Full Production looks back at a ‘full on’ 2022!
2022 turned out to be another ‘full on’ year for Full Production! We saw very strong business growth across the board with a huge variety of television productions, special events and attractions keeping us busy throughout the year.
In total, we’re delighted to have completed well over 100 individual jobs over this past 12 months – in addition to our ongoing maintenance commitments at sites in Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester, Cardiff, Brentford and Gibraltar.
In television, we saw a busy run of work on numerous entertainment programmes. The early part of the year saw Steve, Marc and Shaun delivering the Britain’s Got Talent auditions at the London Palladium (LD Dave Bishop, Gaffer Mark Newell). Following that, we provided network and systems technicians for Beat The Chaser (LD Chris Kempton). Next, Marc and Shaun were on hand to deliver kit and crew for the Nowruz 2022 festival celebrations, for Marjan Television Network at the LH2 facility in London – again with LD David Bishop and Gaffer Mark Newell.
After project managing and gaffering the finals of Young Dancer 2022 at the Roundhouse (for LD Tim Routledge), Steve went on to work his 10th – and last – series of Strictly Come Dancing, again in support of LD David Bishop and gaffer Mark Newell.
The winning team of David Bishop, Mark Newell and Full Production came together again when Marc looked after systems for Britain’s Got Talent: The Ultimate Magician at Birmingham ICC. There was even more entertainment in store when Shaun was on-site to assist our partners Liteup with the production of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
We’ve also been busy with events of all types! We provided project management and technical services when Amazon Prime prepared a special photo-shoot as part of its promotion of the new Lord of the Rings series. On another project, Steve was once again project manager and gaffer for the Who Cares Wins Awards, which took place at the Roundhouse, with LDs David Bishop and Darren Lovell. We also provided kit and crew for The Princes Trust Awards, staged at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (LD Ben Cracknell, programmer Tom Young).
On the live music front, Marc again took on his Lighting Director duties for production rehearsals in preparation for the UK, EU, Japanese and US tour outings this year by Foals (with production design by Cassius Creative), plus a number of festival appearances – including the band’s headline slot at Glastonbury! In a slightly different musical vein, when Broadway star Audra McDonald played at the London Palladium (LD Jack Weir), Full Production provided kit and crew, and Steve project managed and gaffered the show.
Our expertise in providing attractions has also been in demand this year. One of the highlights of our summer was when our team, led by Marc, provided lighting supply and design for our client, Pixel Artworks, for two back-to-back family entertainment events – Dragon Slayer and Sundown Spectacular – at Warwick Castle. Both were a great success, and our huge thanks go to Pixel Artworks’ production manager Joe Kelly for having us on board again!
We also helped draw thousands of festive feet to Christmas attractions by lighting no fewer than 13 Christmas walks across the country. These included some of Britain’s most beautiful settings, such as the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Margam Country Park in South Wales, the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, the historic Coombe Abbey in Coventry and the gorgeous gardens of Wakehurst in Sussex. In all, we covered over 300 people-days in November alone, across Christmas walks and other projects!
Meanwhile, lots of other (equally important!) things were going on in-house, including training with Rigging Team, work on re-investment programmes, energy reduction schemes and new sites with some of our existing installation customers, as well as an exciting new business partnership with our old friends at Avion TSL – which will see Full Production’s reach and client base spread even further across the country.
And as if that wasn’t busy enough for 2022, Lise got married! Huge congratulations to the happy couple!
As we prepare for 2023, we are very excited by some interesting new developments in the Full Production pipeline, which we can’t wait to tell you about in due course . . . We’re looking forward to kicking off 2023 with a bang!
Until then, we’d like to thank all of our valued clients, freelancers and subcontractors for working with us this year – 2022 has been a pleasure – and wish you every joy with your Christmas holidays and every success for the New Year!
