SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY from various Commissions and TROIKA+LTD funded productions. Our resume includes SKY TV Comedy Commission, Channel 4 freelance work, pilot work for Paramount Comedy Channel, Current TV documentary commissions (UK & US), special FX lectures for universities, TV Q&A panel presentations, music video productions, script editing commissions, Special FX Consultancy, Student Graduate Programme and DVD Design and Authoring.

Outroads – The Dog & Lantern LIVE DVD (2009)

Details to follow

I.AM.BOXING (2009)

In association with AK Boxing of Sheffield, this powerful and dynamic film displays the passion, commitment and energy that drives people to boxing. Filmed right in amongst the action of three female boxers, and displaying a flamboyant and stylised camera set up, I.AM.BOXING is Troika’s most visually daring piece to date. Featuring a poetic, driving voice over taken from the words of the boxers themselves, the heart of why these people do what they do is captured to perfection. You WILL want to take to a punch bag when you watch this show. As well as a stylised camera set up, I.AM.BOXING features a stark visual style of simple colours and desaturated environments, which fully show the state of the art facilities of EISS (English Institute Of Sport Sheffield) who gave Troika exclusive access to the venue. AK Boxing’s very own Kylie Hodgkinson and Allison Donohoe were joined by boxing student Christina Wright for the gruelling shoot, as well as on set assitance from boxing legend Herol “Bomber” Graham! The result is no holds barred. Fired up, in your face, loud and thrilling to watch, I.AM.BOXING is as graceful as it is powerful.

Brother (2009)

Telling the story of James Caroll, a man who lives with the reality that his condition could kill him at any moment, especially while doing what he loves in life. Naturally (given the reality of the subject) it gets quite dark at times. Interviews with Jim and his family are interspersed with more abstract scenes, almost as if you are in Jim’s head seeing the illness from his point of view. This is something that had never been seen in a documentary format before. Fantastic music is woven into the film as it develops, giving much more depth to the scenes. The music is so thoughtfully woven into the film, that it strengthens and supports the narrative, by having an inner narrative portrayed though the music, making it even more unique and ground-breaking.

“Brother” is totally different from anything that has been seen before in that it mixes the normal interview process with dramatic scenes and uses no narration or indeed an interviewer. The only people heard from are the people that matter; James and his family and friends. The overall feeling from the people who have seen this film has been that Good Conquers All!

These difficult things always seem to happen to people who are obviously good through and through, but they are the ones that stay positive, get the most out of life, and cheer up the rest of us who think we have problems…..but really don’t. They put our lives into perspective, as does this film.

Brother also marked a defining moment in Troika work as some of the independent film-makers and acting talent from previous collaborations finally came together for a Troika production. The talents and skills of Rob Nevitt (Spectral Films), Topher Holland (Zool Films),  Theo Cane Garvey (Corruption Corp), Rachel Todd and Stephanie Walker all came together for the unique performance sections of the film.

It also marks a daring and highly successful back-to-back approach in combination with the Outroads: Dog & Lantern DVD. While filming for sections of Brother at the Lantern Theatre in Sheffield, the team dared to wrap on Brother at 5pm, and then set up and record a multi-camera, surround sound live Outroads show, for the Dog & Lantern LIVE DVD! Only on a Troika+Ltd shoot, and with the talent on board , would such a massive undertaking have been so seamless and productive. “Brother” has received critical acclaim and will airing at several international film festivals in 2009. It is also currently being discussed for television broadcast and stands as Troika’s most personal and emotive film to date.

Online Couples (2009)

The second film for the Current TV Sex & Money season took Troika+Ltd into the world of homemade amateur pornography, once again showing our diverse range and ability to gain access to people and places where other filmmakers cannot tread. This piece followed an established provider of homemade content (discussing his motivations), a young “broker” for larger online sites (who seeks out those with more professional ability) and also the insights of a media analyst discussing the developments of “Porn 2.0″ in the adult industry. Ricardo and Lee were also invited to participate in a two-part launch show and panel discussion for the season where they shared their insights for the TV audience into accessing and filming within these little documented subcultures.

