Metacam "Born to Run"
2011 has been a wonderful year for A1 Animals, January was unusually busy, staring with a multi dog job for our friends QED in Manchester, for Misfits packaging, closely followed by a four day stills shoot for Latham’s dog food packaging involving dozens of dogs and puppies…as a result of his cuteness Hamish a Bullmastiff puppy managed to charm his way into A1 Animal’s clutches!
Mossup (Lurcher) was featured in “Casualty”(for Animals Okay) as the narrow boat dwelling Dervla playing Doctor Dylan’s pet and then went on to a Kellogs TV commercial along with additional studio work.
Ellie was chosen by Kay Raven (Animals Okay) to play the replacement Labrador on Downton Abbey, and has kept us busy throughout the year.
Ollie made his personal appearance at Crufts, along with Chummy (Oreo) and Mabel (The Kings Speech) and proved a huge hit, especially with one little girl who couldn’t believe that Mabel was the actual Pug from her favourite comic “All About Animals”, a really heartwarming moment!
Stills shoots have included Royal Wedding specials featuring Scramble for Next, and several shoots for Boden with Scramble, Brillo and Dexter including a recreation of the famous “Abbey Road” album cover.
Zelda, Spike, Cairo and Tonki shot a stills campaign for “Waitrose “ cat food and Spike, Haggis and Cairn appeared in advertisements for “Purina” both photographed by Steve Hoskins.
Our new chocolate Labrador rescue girlie Coco (ex Many Tears Animal Rescue) started her career with a stills shoot for Robert smith Photography followed swiftly by an appearance on “Shooting Stars” for Animals Okay at BBC TV Centre.
Another trip up the M6 to Manchester for Misfits dog treat packaging, ongoing trips to Highclere Castle and Ealing studios for Downton Abbey and a hectic day out in Surrey with various dogs for a calendar shoot (John Daniels Photography) all followed in quick succession…
“All About Animals” with Scramble and Mabel has continued to be a particular favourite…a lovely photo story, all delightfully pink and fluffy!
A major stills campaign for Metacam employed nearly all A1 Animals cats, shot both in a studio environment and on a canal boat at Hungerford!
July kicked off with a big shoot at Harefield for Dogstrust with Dexter and many, many other dogs…..followed swiftly by a couple of stills shoots for Gandee Vassan.
Another super job with David Stewart (photographer) and Phoebe Dalmatian, both are always a great pleasure to work with, as were the gnomes!
Animals on Blue contacted us for puppies in August, a super few days with German Shepherd and Dalmatian puppies, great fun, then another hectic time with Mabel Pug for Cadbury and several dogs over several days for Purina with Fudge (German Spitz Klein) Brillo (Border Terrier) Foster (Golden Retriever) and Ellie.
Dexter ( another ex Many Tears dog) was cast for “Call The Midwife” due to air in the early part of 2012, and was as usual, a real star this series is set in the 1950s and the costumes were great, all the women wearing “pinnies” and hairnets and everyone with a cigarette in their hand! Roupell Street (SE) was a perfect location.
Animals on Blue came back to us in October for a massive project for a website promoting sensible dog ownership, the first batch shot over four days comprising over forty different breeds of dog, busy but very enjoyable, more to come in 2012!
The utterly charming and gorgeous Junyoug Jang and Abner Pastoll approached us for a dog (Dexter) and some chickens for a teaser short, and it was lovely to see them both again.
Ellie did her final day on “Downton Abbey” for the Christmas special during which she was abducted by the dastardly Thomas (played by the very lovely Rob James Collier) and in contrast Mabel played in a comedic short involving a maternity delivery suite and a Bassett Hound……..
The ever lovely Martha (ex Many Tears) was an angel during a very difficult shot which involved her lying on a sofa surrounded by cuddly toys (It truly is a dog’s life!)
The year ended as it began, very busy with another dash up the M6 for Bailey Cat (a commercial for Uswitch.com), another trip to Wood Lane, this time for Polly on “Never Mind The Buzzcocks”, which brought back bitter sweet memories of dogs no longer with us, and another trip to Malcolm Ryan Studios, this time with Dax the Weimeraner bizzarely for a Korean cigarette advertisement….
Chummy featured in two Sky commercials, but the biggest event was the casting of Bullseye for the touring production of “Oliver”, this will tour all over the United Kingdom and across the sea to Dublin over the next year and more, starting in Cardiff. He is an English Bull Terrier who is being absolutely brilliant, coping with the atmosphere and noise of a huge production like a real old pro…..Good Boy, Bullseye!
New additions to the A1 family include Hamish, who has already proved how talented he is by appearing in commercials for British Airways, and John Lewis in addition to his stills appearances, Ria a striking Deerhound who will make her debut in 2012 having travelled from Rumbling Bridge, in Scotland to join the team.
Nessie (Yorkshire Terrier) and Manny (Lurcher) came to us via Cotswold Canine Rescue, it is our policy to give forever homes to rescue animals whenever possible, indeed we have adopted eleven cats (Rob, Roy, Ann, Rosie, Haggis, Polly, Wizzie, Spike, Cairo, Luxor and Cairn) all from rescue organisations. Rob and Roy made their debut in the ITV drama “Without you” starring Anna Friel who had fond memories of working with the late, lamented Jasper in the theatrical production of “Breakfast at Tiffanys”. Roy also appeared as Mr Miggles in the hit TV show “The Misfits”.
Bob Cat continues to be in demand after his standout appearance in the Ikea commercial and has been asked to make a sequel to his starring role in “Single White Feline” one of the major hits on Youtube for the BBC comedy department.
A quick mention a couple of our special friends:
www.manytears.co.uk An animal rescue based in South Wales who have very kindly allowed us to adopt several dogs.
http://www.cotswoldcaninerescue.co.uk
Who allowed us to adopt Nessie and Manny
www.nikipeach.com Niki Peach who looks after our website…Thank you!
Wishing all our friends and colleagues a very prosperous, but mostly a very happy new year,
From Liz, Sue, Alan, Chelsea, Dot and all the other two legged, four legged and indeed no-legged members of the A1 Animals team x