Our very best wishes,
The Full Production team x
Full Production's 2021 Christmas Wrap-Up
From working in a cave to winning industry awards, it’s been a busy year for Full Production. As 2021 draws to a close, we take a look back at everything we’ve been up to…
Merry Christmas everyone!
It’s been a busy year, and now that we’re approaching the end of it we thought this would be a good opportunity to have a look back at some of the jobs we’ve worked on in 2021. The Full Production team have been down a cave, up in the dizzy heights of the Royal Albert Hall, on TV and everything in between! There were some surprises along the way, too…
We spent the first part of 2021 perfecting our golf game, after being approached to install Treetop Adventure Golf in Birmingham. Full Production designed, specified, supplied and installed all the lighting and audiovisual in the venue, as well as show control and automation. We helped to bring to life the ‘tropical trail’ and ‘ancient explorer’ courses that make up Treetop Adventure Golf. It was a fun and creative job to kickstart the new year with, and the client was so pleased with our work that we were brought on board to perform regular maintenance across all of their UK sites.
From crazy golf to just downright crazy, we spent the next couple of months holed up inside a cave. Sounds a bit like 2020, doesn’t it? St Michael’s cave in Gibraltar was the site of a unique installation which really pushed our team to the limits. Full Production’s Steve Richardson and Shaun Graham designed, installed and programmed the lighting for ‘The Awakening’, an immersive installation retelling the history of the popular tourist attraction in Gibraltar. Our work here was recognised by a number of industry magazines including Mondo-DR and LSI, as well as getting us onto the cover of ETnow. May also saw our very own Lise Watkins get engaged! Did you know she has a weird skill that unnerves her colleagues and can (almost) speak four languages?
As the summer rolled on we upgraded our warehouse, adding some new kit to our arsenal. Full Production’s Marc Thornton masterminded an exciting job lighting the Warwick Castle Sundown Spectacular in August, which saw the outside of the medieval castle lit up with spectacular colours and effects. Steve also made his return to cricket after breaking his leg while featuring in the Full Production-supported Littlewick Green Cricket Club at the end of last year…
Moving into September, and some of our regular TV work. Full Production continued to support the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, supplied equipment to the re-booted Weakest Link and the Who Cares Wins awards, which recognised the achievements of those in the healthcare sector during the pandemic. We came pretty close to rubbing shoulders with Boris Johnson, David Beckham and the Duke of Cambridge, to name just a few.
As the year drew to a close, we were on hand to provide production assistance to Champions Tennis at The Royal Albert Hall. Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open earlier in the year, featured on the billing alongside a raft of tennis legends past and present. Full Production’s lighting know-how helped turn it into quite the show, inside one of the UK’s most storied venues. Managing Director Steve Richardson also made it into Inavate Magazine’s 40 Under 40, recognising Full Production’s adaptability and continued growth over the past two difficult years.
Finally, we worked on not just one but ten different Christmas lighting trails, getting very familiar indeed with the muddy fields of country estates across the UK. Oh, and not to be forgotten was the addition of the youngest member of the Full Production family. Steve’s second daughter Etta Richardson was born in November. No doubt she will be onsite and plugging up a system in no time at all…
So certainly a busy year for the Full Production team, despite all the challenges. Here’s to an equally exciting 2022. Have a Merry Christmas all, and see you in the New Year!
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What is your role at Full Production?
I’m the Account Manager. I’m dealing with more of the new business at the moment, but hopefully as work goes on I’ll be reintroduced to old clients.
I officially joined full time in September 2020, but six months before then I was working ad hoc for Full Production because I was furloughed from my previous job. I was Sales Manager/Account Manager for Enigma Creative Solutions, an exhibition and live events company based in Windsor. When Covid hit, there were no conferences going on so our design help wasn’t needed. Everything screeched to a standstill.
What is your favourite job you’ve worked on at Full Production?
