Azimuth announce a brand new chapter for the company with significant changes across the board as they enter their sixteenth year of business.
At the forefront of factual and creative storytelling, Azimuth is a full service editing, post-production, finishing and delivery facility. With Yives Reed and Carl Grinter at the helm the company has moved from their original Soho base to a new high-spec facility in a stylishly restored and refitted building in Holborn.
Facility
The seven storey building was fully stripped out, restored and fitted out over a two year period. It has been designed from top to bottom by Daniela Dohnalkova to both fit Azimuth’s high-spec bespoke requirements and complement the building’s distinctive mid-century aesthetic.
The restoration process converted the building from an unloved office space to a stylish, cutting edge post production facility. The result is a calm, considered and welcoming workspace that uses light, colour, and space to encourage creativity and collaboration, an environment for creative working practices to flourish.
Yives explains Azimuth’s ambition “we knew this building was perfect as soon as we saw it. We started from scratch and were committed to making it the very best it could be. We invested in an all-new infrastructure, so no legacy kit, wiring or worries of limitations. All of our technology choices are best in class or go above and beyond industry standards to ensure we deliver the best content to the global market.
One of our main objectives was to fuse robust on premise and in cloud workflows to enable collaboration with optimal flex and capability for our clients wherever they may be. Achieving this was no mean feat and a testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone involved and a staggering 45 km of cable! I’m proud to say that the end result has gone beyond our expectations and we are hugely excited for the future of Azimuth.”
Talent
Carl and Yives are supported by top industry talent Genna McWhinnie as Head of Post Production and Head of Technical Operations Steve Oak.
Why Azimuth for Genna,“Being given the opportunity to lead a company in its brand new iteration is always going to be an exciting prospect & frankly one I was thrilled to accept. Doing the actual build of the kit, rooms & building itself has its challenges, but the real work? It’s creating a culture and team that makes our clients truly looked after. I hope to bring my loud good humour to the company and clients to ensure its lasting success”
With almost unrivalled experience in running post-production technical departments Steve’s vast knowledge and commitment have been instrumental in the success of the new facility that offers innovative and flexible working.
Oak comments, “We knew we needed the very best in technology to make this new space everything it should be. We have flexible software throughout allowing seamless collaboration connecting our clients across distances, through streamlined and smooth workflows.
Remote post-production plays a pivotal role in modern post production. We offer flexibility, efficiency, and accessibility and by leveraging these capabilities, creators can collaborate across geographic boundaries, maximising productivity and creativity.”
Carl on the talent behind the work, “we have some of the best creative post-production artists on board in this new incarnation of the company, as it had to be about creating the perfect creative atmosphere between artists, directors and producers. Our aesthetic designed space, talent, tools and technology enable the best outcome for the work. We were looking for experienced award winning talent with best practices in their fields, who were highly motivated, creative and dedicated to their craft and that’s what we have here now. We have built a team of collaborative artists that work and share knowledge together and are supported by Genna’s production and Steve’s Technical operations team to produce exceptional work for our clients and to drive Azimuth forward.”
Tech
With three colour grading suites, two DaVinci Resolve and one Baselight with the latest EIZO monitoring, capable of working in HD through to 4K HDR resolutions. Colour Assist Rooms and picture experts are at hand to support the main suites and the productions we work on.
The Azimuth audio team runs three sound studios and two audio prep rooms, which are connected to three VO booths. All our studios and prep rooms are 5.1 capable, and the studios themselves are Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 ready. All suites run the latest ProTools software and software plugins, meaning work can switch rooms seamlessly.
The transition to the building started at the end of last year and the new team of artists, editors and technologists are now working together in their new home under their new leadership.
The company’s first production through the Holborn base was The Line, a 60-minute documentary for Discovery Channel, a project requiring capability of the facility for grade and online, sound, visual effects, computer animation and high-quality programming output.
Azimuth is currently working on a slate of documentary series and factual projects about Archeology, the Arts, China, Food and Cuisine, Ecology and Environment, Afghanistan, Politics, the list goes on.
This business reset coincides with a new website and branding to reflect the changes and direction of the company.