Male Prostitutes (2009)

Having already produced material for Current TV which pushed some of the broadcaster’s boundaries and obtained access to little documented subcultures, Troika+Ltd were approached by the broadcaster to produce more commissioned work for their Sex & Money season.
The first piece delved into the world of Male Prostitutes, following both a well established “escort” and also the world of new recruits to the trade. The piece features a shocking meeting captured unexpectedly as an escort agency owner pressures and manipulates young “chickens” (new fresh young potentials) into the more seedy and dangerous aspects of the “rough” trade. Remarkable insight and shocking characters.

FAF TV Project (2008)

Troika+Ltd were partners in project known as F.A.F.TV which was an experimental push to develop comedy material online through new channels of distribution. The project was funded by private investment and operated on many fronts, including work with a major student social networking site to broadcast a show which featured top name comedians and newcomers alike. The whole project worked on multiple fronts between four directors, as was needed to cover web development, writing talent, acting talent, stand up talent, production design, promotion….an entirely self contained powerhouse of creative output.

As well as working on the “Tuesday Night Total Comedy” project with the legendary TV comedian Paul Tonkinson, FAFTV also operated behind the scenes to establish a network of film-makers, comedians, writers, animators and internet sites to bring together a collective of members which spread through the UK and beyond. This was to great success too as FAFTV saw many newcomers, previously unable to make the break, now becoming established in the comedy business….all thanks to FAFTV and Troika+Ltd!
The TNT Comedy show was also responsible for bringing the YouTube sensation “Speak The Hungarian Rapper” to the UK for his first visit to the country, and a series of performances organised by Troika and FAFTV exclusively for the show.

The show and the FAFTV project was backed by many leading names in the stand up field, and it was the guidance and experience of these top name backers that has also seen some of the “first time” performers and writers now on leading work for the BBC and on the stand up circuit.
Although groundbreaking and daring, the FAFTV project came to a close when Ricardo and Lee made the decision to move away from comedy, which they felt was becoming over-populated online, and move back to their film roots.

With some serious future commissions on the table for FAFTV this decision was both bold and daring in itself, but paved the way for Troika’s largest projects to date with the Outroads material.
Contacts gained through the FAFTV project still remain today but the website and broadcast shows will remain a past venture.

Extraordinary Lives (Pilots) (Paramount Comedy) (2008)

Following previous works being seen and the building reputation of the team, Troika were approached to be produced and direct several scripts for a pilot test run of Extraordinary Lives for Paramount Comedy Channel (with options for Channel 5 also). This series of spoof shock-docs was a cleverly crafted series that required a varied production design for each episode of the intended 6 pilot tests. 2 of these were brought to full production and shoot.

Hippo Boy – The World’s Most Modern Freak tells the tale of a modern day Elephant Man, or so it would seem. The Victorian Freak Shows of that era being replaced with the carnival of Day-Time UK Talk Shows as the Carter family, under the guidance of the mysterious Circus Master, Seamus O’Reilly, prostitute their (supposed) Hippo-resembling son for the world of freaks. With creative make-up by Tanya Jackson (TJ Makeup) the test shoot was successful in establishing the mood for the entire show. Needing to add depth to the tragic nature of the story saw Geoff Walsh of Outroads commissioned to create a title song for the film, which further established Troika’s working relationship with the Sheffield based songwriter.

Jeremy Tapsill: – The World’s Most Controversial Talk Show Host tells the story, via hidden cameras and expose reporting, of a UK Daytime TV host (with a tie to Hippo Boy) whose world of confidence, TV ratings chasing and aggressive interviewing begin to crumble as a behind the scenes reporter (acting as whistleblower) delves more into his seedy world. Using the camera in unique and experimental ways, and by multiple uses of subtle visual FX the whole feel was that of hidden camcorders and secret filming, but achieved with fully fledged HD equipment. The cross over character between Hippo Boy and Tapsill also cemented for the pilot purposes the nature that all episodes would feature multiple cross over events and characters.

