In late 2020 after the Covid lockdowns, things were beginning to return to normal, but large events were still not an option. The high street chain Boots therefore decided to do their Christmas product launch in the style of a magazine format rather than a large in person event. Kinura  provided the technical support for the project, from streaming, to audio, camera equipment and crew, comms, lighting and graphics.   Watch Boots Christmas Unwrapped   The set was large and comprised of four main areas, the living room, bedroom, the make-up and wellness zones. The presenting team of Davina McCall and Yinka Bokinni were to utilise the different sets to discuss and demonstrate the products and conduct interviews with in person and remote contributors.   The above all sounds so simple, but it had to be done seamlessly and it had to look indistinguishable from a high end daytime show, like ITV’s This Morning. It was going to require a bigger, more complex setup than other live streams.   First there was the set build, then there were multiple cameras, some of which were fixed, others that moved between the sets. There were graphics, holding slides, countdowns and music. All the presenters and interviewees were mic’d and Davina was given an earpiece for talkback and for conducting the remote interview. Then we had to rehearse it all. Some segments were pre-recorded the morning before and played out as live during the broadcast to give the cameras time to relocate to different sets and make the transitions between the segments as smooth as possible.   I was situated next to the vison mixer, running two Wisycom Shark Fin antennas  to make sure I had maximum signal strength wherever the radio mics were in the studio. I mixed all the radios and audio inputs and sent presenter comms through a Sound Devices 888 mixer/recorder and mixed them using ICON Platform M+ mixing surface.   The broadcast was a huge success and Boots returned to the format in 2021 where we applied our learnings from the previous year. The 2022 Christmas Product launch was a return to the traditional in person event, leaving the Christmas Unwrapped format a novel approach to a very Covid question of how to promote your brand and products at time when people couldn’t gather.   Audio Vox has been working with Kinura for almost ten years. Their dedication to creating the best live streams always means pushing the boundaries of what is expected. A good live stream should be produced like TV, it should be slick and seamless and this is what they bring this to every job, whether internal or external. It’s a service they can provide on location or from their central London studio .

In 2021 I worked on End to End, a documentary that followed George Ezra and two university friends on their walk from Lands End to John O’Groats. George’s friends Adam and Christie documented the walk, but occasionally a crew comprised of myself, a DOP and director Mat Whitecross (Oasis: Supersonic, Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams),  would meet up with them enroute. We filmed George meeting with local musicians and recorded him performing some of his biggest hits.   The day before filming started the crew travelled down to Lands End to recce the Minack Theatre, our first location. It was an overcast day and we talked through the plan for the following morning. We wanted to film George performing “Shotgun” as the sun rose behind him. Unfortunately for us, the forecast was for thick cloud.   We arrived at the Minack around 4am when it was still dark. I had to setup the mics in the dark to record George’s performance. He did two or three takes and when he was happy, he selected one and in a race against time, I quickly topped and tailed the recording, adding a four beat count to the start and then it was ready.   George took his place, the camera was in position and I hit play, he played along to the recording and right on the cue the sun started to rise in the most spectacular fashion, illuminating the underside of the clouds a brilliant burnt orange.   Once we had George’s performance in the bag we filmed Adam and Christie joining George and then the final shots of them leaving the theatre and embarking on their three month journey. We’d finished the opening sequence of the doc.   I remember when we were done looking out over the bay and watching a basking shark swim back and forth.   A week or so later we filmed the Fisherman’s Friends singing on the beach in Port Isaac, this was done live with no pre-record and playback. I radio mic’d each of the group and the guitar and then mixed it as George, Adam and Christie watched. The next stop was Glastonbury, I’d never been to the festival before but we got the full tour of the site and the history from Emily Eavis and once more I recorded George performing. He chose his song “Budapest” and I played it back while he played along. As we shot the performance the heavy clouds above the fields parted and the sun shone above the Pyramid stage as George sang and Adam and Christie looked on.   We filmed with George again in Bristol and Manchester. End to End was released in cinemas for one day only in August 2022 and you can watch the full film on Amazon Prime, here.

