Audi ‘Imagination’ for BBH London. Click image for Blind’s showreel.

We are hugely excited to announce the addition of multimedia collective Blind to the Hotspur & Argyle roster. Set up in 1995 Blind have crafted beautiful campaigns for clients like Sony, Honda, Amnesty International, Volkswagen and Xbox 360. World class practitioners in 2D and 3D animation, AFX, Editorial, Live Action, Vfx stop motion, CGI and motion graphics, Blind’s best known UK commercial to date is the widely lauded Imagination for the Audi A7, a stylised journey through the mind of an automotive designer for BBH that was inducted into the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Click the still from Imagination above to see Blind’s current reel.

As well as work across commercials, broadcast, film, web and branding they have made stunning music videos for the likes of Gnarls Barkley, The Raveonettes and Justin Timberlake which can be seen by clicking the stills below.

Blind’s countless awards include two Creative Arts Emmy’s from the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences, numerous Promax BDA awards, Addy’s and Telly’s and a D&AD pencil for their title sequence for the short film Crank Calls.

So you can see why we’re excited…

Richard Swarbrick- renowned for beautifully immortalising British sports icons like Gareth Bale, Wayne Rooney, Stuart Broad and Andy Murray – has turned his attentions to the NBA and one of its biggest stars. Luol Deng plays small forward for the Chicago Bulls but the British theme continues because he will also be a key member of the Team GB basketball squad at the forthcoming London Olympics. Richard’s unique style has gone down a storm in America where Deng himself has been distributing it’s YouTube link via twitter.

It’s all happening for the ever-industrious animator who created the Hotspur & Argyle Christmas card, recently featured on ITV’s Ad Of The Year show with his Sun campaign and is currently immersed in several new projects.

David C. Kerr, back from a stint directing the highly acclaimed ‘Fresh Meat’ for Channel 4, has plunged head first into a frenzy of commercials making. First up, this charming comedy of confusion for Tesco and the latest ‘Call of Duty’ game, described in the Daily Telegraph as ‘the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium’ (!). Characteristically deft handling of casting and performance are in evidence alongside classy photography from Ray Coates and editing from Simon Willcox at Loaded Dice. The script was conceived by Red Brick Road’s Anthea Goodrick and Rose Lang, agency producer was Ben Honour and Adam Lyne produced for Hotspur & Argyle.

Martin Aamund has followed up last year’s acclaimed Jack & Jones spot with another startlingly stylish execution for the same brand, currently adorning Scandinavian TV screens. It can also be found on the Jack and Jones website, featuring extra footage, where it serves as an interactive guide to ‘staying safe’.

Scripted by &Co’s Thomas Hoffman and Martin Storgaard the film was shot in the remarkably US-urban environs of Riga, Lithuania. As with the previous spot, Mattias Rudh was the DP and it was cut by Anders Albjerg. Sound design is by Goldfish. Not one to sit back admiring his own beautiful work for too long, Martin is currently in his native Copenhagen with producer Danny Fleet making a Johnnie Walker spot for BBH New York. Watch this space for that one.

David C. Kerr’s Fresh Meat breaks 10pm 21st Sept on Channel 4

Look out for David’s new comedy “Fresh Meat”. Starring Jack Whitehall and Joe Thomas and written by Peep Show creators Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, its already going down a storm with the press;

"Smart, sympathetic and pretty much adorable from the get-go" - The Guardian

"Brilliant new comedy drama" - The Sun

"It has hit written all over" - The Sunday Times

"Brilliantly observed. Excellent Cast" ***** - Heat

Richard Swarbrick has directed four new ground-breaking commercials for The Sun’s football coverage through agency WCRS.

In a departure from The Sun’s traditional style, painterly, impressionistic animation combines with a haunting music track of Swarbrick’s own creation and a contemplative voice over from Sun Football columnist Terry Venables to strike a cerebral tone.

A 30 second commercial and three further 20s complete the campaign which was conceived by WCRS creative team Jonny Porthouse and Andy Lee. Agency Producer was Lizzie Mabbott and Danny Fleet produced for Hotspur & Argyle.

To see the first ad featuring Wayne Rooney’s overhead-kick goal for Manchester United against Manchester City last season, click here.

Richard Swarbrick- compulsive animator, sports nut and genius – has fashioned this delightful tennis piece out of nothing more than wool and felt. The result of hours of painstaking work, the film is based on a classic Wimbledon rally between Tim Henman and Magnus Gustafsson. Photography was courtesy of the brilliant Haarala Hamilton.

