Following up the win in Film Northants 2009 comes my entry to the Doritos 'King of Ads' competition.

Doritos ran the project in 2008 and it attracted over 1,300 entrants, so this year's competition promises to be fierce. There's a generous cash prize up for grabs and the winner's advert will feature on national television (they had me at 'generous cash prize').

Once again I (reluctantly) appear in another on-screen role... enjoy!

After a fantastic red-carpet screening of our film at Vue Cinema in Northampton, I'm very pleased to announce that we walked away with 1st prize in the Film Northants competition 2009! We had the judges to thank for our nomination and the public to thank for our victory, so thanks to everyone for their support.

The cinema-screen really did everyone's film justice, although it was a little stange seeing my face projected 6 metres wide for the 150 strong audience to see.  The Mayor of Northampton was in the crowd and offered positive feedback for our film, but did mention behind our backs that he thought our introduction was the worst! I was impressed with the effort that the other entrants had put in, so we were very happy to beat them to the top prize.

The screening was followed by a reception at St. Peter's Church, Northampton where film-makers and industry members enjoyed drinks and conversation.  It was a fitting venue for a cinematic evening and it was a pleasure to speak to other passionate film-lovers. I'd like to thank Lily Canter of the Northampton Chronicle & Echo for organising the event and all the other entrants that made the competition what it was.

For the record, I was glad to see both 'Tuhfah' by stacey Swift and 'If Only I Could' by Sharmila Walters gain awards, both being my second favourites to our own effort.

We're already thinking about our next short and I'm sure we'll save one special effort for next year's Film Northants competition.

Take another look at the winning entry below:

Title: No Stone Unturned
Directors: Anthony Dumont & Matthew Dumont
Original Music: Henrik Steenholdt
Starring: Matthew Dumont, Phil Bradley

When a chance comes along to have your own short-film shown at the cinema in Northampton, you have to grab it theatrically with both hands!

A competition organised by the Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 'Film Northants 2009' invited local filmmakers to enter a five minute video filmed on location in the county.  There are prizes on offer, but the main draw is that the finalists have their film shown at a Northampton Cinema.

The competition opened in March, but we only found out in late June, leaving us a couple of months to write, film, edit and score the piece. With my brother, Anthony, a budding film-maker on board, we came up with a loose idea in a pub garden and got permission to shoot in the Northampton Central Library, where our short-film would begin. It was decided that I should play the lead role, mainly due to the lack of available actors in our address books! As it turns out, my performance has been compared to an early Marlon Bando (or was that Marlon Dingle?) ;)

Titled 'No Stone Unturned', our story follows a history student who finds a key in a forgotten library book, leading to a mysterious local discovery. We chose locations in Northampton, Towcester and Everdon and mainly filmed at weekends and the odd evening to get the footage complete using a relatively basic Canon MD101 camcorder. We pulled in offers to help with acting, costumes and music and the final piece came together in iMovie.

Our entry was submitted with just a day to spare. The judges spent a few days watching all entries and we were recently told we had made the short-list of eight films to be shown at the Vue Cinema, Northampton on September 22nd 2009! The results are now down to the public vote, so if you like the film, please take a moment to register your vote here.

Take a look at the film below - your comments are very welcome!

To watch the other entries and for details on how to vote for your favourite, visit the Chronicle & Echo Film Northants website.

Hopefully I can follow this post up with a winner's speech!

Matthew Dumont, Co-director 'No Stone Unturned'.

For those of you looking for quality video production in the local area, take inspiration from the professional film-makers who have chosen our locality for their own films.

Finding actual film locations can add another level to an otherwise dull movie, so here are a selection of movies filmed in our surrounding area for you to look out for:

Kinky Boots
A film based on Northampton's floundering shoe industry did it's best to use as many authentic locations as possible. All Saint's Church, The Market Square and Earls Barton all feature in this drab, but locally interesting Brit-flick.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story
The comic talents of Steve Coogan couldn't save this film and neither could the stunning location of Lamport Hall, near Northampton.  Strangely, the term 'Cock & Bull' originates in the pubs of Stony Stratford (see below).

