Tandem has just won the contract to make a documentary celebrating the New Zealand Fire Service’s 150 year history in Christchurch.

Its release will mark BECA Heritage Week in late October, and will be the second documentary made by Tandem for the heritage week celebrations. The first doco was last year’s Citizen Soldier: ake ake kia kaha – forever strong. This film celebrated 150 years of the Second Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast Battalion Group.

The story of the NZ Fire Service is a long rich one, and it’s the people, their stories and experiences that have made it such an important story to tell. We plan to utilise the wealth of knowledge of historian and current serving fireman Tony Phillips – who wrote the book Always Ready: Christchurch Fire Brigade 1860-1985.

We will also speak with former firemen, Christchurch’s youngest-serving fireman, look at some of the city’s biggest fires – including the Ballantynes fire in 1947 – and hear stories about how the brigade has developed over the years.

The documentary will be released on October 30.

Most people are watching videos online, based on research carried out in 55 countries.

The Nielsen findings show – Online Video: approximately 70 percent of global online consumers watch online video; but North Americans and Europeans lag in adoption. More than half of global online consumers watch online video in the workplace.

Mobile Video: is already used by 11 percent of global online consumers: penetration is highest in Asia-Pacific and among consumers in their late 20s.

Tablet PCs: are expanding the definition of mobile video. Globally, 11 per cent of online consumers already own or plan to purchase a tablet PC (such as an iPad) in the next year.

Television: is a universally important platform for video consumption, with connected consumers in many markets spending 4+ hours per day watching television.

HDTV (High-Definition TV): is improving the TV viewing experience for as many as 30 percent of global online consumers. Adoption is highest among older consumers and in North America, where HD content has proliferated.

3DTV (Three-Dimensional TV): will have a small but important audience: 12 percent of global online consumers own or have definite intent to purchase a 3DTV in the next year.

“Over the Top” TV: televisions with Internet connections are gaining interest. About one in five (22 percent) global online consumers owns or has definite interest in buying a television with Internet connection in the next year.

Read the entire article here.

“Smell like a man, man,” – that’s the message spicing up YouTube at the moment.

It’s a very clever viral-marketing campaign on an old spice – Old Spice. The Isaiah Mustafa-hosted ads have been ranked YouTube’s number one most-viewed of all time in the Sponsors rank, holds this week’s and this months most-viewed top spot – globally.

Old Spice is keeping its customers interested by releasing the ads slowly over a period of time.

Here’s what all the fuss is about:

‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’:

The point-of-difference with these commercials is that the Old Spice’s Isaiah Mustafa personally responds to those who leave comments. Watch:

@aplusk (actor Ashton Kutcher):

He even does marriage proposals:

And responds to pretty much anything:

Life In A Day is a world-first global experiment to create the largest user-generated feature film – a documentary, shot in a single day, by YOU.

On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera. The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into an experimental documentary film, executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.

For more information, visit youtube.com/lifeinaday.

Kevin Macdonald is an Oscar-winning director of films such as The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and One Day in September, and Ridley Scott is the director behind films like Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Thelma & Louise, Blade Runner and Robin Hood.

Life In A Day will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and if your footage makes it into the final cut, you’ll be credited as a co-director and may be one of 20 contributors selected to attend the premiere.

Check the trailer out here:

Tandem is sad to see the loss of the man known as the ‘Waimate warrior’.

Eric Batchelor, one of New Zealand’s most highly decorated World War 2 soldiers, died in Waimate, South Canterbury, on Saturday, and is being buried with full military honours today.

Sergeant Batchelor, who would have turned 90 in August, was twice awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for conspicuous bravery during the Italian campaign, an award second only to the Victoria Cross.

He was mentioned in dispatches, and fought at El Alamien in North Africa, and Monte Cassino in Italy, both key battles for New Zealand troops.

Mr Batchelor was promoted to sergeant in the Italian campaign, gaining a reputation as an effective search and destroy operator with the nickname “The Ferret”.

Leading a platoon of mainly West Coast South Island infantrymen, he became a specialist in working many kilometres behind enemy lines at night, a skill he owed to his New Zealand childhood.

In later years, long after the war, he admitted he had not been a “very bright” school pupil and spent much of his younger days roaming the hills in and around Waimate shooting rabbits or “sneaking around at night raiding orchards”.

His first DCM was awarded after he captured a group of Germans after a fierce close quarter fight in a small house behind enemy lines.

His second came from a similar engagement two months later when he and three New Zealand soldiers, working well behind enemy lines at night, came upon a remote house.