Back in January I had the honour once again of going inside Number 10 to film the current Prime Minister for ITV's TONIGHT. We spent two days with Rishi Sunak filming in the Cabinet Office, his own office and we were invited into the flat he shares with his family. It was a rare chance to gain exclusive access to capture an intimate portrait of the Prime Minister during an election year. In 2015 I went with ITV's TONIGHT to film David Cameron ahead of the election that year. We also filmed in the Cabinet Office, his office and the Number 11 flat where he and his family lived. Only twice has a film crew been invited into the Prime Minister's private residence in Number 10/Number 11 this century and I've had the luck of being part of both. Depending on how this year's election plays out, in another 5 years I might be going back to film another Prime Minister... TONIGHT had also profiled the opposition leader, Kier Starmer two weeks previously. Masterfully directed by Emma Slifkin and shot by Will Middleton you can watch TONIGHT: Rishi Sunak Up Close HERE Jonny

The Bad Foot Clinic has finished it's run on REALLY but you can watch it all again by streaming it on Discovery+ UK. Audio Vox spent 6 months recording and mixing all the audio on this fantastic series working alongside an amazing cast and crew. If you haven't seen the adventures of Marion, Kenny and Steph as they help fix people's feet then you're missing out!

I don’t often do shorts but I make an exception for my friend Toryn Westcott and I’m so proud of this film. It’s done really well, playing at twelve festivals around the world including the Oscar-qualifying Odense Film Festival, prestigious competitions including Bremen FilmFest and British Shorts in Berlin, it won ‘Best Short’ at Black Sunday Film Festival, the audience award at the Golden Smile International Film Festival, and was nominated for Best East Anglian film at the Bafta-qualifying Norwich Film Festival. Given the film’s budget it punched well above its weight and did absolutely brilliantly. You can watch it on Vimeo: https://lnkd.in/dwFV-vyD Jonny

What an amazing weekend spent in LA with my wife and business partner, Emma Palmer , Audio Vox Ltd Crew co-nominees Francesco Corazzi, Simon Norman and Post Production Mixer Richard Davey and Anne Pamphilon from Jumbuck Film and TV who mastered the final mix of The Sound of 007. Although our project, The Sound of 007, didn't take home the Emmy, that honour went to the excellent David Bowie doc Moonage Daydream, we did get to party at the Governor's Gala and meet a whole host of interesting nominees and winners. The highlight was when we were having our own little after party at the hotel we were joined for an hour (through sheer coincidence) by the best Bond Villain of all time, Le Chiffre aka Mads Mikkelson, who spent an hour hanging with us. It's a weekend that won't be soon forgotten. Thanks to everyone for their support over the last few months and thank you to Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios for providing flights, cars and five star accommodation in West Beverley Hills. What a way to begin 2024! Jonny

Exciting news - I've been nominated for this year's AMPS The Association of Motion Picture Sound Awards! My work (and others) on episode 1 of BBC Studios' Inside Our Autistic Minds has been recognised in the category of Excellence in Sound for a Factual Film. It's an honour to be recognised by an industry body and to have been part of such a worthy documentary that has had a big impact on so many people's lives. I'm grateful for the opportunity to work on this important project and thankful to Joe Myerscough for having me onboard. It's fantastic to see that the hard work of so many people involved in bringing this series to life has been recognised through the nominations and wins the series has garnered since it aired in Feb 2023. The ceremony takes place in Greenwich on the 7th of April 2024. Here's to hoping for a win! Jonny #BBC #autism #autismawareness #documentary #documentaryfilm #awards #awardsseason #sound #soundrecording #soundmixer #locationsound #locationsoundmixer #locationsoundrecordist #motionpicturesound #filmmaking #film #audio