Admissions days are great, you get paid to hang out for a whole day, putting on live TV shows, giving tours, and talking to people who might want to come to uni. And of course we had a great team to organise them and make them super fun!

So after three years of this (they must’ve been sick of us really) we wanted to show our thanks, how much we enjoyed our work, and how greatful we are. This is for you Jenny, Rita, Heather, thank you.

Seven short sketches

Kat and Iain show podcast ep2

Kat and Iain show podcast ep3

Kat and Iain show podcast ep4

Kat and Iain show podcast ep5

After the roaring success of "London: 50 sights" something bloody spectacular was called for, luckily the whirring monster brain of Iain Slater delivered.

So the plan was the London A to Z. 26 sights, each one beginning with a different letter of the alphabet, visited in order in one day. Sounds easy I hear you say? Well let me tell you sir (or madam) you are severely mistaken.

Of course in undertaking such an epic trip careful planning must be made, itineraries must be drawn up and maps studied. Yeah we didn’t do that.

So I’ll let the video speak for itself.

And it wouldn’t be a trip without a photoset, just to prove we were at each location!

I think my feet still hurt from that day.

We chose to create a spoof Crimewatch style show, much like Brasseye. We scripted several VT packages and live segments for the show, a few of which I personally wrote. I also took a leading role in the production and post-production of the show, and presented a couple of segments.

The show’s schedule ran as follows:

• Title sequence – a mix of recorded footage with 3D graphics and stills artwork with a custom written theme tune to head the show;
• Introduction – a live section introducing the show from the 2 main presenters;
• VT package 1 – this was a fake story about the murder of the VC’s pet panda investigating into this, presented by myself filmed at various locations;
• Crime weather – this was a funny live segment detailing the ‘crime weather forecast’ for the coming week, this used a retro-reflective LED green screen;
• Ad break – this was a 3 minute fake ad break consisting of 4 adverts book-ended with a ‘tea-time teaser’ question;
• Crime news – this was a live segment covering recent crime stories from over the world;
• Phone-in – this was a live phone-in segment using fake callers;
• VT package 2 – this was a story about a counterfeiting ring based in Wales, shot like a MacIntire investigate documentary;
• Interview – this was an improvised interview following up on the panda story in VT package 1, I was the interviewer for this segment;
• E-mails – this section was much like the phone-in segment, and was used to easily fill up/cut down the show;
• Live musical performance – this was a live performance from a performer, live-directed using a 3 camera set up, this was used to maintain the shows length.

Some photos from the filming follow

We chose the fictional subject ‘human matter transportation’ and titled the show Science Friction. The idea being a documentary following a team of researchers in this field.

The piece was carefully scripted and story-boarded. Filming took place over 4 days on location, and using a green screen for interviews. Editing and effects compositing then took place using. The finished piece was then authored as a DVD with various special features.

Science Friction

Science Friction out-takes

Hi,

I was linked to your website by the semiprofessionals, I’m currently trying to get back in contact with Iain Slater, if you still have contact with him, can you please drop him my email address, tell him it’s Kieren… he knows who I am…

Thanks

Now it seemed that Iain didn’t really want to be in contact with the Kieren fellow, he described him as ‘wierd’. So a scheme was though up to get rid of this guy, the result was kind of cruel. He received this reply to his enquiry:

Hello Kieren,

I’m sorry I haven’t replied to your e-mail but i rarely use this account and things have been busy lately.

I’m sorry to tell you that Iain passed away a little over 2 weeks ago during the festivities of bonfire night here in Brighton.  After enjoying a relaxing and enjoyable evening Iain left our group to take a walk on the pier and it was only later that we realised this was when the accident must’ve happened.  We think that he was learning over the edge when a bluster of seagulls made him lose his balance.

I don’t know how close you and Iain were but  I hope you will remember Iain with the same fondness that we all do here.

If you have any questions or if there is any way in which I can help please don’t hesitate to e-mail me.

I attach a recent picture of Iain for you.

Yours Sincerely,
Hugo King

Rather mean I’m sure you’ll agree, but hopefully you’ll find it funny too. We received only this short reply:

Hi

Thanks for the information, I’m sorry for your loss, and will remember him fondly. I went to chis n sid with him and lost contact when we left, I was trying to get in contact with a few of my old friends, this being the first reply, I’m not having much luck.  Likewise anything I can help with, let me know.  Many thanks for the picture.

Kieren

Well we thought that would be the end of it, a cruel joke at Kierens expense, but he would never know. However he bumped into a mutual friend of his and Iains a couple of months later, and when said friend managed to let it slip Iain was indeed still alive Kierens reaction was said to be "clearly not amused".

It’s a mash-up spoof of the Christmas-time Coca-Cola advert and the HP advert, well just watch:

We invented the product Cillit Bin and set about recreating the ad in the same style. Shooting went well (after a few fights) but all our footage was corrupted on tape, so bye bye video!

But we hacked something together from salvaged footage, just to embarrass Hugo really.

We also found an amazing gadget, it works like a spoon but better.

There’s also some gay shit with mangos.