"I want you to make scaffolding sexy"
This wasn't much like the average request I had received in my previous time working in video production but in late 2016 it was put to me, from a scaffolding company based in Taunton, UK.
Hold on! I'd spent 7 years ,in my previous role at Otis Lifts, trying to make elevators attractive! This was right up my street. Challenge accepted.
Firstly, a conference call with the business owners, tp draw up a vision for the video, the Hollywood/film feel it needed, how best to show off the scale of their projects, the best soundtrack and the gritty realistic look that they were looking for.
Then, we planned the route. To film three large projects, 500 miles apart, across two days, including a 107 year old Castle, for which we needed permission from the National Trust.
Day one was spent at their head office conducting interviews with the team members involved in the projects. Asking all the right questions and piecing together the story that they wanted to tell. Day two... torrential rain. Disaster!
So now the drone won't fly, the scaffolding isn't accessible and the camera equipment is getting soaked! Deep breath, and w struggle on regardless, kitted out in full wellies, overalls and safety gear.
In the skies the drone battled against the elements to capture amazing full scale shots that had never before been seen by their customers. On the ground we captured the day to day grind, the workers, the safety measures and the sight from beneath the 150ft scaffolding structures.The race against time to beat the sundown and get everything from each of the three sites.
And throughout all of this I was having the most fun, challenging, rewarding day of my career. Everything coming together, piecing the clips together in my mind before we'd even returned to the editing suite, testing the drone footage on the iPad in the boot of my car and then re-venturing closer to the river for the ultimate shot from under the bridge. It was perfect.
And the end result? Sexy enough? Well check it out for yourself below...