Withnail and I
This cult-classic relied on Stony Stratford for some of it's footage, including The Crown Pub and Cox and Robinson Chemists.

Octopussy
One of my favourite Bond films was also shot nearby. The scene where Bond drives a Mercedes onto a train-track was filmed at the Nene Valley Railway, Northants.  Peterborough was local substitute for the German train-stations.

Superman Man IV: Quest for Peace
Probably the worst in the Superman set of films, Quest for Peace was shot extensively in Milton Keynes. The railway station and Argos were used as locations for Metropolis.

The landscape at Cuttle Mill is undergoing a thorough overhaul at the moment and the parking and gardens promise to be a great environment for both the Dynamics Team and visiting clients.

With a daily insight into the construction work and general earth-moving, it makes me wonder what might be under the Dynamics Media offices.

It's a little known fact that Cuttle Mill, just outside Paulerspury, is the historians favoured location for 'The Battle of Watling Street' - Queen Boudica's attack on the Roman Army in AD 61.  It was a key victory in the Roman conquest of Britain, with 80,000 Britains losing their lives compared to only 400 Romans.  It spelt the end for Boudica, who is said to have poisoned herself after defeat.  A comprehensive article on the battle and theory of its location can be viewed below.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/articles/ancient_world/boudica_last_stand/

The area of Cuttle Mill certainly looks like it could have been the setting for a large-scale battle. The A5 twists and drops into a steep valley at the river with open fields either side. with the land mostly forested 2000 years ago it would have been the perfect place for the Romans to lie in wait for Boudica and her British army.  The fortified town of Lactodorum (now Towcester) would have also been nearby, handy for when supplies of milk and honey were running low.

The location of the battle can only be speculated on by historians, but obviously I'm biased towards Cuttle Mill, being that such an important historical event could have taken place in the exact spot in which I type this article!

The construction at Cuttle Mill involves a new bridge next to the A5 as part of the landscaped garden. Everyone at Dynamics has been able to see the development of the area and the exposure of the current bridge, which looks like an antiquity in itself.  The area of Cuttle Mill was mentioned in the doomsday book and it seems local folklore has kept the legend of the battle very much alive.

Whether the battle did indeed take place under our very noses remains to be proved. Most historians do at least favour a location on Watling Street in the Midlands, so I'll be keeping a close eye on the ground for any unearthed clues.

I'm very proud to announce that my wife gave birth to a baby boy named Ashton on 24th August!  Both mother and son are doing very well.

With doubts hanging over his football allegiance (my wife's side of the family support Spurs!) a kind gift from the team at Dynamics Media of a mini West Bromwich Albion fleece confirms the boy has the Baggies in his blood.

After a stint of paternity leave, I'm now back in the saddle.

Thanks to everyone for their messages and good wishes.

Mat

Despite this summer not being particularly warm, the sun still plays an important part in the map design of Milton Keynes, a fact I recently found out by accident.

Midsummer Boulevard, the central road or spine of Milton Keynes, directly aligns with the sunrise on the summer solstice.  The city plan is designed so that on June 21st the sun rises down the main boulevard and lights up the train station, which sits at the south-western end of central MK.  The train station is a large, glass-fronted building, so this could be a spectacular sight if the English weather was more reliable (and if anyone could be bothered to get out of bed at 5am to see it).

Being from Northampton, I'd never heard of this fact.  It would appear obvious given the name of the road, but apparently not even to friends of mine who live in and around the area.  Stonehenge was built using these sunrise principles and I find it intriguing that something so ancient inspired the map design of such a new city.  The road next to Midsummer Boulevard is 'Avebury Boulevard' and is named after the larger stone circle in the village of Avebury a few miles north of Stonehenge, a further Milton Keynes map connection to our prehistoric past.

With the core of the city built on this angle (roughly 45 degrees from North), I still find it confusing that the road references are based on a grid-system with horizontal and vertical references!  A map of Milton Keynes may look like a flattened version of Connect-4, but for me, travelling around the city isn't much of a game.  The seemingly endless roundabouts and straight roads just make it harder for me to distinguish one part of the city to another.  That said, I couldn't find my back pockets with two hands and a mirror, so I'm probably not the best judge!