Tandem met Eric when filming the documentary ‘Citizen Soldier’ last year. Eric and his wife welcomed us into thier home, made cups of tea and offered biscuits, with Eric then warmly sharing his experiences in World War Two. This video is with Eric from that documentary. (Full story at the ODT)

May he rest in peace.



A big part of the digital revolution over the last five years has been in digital cameras used for producing content. Once a high-end camera used for TVCs (television commercials) or documentaries would’ve cost many thousands of dollars. Now, for just a few thousand dollars, you can buy a quality camera that shoots in HD (High Definition) and captures superb image quality with low noise and natural colour.

The Canon EOS 7D is one such camera that fits this description and is now being used worldwide for music videos, TV commercials and even in the production of TV shows and cinema.

A local film maker – Logan McMillan from Gorilla Productions – has been using the Canon 7D for the last 18 months and most recently won the V48HR Furious Filmmaking competition for the best cinematography for New Zealand.

Logan has used the 7D and worked with Tandem on numerous projects including the documentary he filmed and co-directed last year with Tandem’s Dave Dunlay – Ake Ake Kia Kaha, Citizen Soldier (the excerpt from that documentary is below). Logan is again working on another documentary with the team here at Tandem and it was while on location that Dave got this short interview with Logan about the joys of the Canon 7D:

Here’s a piece from last years Citizen Soldier Documentary:

In 2008, it won the APRA children’s song of the year, and now a new accolade – the New Zealand Post Children’s Choice book award.

So, what makes Craig Smith’s children’s book and song The Wonky Donkey so popular? It might have something to do with this little question – What do you call a donkey with only three legs, one eye, likes to listen to country music, is quite tall and slim, smells really bad, gets up early in the morning and hasn’t had any coffee, is always getting up to mischief but is quite good looking?

A…. spunky, hanky panky, cranky, stinky dinky, lanky, honkey tonkey, winky, wonky donkey – of course!

Catch the interview we had with Craig this week, as part of our Fresh Ideas section:

Craig doesn’t just make content for children. He recorded part of his album, 45 South, at Tandem Studios. He has also signed to another book with the song Willbee the Bumblebee. That’s due to be released in October 2010. In the meantime, stay entertained with The Wonky Donkey:

One of the recent talks at TED was with Adam Sadowsky whose team was in charge of building a massive Rube Goldberg machine for OK Go’s music video – This Too Shall Pass.

Adam tells the story of the effort and engineering behind their labyrinthine creation that quickly became a YouTube sensation.

Christchurch-based band Dukes have won best video at the 2010 Juice TV Awards.

Dukes, which is made up of Matt Barus, Jo Barus, Brad “The Kid” Banks, L.A. Mitchell, and Fausia Fialele, won the Grabaseat Video of the Year for Vampires…

Here’s the full list of winners:

Dickies Best Hip Hop Video: J Williams feat Scribe – You Got Me
McKenna Break Thru Video: Ivy lies – Addicted
Real Groove Best Electronic Video: Kids of 88 – Just A Little
The Quadrant Best Group Video: Midnight Youth – Cavalry
Guitar Hero Best Rock Video: Shotgun Alley – Look At Me Now
Music Works Best Metal Video: In Dread Response – Cannons At Dawn
Sunday News Best Solo Video: Dane Rumble – Cruel
Juice TV Best Indie Video: Crescendo Mafia – I Told You So
Stenilager Pure Best Roots Video: Fat Freddy’s Drop – Pull The Catch
Samsung Innovation Award: J Williams feat Scribe – You Got Me
Grabaseat Video of the Year: Dukes – Vampires

Join Dukes on Facebook or check out their MySpace.

The Juice TV Awards will be aired on Juice TV today (Tuesday, 1 June) from midday, and again on Friday (4 June) from 6pm.

The team which took out top honours at Christchurch’s V48HRs film competition was pretty surprised by the accolade.

It was Gorilla Team Gorilla’s fifth year at vying for the furious film-making win and team leader Logan McMillan (from Gorilla Pictures) says the high calibre of the other entries made it a very strong regional final.

“There was probably two other teams I thought might’ve been better than us, and also because we’d already picked up the prizes for the sexiest film and best cinematography, I was pretty surprised to see our name come up on screen when they announced the winner,” says McMillan.

Coincidentally, Gorilla Team Gorilla completed their post-production work for Death in the West at one end of Tandem Studios, while regional runners-up The Outwits, worked at the other.

V48HRs is New Zealand’s largest filmmaking competition, taking place over one weekend in six cities and it’s a great opportunity for experienced and novice filmmakers to make a short film within 48 hours.

McMillan’s Death in the West can be seen at the V48HRs Grand Final on C4 May 20, 9.30pm.