Rushes and the BBC encourage the nation
to "Keep Uppy" with this season’s football

Production Title: Keepy Uppy
Product: BBC Football
Agency: DFGW
Agency Creatives: Dave Waters, Simon Riley & Brendan Wilkins
Production Co: BBC Broadcast
Director: Mat Kirkby @ RSA
Producer: Louise Jones @ BBC Broadcast
Film Editor: Joe Guest @ Final Cut
Post Production: Rushes
Rushes Producer: Josh King
Telecine: Marcus Timpson
Flame: Claire Pollock

Wednesday 7th September 2005

Rushes have just completed post on a brand new series of star-studded football commercials for the BBC. The commercials, designed to encourage football fans to watch the BBC for coverage of this season’s matches, feature ex-football star and pundit Gary Lineker and current football legends Michael Owen, Ashley Cole, Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and Fay White. Also making an appearance are Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson & Richard Hammond and Eastender’s Shane Richie & Perry Fenwick amongst a host of others.

The audience witness footballs being ‘kept up’ by a variety of people across the UK, from professional footballers to Eastenders actors to the eager cameraman who is filming Gary Lineker on ’Match of the Day’. The various football stars are seen elegantly and effortlessly performing incredibly difficult football tricks using knees, feet, arms, heads and backs whilst the average punter struggles to perform a succession of headers. In one sequence we see Lineker mortifyingly miss-kick an easy pass sending the ball straight into nearby coffee drinkers. In another, Lineker knees the ball straight into his own face.

Rushes Flame artist Claire Pollock says 'Some of the footage was shot on mini-dv which I treated to make look more filmic. I also had to comp a Fimble playing ‘keepy uppy’ onto a computer screen. Being a massive football fan, it was a great job to work on.’