Awards 2010.

Photos on Flickr

2010-04-05T17:11:00.004+01:00

Recently returned from a photo trip to the Lakes. Have a look at the pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogue_robot/sets/72157623629116621/

Red Cross General Assembly

2010-03-21T21:08:00.000Z

Rogue Robot, in partnership with Steadi Facilities (www.steadicam-facilities.co.uk), has just completed live event coverage on the British Red Cross' Annual General Assembly.

Rogue Robot poster

2010-03-18T14:38:00.000Z

At the end of last year, Rogue Robot turned 5, and to celebrate we created a limited print run poster which helps you to identify both friendly and rogue robots.
If you would like one of the posters, drop us an email.

Computer Arts

2010-03-17T14:59:00.000Z

Computer Arts magazine have commissioned Rogue Robot to write a motion graphics tutorial.

Rogue Robot's Blog is online!

2010-03-17T14:33:00.000Z

Rogue Robot is a creative media company based in Cheshire.

We can supply a whole range of media services from full video production to motion graphics, photography, live event filming, presentation creation and graphic design.

We're not like other companies. We're small, versatile and creative. We listen to what our clients want, and work with them to produce bespoke video and design within budget.

We're flexible, with a large team of freelancers to call on for live crewing, photography, even Steadicam.

Our clients include Peel Holdings, FIFA/PlayStation, Key 103, Procter & Gamble, CPM Marketing, The Harlem Globetrotters, Braun, GSK, Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Manchester University, City Sightseeing Buses and Stockport Council.

This blog with highlight projects we are working on, as well as contain personal projects, photos, and stuff we find interesting.

Enjoy!