Rain. Rain. And plenty of low cloud. The first morning of the shoot and all fingers and toes crossed had just not worked.
Fuelled by an early bacon butty I was staying as positive as I could as I talked over the possibilities with Jason. But, this is the lake district in spring. There was a good chance that this was going to happen. However, it wasn’t rain that caused us the most headaches over the two day shoot. It was noise. Tractors, road cleaners, hotel rooms and waterfalls. More of that later!
8 o’clock was our meeting time. I was waiting in the car park of the Hydro Hotel in Bowness with Jason and the rest of the crew. Chris from Brasher who was going to be the voice, star and feet of our brasher videos arrived and calmly informed us that he had been suffering from food poisoning and had been up a lot during the night. All the planning we had done over the past few weeks and Chris being ill was one thing we hadn’t accounted for. However he was keen to continue and as the cliche goes ‘the show must go on’. Chris and the crew headed for the first location for the Fellmaster GTX and I waited a few minutes longer to welcome the Brasher team to the set.
We climbed the hill where the first location was being shot. The weather had cleared quite a bit and the landscape looked very dynamic. I looked around and saw Chris hunched over to the side and thought that this was going to be a very long day! However, every time the camera was put on him, as we did take after take with close ups, long shots, dynamic view points he recovered enough to make it look like he was ok. Phew!
The first morning was going really well. The locations were working and the weather was holding off enough to make the process run smoothly with the odd camera lense wipe and my boot drying skills making it appear a dryer day than it was.
The first piece to camera we had planned to film was close to a small waterfall. Unfortunately, over the headphones it sounded like Nigara falls. A small stream was quickly located and the first piece to camera, where Chris explained the features of the boot, was filmed.
A key feature of the pieces to camera were the close up shots of the boot as Chris was talking. This gives the viewer a real understanding of the key designs features and increases the production values of the films…
You can see the Fellmaster GTX here
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXrrLfPxHWE&feature=plcp]
The afternoon shoot was to filmed in Coniston. As we travelled there the weather started to close in and we decided to have lunch. Spirits were high and as the rain lashed against the window, once again fingers and toes were crossed!
Unfortunately the rain continued to fall and we decided that the afternoon’s shoot would be stopped and that we would head back to the hotel and record the voice overs and plan the shoots for the next day. A quick cup of coffee and we met in Jason’s room, our designated sound booth for the day, to record the voice overs for all the different shoes. The sound mic we use is very sensitive and as we all held our breath Chris recorded his voiceovers. It was at this point that a distinct giggle was heard in the room next door and we all wondered just how much the mic would pick up!
The next morning, fuelled by more bacon butties and a good night’s sleep we had ambitions to shoot four pieces to camera and two more films around the Tour GTX and Venturer GTX. Ambleside was first for Venturer GTX and after shooting between bus and car noises, we moved on to Rydal for Tour GTX. Everything was going really smoothly until a road cleaner was heard in the distance, which got louder and louder. After a quiet word he very kindly moved on and the action recommenced. We had some great luck with parts of the film when a flock of ducks flew into shot!
You can see the Tour GTX Men’s Travel Shoe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Nwlv6LC6g]
In the afternoon we shot the Venturer GTX at Coniston lake. Although the weather tried its best to rain all our crossing of fingers paid off and it held off. We even managed, by patiently waiting for breaks in the cloud, to get some sunlight into the film. Chris’s piece to camera was the last shot of the day, which we managed to turnaround quickly to ensure some sunlight and to get clear of the tractor noise.
You can see the Venturer GTX Men’s Travel Shoe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5kepF2ua_0]
Overall, the project from start to finish was incredibly rewarding and has made a real impact on Brasher and will hopefully be a start to using film medium more. A big thank you, firstly to our clients who asked us to work on this project and especially Chris for the quickest turnaround from food poisoning I’ve ever seen!
This was the end of our two lakes shoot but we also filmed two more shoes later in the week around Windermere and the fantastically named Nicky Nook.
You can see the Roam GTX Women’s Travel Shoe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx993ANTO_c]
You can see the Seeker GTX Women’s Travel Shoe
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx993ANTO_c]
James Chantler is Creative Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