Violent Tendencies (2007)

The second Current TV commission for Troika+Ltd, this documentary delves into the underground world of the UK Fight Club. Ricardo and Lee risked equipment and personal harm to bring to the screen this hard hitting, no-compromise report of a group of bored youths who live out media-fuelled violence in their own fight club.

Metal bars, glass, fists and chains all are on display in a show which the channel considered initially too hard-hitting for TV, having to be edited and cut for broadcast! Showing once again how committed Troika+Ltd is bringing new, exciting content to the screens of UK and US TV. It was the daring nature and extremely intimate access to such an underground phenomenon that led Current to commission Troika for their Sex & Money season of 2009.

Backyard Wrestling: The Move Of The Future (2007)

The first of two commissions for Troika+Ltd by Current TV, the major online and TV based channel created by Al Gore. Troika+Ltd were originally commissioned for up to 10 shows but due to other commitments produced two shows.

This documentary film followed the stars of a UK based Backyard Wrestling federation and highlighted the unique talent of undercovering sub-cultures within the UK that many other filmmakers cannot gain access to. Troika+Ltd negotiated exclusive access to this highly closed, visually stunning form of entertainment and produced a documentary that once again raised eyebrows and turned heads for both it’s content and production values.

It follows the passion and commitment of the most daring, ambitious Wrestling crew in the UK. The stars of piece were also developed into further film work, being used as stunt performers in feature films, demonstrating the development programmes success in practice.

Outroads – Amigo Mio (Bacon) – Music Video (2007)

Troika+Ltd were honoured to have collaborated with the legendary Sheffield group Outroads, headed up by the brilliant songwriter and musician Geoff Walsh who can be found at www.outroadsmusic.com.

The video broke new technical ground for Troika+Ltd as the production schedule gave only two weeks to make the entire video. Conception, development, pre-production, shoot, post production. Two weeks! Not only was this done UNDER schedule but featured some highly challenging steadicam work, digital visual effects, and pin-point choreography.

A stunning effort and also established Troika’s relationship with Geoff, which continued to other film projects, and most recently the “Brother” documentary collaboration and the “Outroads: The Dog & Lantern” Live DVD! Subsequently Ricardo was asked to co-manage the band itself alongside Geoff.

Gaylon Peglegg (2007)

The pilot episode of an in-development spoof sit-com show. Based on a character created by Lee Civico-Cambell and written and directed by Ricardo Lacombe this visually ambitious and surreal mock sit-com displays many layers of comedy, religious debate and remarkable situations that have NEVER been seen on film before.

Gaylon Peglegg was testament to Troika+Ltd’s methods of reducing costs and working on minimal budget with NO compromise on production values and turned heads in displaying what CAN be done by ambitious independent filmmakers. All this after less than a year’s filmmaking experience! Alongside the production itself an up to date blog was run by Ricardo to chart the progress of a film crew and director daring to aim for high production values on limited budget. This blog proved successful enough for Ricardo to receive hundreds of emails for advice as the production continued.

A Jester’s Tale (2006)

The first film from Troika+Ltd. Based on the real life antics of a major UK TV Poker Tournament and it’s aftermath on one of the contestants. Co-written by Lee Civico-Cambell, Amanda J Tyson and Ricardo Lacombe, this 80 minute feature was shot in spoof documentary style and received MASSIVE fan support and critical acclaim with several TV and Film Companies showing interest.

The film follows on from Lee’s appearance on the Ultimatepoker.com Showdown, as the filmmaker (played by Ricardo) follows the star on his after-show journey to regain TV fame and poker glory.

Online activity and cross-media collaboration based around a running online Blog site (www.manfishcake.blogspot.com) and hosting of the trailer exclusively on the major Poker Plasm website (www.pokerplasm.com), which all highlighted Troika+Ltd’s use of multi-format avenues when producing and marketing work.

Oh…and it’s funny too! And oh, an untrained newcomers first film being a feature…and accepted for broadcast deal? Unheard of until now? This was to define our purpose, direction and commitment to excellence. Welcome to Troika+Ltd’s way of doing things.