Home ›

A-Z Animals Blog

Apr
17

A-Z ANIMALS founder Gerry Cott Training a Red Deer Stag

When A-Z Animals is preparing for a particular project, we choose our animals very carefully. Whether we are training a Red Deer Stag, Bull, Cow, Horse, Dog or other animals for filming, photography or a special event, the first thing we consider is the individual animal's temperament and suitability for the project.

Here is A-Z Animals founder, Gerry Cott, training a Red Deer Stag for a TV commercial. Don't go trying this in Richmond Park or Windsor Great Park!! Gerry will have looked at many Stags before choosing this very special Stag to train. Gerry Cott and A-Z Animals have prepared and provided Red Deer Stags for many projects including The Queen (feature film), Glenfiddich Whisky (TV Commercial), Jelen Beer (TV Commercial).

A-Z Animals provides the best trained animals for films, television, live theatre photography and special events. 

Apr
11

Trained Hedgehogs At The Supermarket!

Recently A-Z Animals trained Hedgehogs for a Loctofree TV commercial. Why Hedgehogs you may ask? Well, Hedgehogs have a Lactose intolerance and as this commercial was advertising Lactofree dairy products, featuring Hedgehogs was a humorous and unique way of telling the story. The hedgehogs featured in the commercial are African Pygmy hedgehogs which have become popular as pets in the UK. 

Nov
13

Working on Location with Animals

Sometimes working on location can be challenging enough, even without the animals. However, most of the location managers with whom I've worked over the years know the score. They know what's important from the animal handler's/wrangler's perspective and just as importantly from the animals' perspective. If they don't, it's part of my job or any animal handler to brief them as to what will make the filming experience with the animals on location as sensible and therefore as easy for the director as is possible. So an early conversation between the animal handler, the production office and the location manager to ascertain that everybody is working off the same page can save a lot of hassle for all concerned.

Whether the location is Black Park just down the road from Pinewood Studios, Soho Square London W1 or a forest in the Ukraine, each location will have it own particular considerations with respect to the animal or animals on site. A few years ago I was asked to set up a scene in Ireland with a herd of 30 black & white cattle surrounding the Hollywood A-lister Amy Adams. The production designer in his enthusiasm chose a cliff top location with a 200+ feet sheer drop overlooking the Irish Sea. As it was I who was writing the risk assessment for the studio in LA as to how to keep their star safe and sound I ventured to suggest that the location was plainly dangerous and not fit for purpose. The designer subsequently found another excellent location where it was safe and practicable to place an A-lister amongst a herd of cattle. Therefore, a key consideration is that the location be safe, practicable and fit for purpose with respect to the animals to be filmed with and the action to be achieved.

Oct
14

Lady Gaga and Kevin the Jacobs Ram

A couple of weeks ago I was working late in the office, catching up on paperwork after several weeks of location shoots, when my Mac went ping! A late night email in from NYC asking might A-Z Animals be able to provide an interesting animal with Lady Gaga for her upcoming appearance on ITV1's Jonathan Ross Show.

Several exchanged emails later I decide, this indeed is an interesting project and one that I would take great pleasure in seeing going really smoothly. The kind of project that requires everything to be thought through to the Nth degree. Just our kind of job. I enquire might LG consider a Jacobs Ram? A day later an email arrives saying LG loves the Jacobs Ram idea. Just the job for "Kevin" then! As it turned out, Lady Gaga and Kevin the Jacobs Ram got on like a house on fire. The key to it all going well of course was Kevin's wonderful temperament. As we say to clients when A-Z Animals provides and supervises animals for filming, photography and special events, excellent preparation and the suitability of the particular animal(s) is everything. Kevin the Jacobs Ram was a real star!  

Jul
13

A Red Deer Stag for Glenfiddich Whisky

Glenfiddich means ‘Valley of the deer’ in Scots Gaelic, hence the presence of a deer symbol on Glenfiddich Whisky bottles. Glenfiddich is the world's best-selling single malt whisky. It is sold in 180 countries and accounts for about 35% of single malt worldwide sales. No wonder then when Glenfiddich wanted to shoot an outstanding TV commercial with a majestic Red Deer Stag in full antler they came to A-Z Animals.

A Stag Deer grows and sheds his antler annually. Each year as the Stag matures the antler grows back a little bigger and a little more impressive than the previous year. At the beginning of August the antler is still in velvet and has yet to mature into that characteristic hardened bone type appearance. Early September sees the Stag come into the rut with a full hardened antler ready to see off any opponents. The Stag is now sexually dominant and on the look out for mate-able females, the more the merrier from his perspective. As time progresses through September into October the testosterone coursing through his body dramatically changes the Stag's temperament into a hugely assertive and potentially aggressive individual. In Scotland most years someone will be killed by inadvertently straying too close to a Red Deer Stag in full rut. Consequently, when filmamkers and photographers want to work with a Red Deer Stag in full antler they need to be very sure of their ground and who it is they are working with.

This Glenfiddich TV commercial shoot happened in two parts - the Stag was filmed in an open air limbo set provided by A-Z Animals in the UK and the locations were filmed in Cuba. In this particular project the Stag was filmed first and then the location background plates and action foregrounds were shot subsequently on location - seasoned film professionals will know it's usually the other way around. This about-face approach was on account of the rut - the further the Stag goes into the rut the harder it is to predict temperament and behaviour which in turn adversely affects health & safety considerations. The client relied on A-Z Animals to guide their scheduling so that the script, as written, could be achieved in a safe and predicable manner.

A-Z Animals has provided and expertly supervised many Red Deer Stags over the years for both filming and photography, one of the more notable occasions being the Red Deer Stag At The River sequence with Helen Mirren playing her Oscar winning role of Her Majesty QE2 in the feature film The Queen.