Mark Craig : Stopwatch Productions

22/02/2025

New film announcement!

It’s been under wraps for a while, but we can now proudly announce that the new feature documentary APOLLO 1 will have its world premiere at the Boulder International Film Festival on March 15th.

Produced with Ansgar Pohle and Keith Haviland, scored by Anne Nikitin and featuring a tremendous cast of characters, this is the personal story of a defining chapter in space history.

More details will follow soon…

MC

14/09/2024

As Strictly Come Dancing celebrates its 20th anniversary this evening, I'd like to celebrate the creative talents of Piers Helm - a motion graphic designer who has been designing and filming the show's opening title sequence during all that time.

A few years back I interviewed several BBC graphic designers from different generations about their work, and Piers was one of them.

In this short video clip he talks through a few examples of title sequences he's done - some of which you may remember - and gives us a glimpse behind the scenes on Strictly.

https://vimeo.com/video/706301952

As it happens, he also created the wonderful animated sequence in The Last Man on the Moon where Gene Cernan talks about the astronaut selection process.

Here's to the next 20 years, Piers!

TV_Graphics_PIERS_edit002_Dan

08/06/2024

18/03/2024

Sad to learn that a legendary astronaut has left this Earth for the last time... Tom Stafford, who I had the pleasure of interviewing a few years back, and who flew 4 times to space (including a trip close to the Moon on Apollo 10 with Gene Cernan.

He also commanded the Apollo-Soyuz flight in 1975, famously shaking hands in space with his Russian counterpart Alexei Leonov, and paving the way for international collaboration in space that continues today despite the politics.

The two became genuinely close lifelong friends, and enjoyed each others company immensely until the end.

Godspeed you to the stars Tom...