Last week was pretty busy with the Army Rugby Union holding the Semi Finals in both it’s Community Cup & Premiership competitions on the Tuesday & Thursday. I filmed all four games and produced highlight packages for the Army website, getting some good footage from some entertaining games. Highlights included a resounding win for 28 Engr Regt in the Community Cup Semi Final, including a Hat-trick from Garry Windle, highlights can be found here:

The second Premiership Semi Final pitted 23 Pioneer Regt vs 17 Port & Maritime in an all RLC affair. Both sides included some Army 7s stars which made for some exciting running rugby. Look out for England 7s Star ‘Damu’ as well, who returned from the Las Vegas 7s the weekend before. My favourite shot from this game is Malakai Magnus intercepting the ball and running in for the try – 9.05 mins in:

I am also in the process of putting together a promotional video for the Army Netball Team. The team was in Aldershot recently preparing for their Inter Services games, where I filmed their training session and warm up games. It was my first time filming Netball – a faster paced game than what I was expecting which allowed me to get some great shots. I will be posting the finished video soon so keep an eye out on my website.

Next week the Royal Engineers Rugby Union team have their final and most important game of the year against their Rivals the Royal Artillery. It’s been a disappointing season for the Sappers as they have failed to reach the Corps final for the first time in many years, but the game against the Gunners at Chatham should be a great one to finish the season with. I’ve been working on a promotional video which will be shown to the team prior to the game and it will be uploaded afterwards so look out for it as well as highlights from the game itself.

The Army Rugby League Season is approaching and I have just completed a Promotional video for the Royal Artillery Rugby League team. The montage features footage from last seasons games and highlights the key fixtures including the Sebastopol Cup vs the Royal Marines, Hopson Memorial game and grudge match vs the Sappers in the Lawson Cup. Here’s the link;

That’s about it for the moment, I’ve got a couple more promotional/motivational videos in the works for a few teams which i’ll share more about in the next few weeks.

The recent cold weather has played havoc with fixtures but the Army Rugby team are back in action this Wednesday vs the British Police which I’ll be filming & doing highlights for and i’ll be back at Reading this Saturday for a re-arranged fixture.

Thanks for reading and checking out my videos. More updates to follow…

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Taking inspiration from an NHL campaign I’ve used a soft colour filter on the clip and added some grain and also, when the reversing starts, a filter to produce a look similar to that of an old movie. I think the simple effect of reversing the footage fits in well with the theme of the promo – ‘History begins again’ as the Army looks to create more history in 2012. The added commentary is taken from last years game vs the Navy at Twickenham using my own footage that I took from the sidelines.

Here is the link to the Promo, best viewed in HQ:

Hope you enjoy the clip, and look out for more in the next few weeks!

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/JPF-Sports-Media/138416102871229

As 12 is my favourite number here’s hoping it’s a great year!

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I have filmed at Twickenham now on quite a few occasions, most memorably for the Army against the Navy which had a crowd of 63, 000 and provided a great atmosphere. With a backdrop of such a large crowd it makes it easier to get some great shots. For the H4H game most of the lower tier was full, which helped with this particular clip. Due to certain restrictions at the ground and the fact that I wasn’t filming the game specifically I had to keep to the outer part of the walkway around the pitch. This particular shot was taken in the final few minutes of the game, featuring an attacking scrum for the Northern Hemisphere. The crowd was entertaining itself with a Mexican wave which did a few laps around the stadium, I thought this would be a good shot to capture with the players setting up for a scrum at the far end of the pitch. I kept the scrum itself right at the bottom of the shot and therefore the crowd made up the majority of it in the background.

I kept the camera recording as the referee reset the scrum three times, and finally just before the final reset the wave came around, providing me with a good atmospheric shot, with Army Number 8, Boladau, featuring prominently as well.

I am always looking for lots of different angles to film, not just the game itself but the surroundings as well. What I like about filming rugby is that everything is instantaneous, and you constantly have to stay alert to what is going on so you can capture the best footage, whether it be on the pitch itself or around the crowd and stadium, it’s quite challenging as well though because if you miss a shot then thats it gone. When i’m filming I like to stay as quiet and out of the shot as possible so when i’m filming players it’s a more natural and realistic shot.

I kept the camera wide and still on this shot, which I often like to do and make the players do the work, rather than focusing in on the ball and then following the scrum half as he takes off to the left of shot.

Here is the short clip, uploaded to YouTube:

Hope you enjoy my insight into this short clip. As the season goes on I will add some more of my favourite snippets from games.

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Unfortunately the Sappers lost their third straight game of the Season, failing to capitalise on good territory and posession, losing 12-3. I’ve posted highlights on YouTube, and the Match Report is up on www.sapperrugby.com

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I had been asked to film pitchside for the Spirit Dance Cheerleading team who performed before the game and also at half time. I took some footage of the Army players during the course of the game, although it was a bit difficult due to certain restrictions about where I could and couldn’t go. Overall from what I saw it was a pretty decent game, with both teams entertaining the crowd with some great rugby on what was a very cold evening!!

I’ll be back filming for the Royal Engineers on Wednesday who travel to take on the RLC in the final game of 2011, so hopefully they can get a win to end the year after losing their first two games of the season. Following that I’ll be filming for Reading at the weekend as they travel to Salisbury.

Finally, i’m also finishing off working on a promotional video for the Samurai International 7s team which i’ll post in the next few days.

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The game itself was a great encounter as both sides produced a brilliant display of rugby with the Gloucester Presidents XV just taking it with a late try 40-33. I have posted highlights from pitch side on YouTube which can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW1GjzIL7FE

The Pre Game video can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfOEk1eYi74

The following day I was filming for the Royal Engineers as they took on the REME at Arbofield in the second round of the Corps Championship. Unfortunately the Sappers lost their second straight game which means they are unlikely to reach the Corps Final, unless other results go their way. I have posted highlights from the game on YouTube, and a match report is up on the Sapper website as well, www.sapperrugby.com

I’m back filming for Reading on Saturday as they hopefully pick up a win against Olney. To close off the week the Patriots are playing the Jets in a tough grudge match in New York – hopefully the Pats will snap their two game losing streak with a win Sunday night!

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Combined Services vs Gloucester XV Poster

The following day I will be back filming for the Sappers as they take on the REME in a must win game following their disappointing loss to the Infantry a few weeks back 21-20.

I’ll be uploading highlights from both games so be sure to check out my website for links – and also on subscribe to my YouTube Channel for instant updates.

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