With several pilgrimages to Ikea and Xscape behind me, the design of MK has grown on me over time.  As an example of city planning and map design, Milton Keynes makes an interesting subject, not least for it's links to times past (it's even got it's own Pyramid).  With such an astronomical layout, maybe we should be looking to the stars rather than 'Starbucks' for map design inspiration!

With our exposure to the game of football gradually increasing and with more money being pumped into it, it's no suprise our beloved football clubs are putting more effort into revamping their marketing and their own brand - many starting with the design of their logo or club crest.

Some Football Clubs have been established for over 100 years and their logos reflect this by using elements from the town's heritage.  Nottingham Forest, for example, has a simple tree and river symbol in the club colours, a hat-nod to Sherwood Forest and the River Trent.  It's important to revisit a logo and make small revisions over time, keeping it fresh and relevant, but does a club looking to rebrand for modern times redesign it's logo and aim to retain it's history? Should the new logo design reflect the future of football?  Here are a few examples of what I believe to be of varying success.


Crest Fallen

I'm a West Bromwich Albion fan, so when the club announced it was redesigning its logo a year ago, I was full of excited anticipation and also jealousy that Dynamics Media hadn't been asked to do the job!  I'm afraid to say I am a little embarrassed by the revamp. The main elements have all remained, but the Throstle (the Baggies lesser-known nickname) has changed from an established and stylish illustration to a childish cartoon.  The inclusion of the WBA name looks forced and the outlines help the visibility, but only make it look more like the 'Junior Baggies'. The brief was obviously to simplify the crest, but it may have been taken too far.

Another football logo of interest to me is that of my home town, Northampton. The original Northampton logo design was a classic town crest showing, among other things, the demolished castle! With the club obviously struggling for some sort of identity, the logo never really inspired the Cobblers to success on the pitch, so a redesign was recently commissioned.  The new design is much more defined in terms of type and colour, but the elements reused from the original don't work together in the chosen format and the football boot looks like an after-thought.


Badge of Honour

Two examples of what are, in my opinion, successful logo redesigns are shown below. Arsenal's logo underwent a revamp with the introduction of their new stadium. The cluttered original has been replaced with a very distinctive emblem that retains the main element and adds depth with the different tones and use of gold.

My Queens Park Rangers supporting friend James may not agree with me, but I like the ornate redesign that has also introduced the classic QPR blue hoops. The original, although a classic 'sticker-album' logo, looks like a seventies throw-back in comparison. The new version might not be to everyone's taste, but it offers a look back to the origins of club crests and might achieve some longevity for doing so.


The Good, The Bad and The Fulham

Swindon Town: Looks more like a logo for a suburban leisure centre.

Mansfield Town: I can imagine this logo hanging from a rough Nottinghamshire pub.

Fulham FC: More 'Harry Potter' than Harrods.

Manchester United: Strong, powerful and easy to read - just like Jaap Stam.

Norwich City: Great colours and an instantly recognisable club crest.

West Ham: A logo that strikes fear into the opposition.

If anyone can contact Doctor Emmet Brown or a qualified mechanic, maybe someone can shed some light on this oddity.

It's a good job I enjoy looking at maps! As well as the extensive mapping we are currently working on for Suffolk County Council, we're also moving offices very shortly and that means our own location map will need updating.

Creative map drawing is one of my favourite parts of the job and with the progress of new online map technology, it just gets more involving. Google Earth is addictive (to the map obsessed such as myself) and is fast becoming the best way for online users to find local businesses.

After a review of our new location with Google, we've realised our new office has a large, flat roof - the perfect blank canvas for some online advertising! The plan is to secure a huge cut out of the Dynamics Media logo on the new roof and hope that Google's Aerial Photography picks it up some time soon.

Hopefully it might achieve local or even international recognition. There are other map lovers out there who spend time looking for strange findings from Google's satellites. A quick search on the internet reveals oddities ranging from crop-circles to naked sunbathers. If nothing else, it will be a good experiment to see how often Google does actually update their images.

Once the move is complete we'll begin operation 'Big D', so do come back to keep an eye on our progress.

Image: Cuttle Mill before the placement of the Dynamics logo.