Collaboration With Passion
Some of the first 50 titles to go into 860 Woolworth’s shops!
More from the first 50 video film titles!
Even more from the first 50 video film titles!
More from the first batch, we had to go into the facilities houses to freeze images, and produce pictures on transparency film.
This was because all the old films had no artwork or pictures, unless they were black and white.
15 Little Portland Street, Oxford Circus, London W1. I took out my first lease for 1000 square feet of office space in central London.
I rose to the challenge and even started a small production line in my studio in Floral Street, Covent Garden. I would order typesetting twice a day so nothing halted,and I would spend hours in the PMT camera room, which was not really up to the volume I was putting through it!
Even more video designs and I’m still not running out of steam, and keeping 2 typesetting houses busy!
What about putting 2 films on one cassette ? All grist to the mill for Peter Hill Illustration and Design!
I was later to purchase 2 new auto PMT machines to cope with the increasing demands of the Video Collection. The owner of the printers would come in each day during this time and pick up a pile of new artworks. I think it fair to say that I could produce artworks faster than they could print them!
A new series on video, Movie Greats. I used my Marble backgrounds from the Spandau Ballet calendars, again, as it cost a lot to photograph 12 different marbles!
Another new series from The Video Collection, Movie Classics!
The Video Collection staff grew and more deals were made for more product. The work was truly endless and came with guides and stipulations, all of which I understood and adapted to!
I designed the CARRY ON video series, and used the skills of Jeff Nicholson to artwork the logo with bunting and a flag.
The 35 mm pictures limited the freedom you could have with the artwork, but they looked quite collectable!
This was when I started to move the logo about a bit on the designs and to reduce it. The PG logo had no official artwork supplied, so I just put PG in a yellow triangle!
The next job was to produce a catalogue of all the products. This was my own personal showcase as I had designed 99 percent of the videos! Right in the middle of this busy period, the leaseholder of the studio, decided to move!
Another Jeff Nicholson airbrushed chrome logo for a small series called DOCTOR.
These are the famous Doctor films, Doctor In Love, Doctor at Sea, Doctor in Clover, Doctor at Large, Doctor in The House, etc.
I was too busy to even think about it, but fortunately we all ended up in Fitzroy Square, near Warren Street. This area was quickly developing to being very trendy and you would wait for 15 minutes in the local sandwich bars! Fitzrovia had many Indian restaurants then, and I would usually treat myself to a Dhansak half way through the evening.
30 Brewer Street, Soho, London. My office was above the dry cleaners in Brewer Street, for many years 1991- 2006.
It was here that I started to go home late in a cab, and come back in the morn in a cab! I would work through the night and most weekends, the only problem was that the studio was unheated and very cold in the winter. From here I decided to move,as I was clogging up the camera room again, and was outgrowing my studio space.
Another small series, considered worthy of a special logo again by Jeff Nicholson.
The Jackie Chan series!
Having launched the main body of product through Woolworths, the deal was struck to do all the artwork again for other shops, perhaps in a different box, maybe shrink wrapped, maybe with a hook attached. About this time,as I mentioned earlier,I was introduced to Frank Brunger, who set up Ariola soft, a computer games company.
All that remains of the Ariola Soft work I produced, the artwork for the British advertising. Realm of Impossibility and Lode Runner. I was responsible for the artwork and print, and worked on dozens of well known games!
New streams of films were licensed most weeks, by the Video collection, and a fresh look was needed, to make the films more collectable!
Michael Jackson - The Legend Continues
Michael Jackson - The Legend Continues. Point Of Sale Presenter, Large Poster
I was asked to come to Southgate for a special meeting with Steve Ayres! The Video Collection had decided to launch Michael Jackson... The Legend Continues, in the UK. I had the task of co-ordinating the various elements for the British market, including advertising in the video and music press.
Michael Jackson - The Legend Continues video sleeve
The Video Business Marketing Award for Design 1987 - 1988.
Afterwards I won the design award from The Video Business Magazine!