Richard Swarbrick’s latest animation is a stunning celebration of Barcelona’s 5-0 thrashing of arch rivals Real Madrid last year. Commissioned by Sky Sports for their coverage of the return match in Madrid, the beautiful and vividly colourful film portrays what many regard as one of the most complete performances by any football team in history. Prominent among the protagonists are coaches Jose Mourinho and Josep Guardiola and star players Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Similar in style to Richard’s celebrated film of footballer of the year Gareth Bale, this latest execution was longer in the making because of the extra colour and more detailed close ups. Richard worked closely with Sky Sports producer Luke Arthur and was working right up to the Day before the game when the Sky team departed for Madrid.

To see more of his personal work, get in touch with Danny Fleet at H&A HQ.

Marco Pierre White stars in Hotspur & Argyle’s new campaign for Bernard Matthews Farms directed by new recruit David C. Kerr. The first of the campaign’s three commercials, for agency Isobel, features the great chef lunching with actor and Spandau Ballet veteran Martin Kemp.

The shoot took place at the Michelin starred Yorke Arms restaurant near Harrogate in Yorkshire and reunited Marco with head chef Frances Atkins – the two were kitchen-mates at the nearby Yew Tree in their younger days. The naturalistic style called for a huge amount of footage which was beautifully distilled by editor Andy McGraw at Stitch. The delicious photography was the work of DP Rob Hardy, H&A producer was Danny Fleet, Denise Robinson took charge for Isobel and the whole idea was cooked up by creative directors Rob Fletcher and David Alexander.

Ice cream, magic and warm snuggly cosiness are the ingredients for our romantic new commercial for Ladbrokes. Directed by Theo Delaney, the ad demonstrates a new app and features the unique voice over talents of Fonejacker‘s Kayvan Novak. It was conceived by M&C Saatchi creative Joe Miller and partner Tristan Cornelius who contributed Smokey Robinson-esque backing vocals to the syrupy-smooth soundtrack. Theo Garland provided the warm and welcoming lighting and the Editor was Scott Crane of The Quarry. Danny Fleet produced for Hotspur and Argyle, with Peter Montgomery taking charge for M&C. Hand artistry was performed by our very own Tom Mallion. Pictures of his contortions can be found here on our facebook page. To view the commercial, click the image above.

We are delighted to announce the addition of BAFTA winner David Kerr to the Hotspur & Argyle directors roster.

David directed BBC One’s Christmas campaign, starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams with Gary Lineker, Tess Daly and Ronnie Corbett which broke at the weekend. Among the other comedy legends he has worked with are Steve Coogan and Vic Reeves. He has twice been nominated for the BAFTA Best Comedy Award, winning in 2007 for his work on the first series of ‘That Mitchell & Webb Look’ which was described as “the best sketch show in a decade” by The Guardian.

Most recently he directed the BBC prime time kitchen-based comedy ‘Whites’ starring Alan Davies.

A Cambridge graduate with a first-class degree in Classics, David was
born in Northern Ireland, but is now based in London. Click here to see his reel.

Here at Hotspur & Argyle we favour a roster of the perfectly formed but modestly proportioned variety. This has always enabled us to attend fully to our directors’ special talents. (And indeed, their Special Needs). So we don’t normally expect to figure in ‘Top Production Power Houses’ lists or anything like that.

But we do confess a quiet satisfaction at our recent number two placing in Televisual’s most commissioned London production companies. We must, as they say, be doing something right.

We are delighted to announce the addition of the brilliant Manuel Werner to the Hotspur & Argyle roster. Manuel brings with him a distinctive visual style honed making high-end commercials across Europe, collecting a string of awards along the way. His considerable technical prowess stems from a remarkable range of experience prior to his directing career including a stint as a flame op, work in casting and spells in the production and camera departments.

Click here or on the image to watch Manuel’s reel and you’ll see why we are so excited.

Richard Swarbrick is a multi-media director based in London.

His creative and technical skills have been developed through a career encompassing film editing, photography and graphic design. He is also an accomplished After Effects operator.

As a director, Richard has developed a remarkable range of animation techniques many of which he combines to great effect with live action.

His football animations ‘Bale’ and ‘El Clasico’ have had huge viral impact internationally clocking up over a million views on YouTube alone and have featured on myriad newspaper and magazine sites as well as football, film and cultural blogs.

View Richard’s amazing reel by clicking on the image above