London Fashion Weekend

It’s all about Spring Summer 2011 at London Fashion Weekend. I was trying to channel Rachel Zoe when I went to the event at the city’s gorgeous Somerset House. It was like being in a fashionista’s mini heaven as I trawled through floors of designer shopping and makeover stations. Most of all, the Showspace had The Catwalk featuring trends and designs from Swan Vesta, London-based Turkish born Bora Aksu, Lady Brights and Canadian born Mark Fast. Fast was the headline designer, who dressed Kylie, Rhianna and singer/songwriter du jour Eliza Doolittle at the last Brit Awards.

Hosted by the gorgeous Zara Martin, here’s a video of the catwalk finale:

The Vodafone Screening Room gave a sneak peak of the trends for next season and the best of the Autumn Winter 2011 collections.

I loved the Juicy Couture station as well as the Elizabeth Arden and Diet Coke stands. Some tips that I picked up:

Beauty Trends

Maximum Metallics: Ultra-glam blends of glistening metals made a comeback on the runways this season.

70′s Brights: Completely opposite to the minimal trend of last season, the catwalk shows for spring / summer were awash with 70′s inspired vibrant colour. Super brights on the lips are key to achieving this look. Orangy / red shade dominated at the Diane Von Furstenberg, Lanvin and Fendi shows.

The Cut: Deconstructed glamour – texture is key, stylised yet effortless, the Spring / Summer is the ideal season for lots of volume, movement and loose shapes. Think 70′s waves with rock and grunge undertone.

The Colour: Rock solid this season, block colouring is not only a trend for your wardrobes – the more daring will be bold in global tones of soft pink and vibrant copper, or for a more alternative introduce flashes of more subtle and neutral hues.

Methinks a shopping spree is beckoning…

iApps for Creative Minds

Here are some recommendations on iApps for you creatives out there.

Some advice before buying any App, one must do the following:

• Read the App Description on iTunes
• Read all the comments and check the user rating
• Look for a video of the App on YouTube or Vimeo

Also check out HHH – Hand Held Hollywood to keep up to date with specific Apps for film and TV makers out there.

Other recommendations:

Penultimate
The best-selling handwriting app for iPad. You’ll get the fast, tactile gratification of writing on paper, with digital power and flexibility. Take note, keep sketches, or share your next breakthrough idea — in the office, on the go, or home on the sofa.

Evernote
Evernote turns the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronises from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop.

FlickStackr
FlickStackr brings Flickr photo sharing to the iPad. Designed from the ground up forthe larger screen, it allows you to BROWSE photos in the Flickr universe. UPLOAD photos, and EDIT your photos’ metadata.

SketchBookPro
Autodesk SketchBook Pro is a professional-grade paint and drawing applications. It can transform your iPad into the ultimate digital sketchbook.

Screenwriting
Screenwriting is an application that enables you to write or edit your screenplay mas-terpiece on your iPad. Never has screen writing been this intuitive, handy, fun, and productive. If you want to backup your screenplay you can email it with all of the info, including your cover page information. If you have finished your screenplay and want to make the final changes you can easily export it from the application. Your exported script will be saved in the .fdx file format, so you can open your screenplay in any of the popular desktop screen writing applications. You can also import .fdx files, which makes it easy to edit your next blockbuster movie with the Screenwriting iPad App!

Hope this helps.

Broadcast Awards 2011

The cream of the broadcasting industry gathered at last night’s Broadcast Awards held at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

With more than 1300 attendees, looks like the event was a massive success. The host was comedian John Bishop.

Below are the winners and runners up:

1. Best Popular Factual Programme
Sponsored by The Hospital Club Studios
Winner: Embarrassing Bodies, Maverick Television for Channel 4

2. Best Documentary Programme
Sponsored by Production Wizard
Winner: Cutting Edge – Katie: My Beautiful Face, Mentorn Media for Channel 4
Highly Commended: My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, Firecracker Productions for Channel 4

3. International Programme Sales
Sponsored by Compact Media Group
Winner: Undercover Boss, Studio Lambert

4. Best Daytime Programme
Sponsored by NEP Visions
Winner: Climbing Great Buildings, ITN Productions for BBC Two

5. Best Children’s Programme
Sponsored by Aframe
Winner: The Gruffalo, Magic Light Pictures in association with Studio Soi for BBC One

6. Best Multichannel Programme
Sponsored by Editworks
Winner: Misfits, Clerkenwell Films for E4
Highly Commended: Pineapple Dance Studios, Pulse Films for Sky 1 HD

7. Best Documentary series
Sponsored by The Bridgeman Art Library
Winner: Welcome to Lagos, KEO films for BBC Two

8. Best Single Drama
Sponsored by Broadcast Video Expo
Winner: Small Island, Ruby Films/AL Films for BBC One

9. Best Pre-School Programme
Winner: Something Special, CBeebies for CBeebies

10. Best Drama Series or Serial
Sponsored by Prime Focus
Winner: Sherlock, Hartswood Films in co-production with Masterpiece for BBC One

11. Best News Programme
Sponsored by Sony Professional Media
Winner: Our War, Their War: Afghan, ITN for Channel 4

12. Best Entertainment Programme
Sponsored by The Fountain Studios
Winner: The Cube, Objective Productions for ITV1

13. Best Soap or Continuing Drama
Sponsored by BBC Studios and Post Production
Winner: Emmerdale, ITV Studios for ITV1
Highly Commended: The Bill, talkbackTHAMES for ITV1

14. Best Comedy Programme
Sponsored by Pinewood Studios
Winner: The Thick of It, BBC Productions for BBC Two

15. Best Sports Programme
Sponsored by SIS LIVE
Winner: Indian Premier League Final, IMG Media for ITV4

16. Best Music Programme
Sponsored by PRS for Music
Winner: Glastobury 2010, BBC / Glastonbury Festivals for BBC Two

17. Best Post Production House
Sponsored by Avid
Winner: Clear Cut Pictures
Highly Commended: Films at 59

18. Best New Programme
Sponsored by 3 Mills Studios
Winner: Misfits, Clerkenwell Films for Channel 4

19. Best Independent Production Company
Sponsored by The London Studios
Winner: Left Bank Pictures

20. Channel of the Year
Sponsored by Arqiva
Winner: E4

Lisa Campbell, editor of Broadcast magazine commented:

Whether you’re an award-winner or not, every finalist deserves special recognition for producing some amazing television, despite the difficulties of the past year.

In fact, looking at some of the work shortlisted, it’s almost impossible to believe that 2009 was one of the most difficult years the TV industry has ever faced. It made the job of shortlisting, let alone selecting winners, a really difficult one this year.

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!

Theroux-ly interesting

Today’s BBC Playback was a special preview of acclaimed broadcaster Louis Theroux’s new programme entitled Louis Theroux: The Ultra Zionists, which is out on BBC Two tomorrow night at 9pm (except Northern Ireland).

For his latest outing, Theroux, who has carved a niche for his ‘Gonzo style journalism’, spends time with a small and very committed subculture of ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

After the screening, there was a Q&A. I asked him whether there was a particular group of people he wants to meet and he said that he’s always interested to meet those from religious cults. Although he added that there is a distinct difference as to who he thinks are interesting to meet and who he thinks audiences would find watchable.

It was interesting to hear how the programme was put together and to meet an interesting character such as Theroux.