I would say my favourite job so far has been Treetop Adventure Golf in Birmingham, which we supplied the lighting and interactive elements for. It was the first job at Full Production which I saw through from the beginning to a finished product. The cherry on top was that they enjoyed working with us so much that they’ve extended our contract to include service and maintenance on all their current sites across the UK. Hopefully it has improved my golf game a bit, too…
Have you always worked in the events industry?
No, but I have always been in sales and account management roles for lots of different industries. I started off in civil engineering, then went into corporate relocation, then events. I enjoyed working in the creative industry, so working for Full Production is a continuity of that. It was nice to be able to travel again for work, as I travelled quite a bit when I was growing up.
Where did you grow up?
My dad was in oil and gas exploration and we moved around with him, staying in different countries for two and a half to three years at a time. As well as England and Scotland, we lived in Australia, Brazil, and spent a bit of time in the United States as well. We came back to the UK to finish off schooling when I was 16, so I did spend most of my childhood outside the UK.
So can you speak more than one language?
My mum’s French, so I can speak French. Portuguese I can certainly understand, although I haven’t spoken it since I left. It’s in my brain somewhere. And I can just about get away with some Spanish, because it’s quite similar to Portuguese. So I can (almost) speak four languages.
How did you spend your lockdown?
I had really good intentions, and decided I was going to try and read Harry Potter in French. It’s always been one of my favourite series of books since I was a kid, and I wanted to brush up on my language skills at the same time. I thought it would be a good excuse to read it again, but in all honesty I didn’t get quite as far through it as I would have liked.
Instead, to the horror of my fiance Andy, I spent my pandemic doing a lot of DIY and house jobs. Things like changing taps in bathrooms – and flooding said bathrooms because I didn’t switch the water off. There were a lot of phone calls to Steve [Richardson, Full Production’s Managing Director] saying “can I borrow this tool?”
The weather certainly kept me outdoors doing physical jobs rather than anything indoors. There was plenty of gardening and lots of long dog walks.
How many dogs do you have?
Just the one, his name is Indy. He’s a Cocker Spaniel, so he has about two brain cells knocking around in his brain, he’s very fun. I chose the dog and my fiance picked the name – he was named after the dog from Indiana Jones.
Do you have any strange skills?
I know it freaks people out, but I’m very good at touch typing without looking, so I can stare into a camera on a Zoom call while continuing to type something up. The creative industry seems to be amazed at this, although I think it’s pretty normal!
What’s your favourite film?
I’m notoriously bad at going to the cinema. Why go to the cinema with all these strangers when I can just watch it at home with whatever food and drink I want from my own sofa? Saying that though, I love the film Gladiator. I could watch that on loop. It’s so good and it’s aged really well.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! – Let’s hope it’s happier than 2020…
We’re already hard at it with our first delivery unloading this morning in Birmingham – the start of a two month install, due to complete early March.
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#eventprofs #installation #lighting #sound #avgeek #immersiveexperience
Merry Christmas!
That’s a wrap for 2020!
Definitely not the year we expected – it’s certainly one for the history books.
We wish you all a very safe and Happy Christmas from all of us at Full Production.
Our office is now closed until 4th January… Hopefully, we can all catch up properly in 2021.
Steve, Jo, Shaun and Lise
Racks Build
R&D : Tree Shakers
It’s been a busy week at Full Production HQ with a bit of R&D and prototype building. A client with themed experiences wants to explore adding more dynamic content… what do these sound like ?? ![]()
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Welcome to the team, Lise!
Another busy week almost ticked off at Full Production HQ, and we’re finally able to share the exciting news that Lise Watkins has joined the team as Account Manager.
Lise entered the entertainment and creative industries over 6 years ago, and prior to Full Production worked at a global exhibition and events agency on their Sales team, managing her own accounts along with assisting others with blue chip clients.
Outside of work Lise enjoys spending time exploring the outdoors with her dog and travelling.
Fun Fact Friday : After living in six different countries across four continents Lise’s accent can sometimes be as fluid as water, to the entertainment of those around her.
Lise can be contacted Monday to Friday at lise@fullproduction.co.uk