Success

The Sharp Project launches new studio facilities

STUDIO 08

STUDIO 08 at THE SHARP PROJECT

The Sharp Project, Manchester’s digital content production complex in east Manchester, has constructed a purpose-built suite of four fully sound-proofed studios, believed to be the only dedicated green screen suite in the UK.

The studios range in size from 450 sq ft to 1270 sq ft, are fully air conditioned. In addition to being a tailor-made green screen facility, the studios can be used for voice-overs, castings, photography, corporate ads and music videos. They are available on short or long term leases from as little as £350 for a day from next month.

This suite of studios compliments the four existing production stages designed for large scale TV and film production which range from 6,200sq ft to 28,000 sqft and are up to 25 ft in height. These facilities currently house the sets for Sky Television’s ‘Mount Pleasant’ and Channel 4’s ‘Fresh Meat’ comedy dramas.

Sue Woodward OBE, Director of The Sharp Project and Manchester’s Creative Champion said: “Production and post-production is a growth sector and if Manchester is to capitalise on the global opportunity we need to be able to offer professional services to a wide range of markets including corporate production companies.”

“There is increasing demand for dedicated green screen studios complete with cycloramas and sound proofing, triggered by the growth of digital content production and the need for bite-sized snippets of digital media in many formats for use across all business sectors in the modern world. At The Sharp Project we can now offer a complete range of studio space for productions of all shapes and sizes. ”

A launch event will take place on Wednesday 12 June from 5pm to 9pm with tours, a panel discussion, live demos, workshops and a roller disco. For full details and guest list enquiries visit www.thesharpproject.co.uk/event005

For more information, follow The Sharp Project on Twitter @sharpproject

Photograph of Studio 08 by Neilson Reeves Photography
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Tenant at The Sharp Project gets top regional award

Photo by Thomas Rothwell, SharpFutures

Sam Jones, Founder and Director of Tunafish Media, a multimedia production company based at The Sharp Project has been awarded the title of Manchester’s business development professional of the year at the Made in Manchester Awards.

The 24 year old from Failsworth beat off stiff competition from a range of shortlisted people from high profile companies including George Davies Solicitors LLP and RBS.

The company, established in January 2011 has a strong client base that includes Nissan, Mercedes Rygor, Harvey Nichols, Forever Manchester and Glidden Trade Paint. Tunafish has also made a number of music videos for a host of bands including The Last Party, Cheap Cuts and Danny Mahon, as well as being featured as the North-West media company to watch by GQ.

Tunafish Media

Sam Jones, commenting on his award said: “The judges said they were impressed with our entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that we established the company from scratch in the middle of a recession but were still able to acquire a good customer base. To win was completely unexpected. We’ve worked really hard to get Tunafish up and running and it is really nice to receive some recognition for that. Being based at The Sharp Project is great and has without doubt contributed to our success as it’s an environment that nature start-ups and encourages growth. ‘

Sue Woodward, Director of The Sharp Project added: “We’re really proud of Sam and the Tunafish team. They are long standing tenants and have really have embraced our ethos and become part of our unique ecology, collaborating with other tenants. They represent what The Sharp Project is all about.”

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The Sharp Project 2012 Roundup

The Sharp Project

With the national and European economies still being squeezed by torpor and crisis throughout 2012, The Sharp Project has proved to be an oasis of creativity, consolidation and steady growth. Sure, as a home for start-ups, the only way probably is up, but The Sharp Project is more than that. We’ve seen major TV productions, inspirational new tenants, Campus membership introduced and a monumental step forward for Manchester as a digital and technical hub. And there are still 20 days left!

This time last year, folks at The Sharp Project were preparing for the Christmas do and we were taking a rare excursion from future-tugging to reflect on the accomplishments of 2011. While all at the Project were naturally excited and optimistic about its own successes and potential, it was amid a national and global economic downturn without too many signs of recovery. So it’s interesting now, as 2012 loosens its grip on our nation’s psyche, to see what this year has brought – even if it’s only to check our trajectory. Continue reading

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In-house Outsourcing with Zemap

Since it resided on a drawing board, The Sharp Project has made its purpose clear: to be a hub for small creative digital operations and the industries that assist them. Much is made of the potential for a tenant to pick different talents from within the building to fill a need for a particular assignment, and to a degree it happens; indeed it’s almost inevitable with such breadth and depth available. But when Zemap, a video production tenant, needed some holes filling pronto, they decided to keep it in the house – and got a result.

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Set Your Dolly Free: Flyka Glides In

People who use swans as a metaphor for grace being driven by hidden exertion must never have visited a film set. The amount of stuff going on behind the camera and dangling over actors’ heads gives little clue about the polished finished product. Inside the industry, though, the quest to simplify the back end has been an ongoing one, the cameras themselves being a case in point. Static scenes are simple enough – just mount a camera and you’re away. And moving along a straight line can be done using rails. But when it comes to filming things that are moving from a close perspective or where rails cannot be put down, the results can be unconvincing or unintentionally amusing.

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Licence to Create: Ward Hadaway’s IP Lawyers

Intellectual property law is often seen as only affecting creative concerns, but in reality it affects all businesses. That said, it’s often the creative companies that are entrusted with the tricky task of compliance, which is why Laura Harper, Head of Creative Industries at Ward Hadaway, thought setting up shop in Manchester’s newest hive of inventiveness would be a great idea.

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Mo Cap One: Motion Capture your Imagination

Visualisation of products and places that don’t exist serves several purposes: selling ideas to financiers, assisting the production process, allowing fine-tuning of designs and promoting plans to the public, not to mention creating self-contained works of art and entertainment. But to look their best, especially to an audience whose expectations increase in line with technology, any visualisation needs to use a blend of technical mastery and design excellence to create efficient but believable visuals. (Some of us remember being wowed by Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing video. Now look at it!) Nowadays visualisation can often mean entering the fourth dimension, with fly-throughs, walk-throughs and probably swim-throughs putting new demands on visual designers – demands that Mo Cap One are facing every day.

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Project:Simply do the White Thing

Web design used to feature two dominant disciplines: graphic design and programming. Getting a website found was achieved through their combined expertise and good marketing. But as the sector matured and competitiveness grew, searchability became a vital consideration, and search engine optimisation (SEO) began to justify its position as a distinct third task in making a successful web presence. SEO also provided Sharp with its very first tenants – Project:Simply.

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