Lightsource saves the world with Joe Brand
TV stand up comedienne Jo Brand is starring in a newly released DVD encouraging housing tenants to save money by saving energy and saving the planet.
Shropshire's Lightsource Media, who specialise in green projects, wrote and produced the 10 minute video for Derwent Living, based in Derby. Jo Brand features as the unexpected visiter to a household of mum Nadia and her two children Nico and Anna. The star of QI and many other TV and stage shows proceeds to go round the house handing out light bulbs and identifying over £200 of savings in energy consumption.
The project idea came from Derwent Living 's Operations Director, John Magness, in response to the national campaign to cut energy consumption. Having secured the services of Jo Brand, the housing provider came to Lightsource who have extensive experience in producing video for the housing and homes sector. The project was loosely scripted to allow for Jo Brand's dry quipping humour and then shot over one day on location.
The DVD has been sent to over 5,000 of Derwent Living 's customers. In addition to the Jo Brand section, the housing association has included sections detailing their corporate approach to environmental issues, including a piece to camera by their Chief Executive, Peter McCormack. Derwent Living are planning to offer the footage to other housing organisations to "rebrand" for their own tenants.
The production can be viewed by clicking this link
Lightsource hi def video production crew
CRUNCHING THE CRUNCH
The end of the economic doldrums may not be far away if the history of Media and Conference business Lightsource is relevent.
"In our quarter century of trading we have endured several ups and downs, as the economy fluctuated, but we have noticed that in our sector, the affects are felt earlier, by some 6-12 months." says David Myers, Lightsource Media's MD.
"The good news is that we first noticed the current downturn some 18months ago and now for the last six months we have been coming out of it and are now trading very successfully. In fact the summer has been exceptional."
"2008 has been a record year for our event staging/media and video business as we picked up a whole range of new, more multi-nationally based, business.
" We are working for Stanley Tools, HBOS, EDF Energy, Travis Perkins, Direct Line Insurance, Noble Foods, the RSPCA as well as a range of larger public sector authorites. Our three video editing suites have been working almost non stop and we've been winning some prestigeous and interesting work. We are just completing an energy saving project with TV comedienne Joe Brand and an employee safety film with the Suzie Lamplugh Trust."
"We are fortunate to have been freed to bring new creative talent to our media production capability. And we have added high definition to our video recording and editing system for the small but growing numbers of customers who need it."
"As a result we are looking for new skilled and talented individuals to work for or with us. However, being in rural Shropshire, we seem to find it hard to find skilled and motivated new blood. I'm sure its out there and I can promise people that working from Much Wenlock is far from unpleasant!"
A Linguistic Challange
Shropshire based Lightsource Video were given an interesting linguistic challenge recently when they were asked by DENSO Manufacturing UK Ltd to produce a video in no less than nine different languages.
The video which was produced to demonstrate the manufacturer s cashless vending system had to be readily understood by people from a wide variety of ethnic origins.
Lightsource Managing Director David Myers said, Telford is an increasingly multicultural place in which to live and work and companies such as DENSO employ people from a very wide range of ethnic backgrounds. It s vital that they re able to communicate with all their staff so they asked whether we could provide them with copies of their DVD in nine different languages and we were happy to oblige.
The script was originally written and recorded by Lightsource in English and then it was translated and read by professional voice over artists in Polish, Lithuanian, Gujarati, Japanese, Arabic, Urdu, Kurdish and Punjabi.
Denso s Compensation & Benefits Manager, Lissa Davis, who commissioned the video said, The video was a vital component in the successful roll-out of the cashless vending project. Communicating these changes to our diverse workforce was both essential and challenging. The DVD has been very well received by all.
National TV specialists join Shropshire video company
Shropshire based Lightsource Video have strengthened their video production team with the addition of two media professionals.
Samantha Hatton who has many years media experience working for the BBC and Granada TV will be the Producer/Scriptwriter on a number of future video projects.
Laura Sutcliffe, who will take on the role as Technical Producer has also been involved in the production of some high profile TV shows such as Big Brother.
Lightsource specialize in producing video for communication Managing Director David Myers says,
Many of our customers include Councils, Associations and Funding Agencies who are looking for an informative but also stimulating way to communicate with their staff, customers and funding partners. The addition of Laura and Sam to the team will bring ideas, expertise and boundless energy to the video productions that we will be delivering.
