Aviva | Electric Pioneers

It’s great to see our series of short doc style films for Aviva go live today - directed in collaboration with Nice Shirt Films and creative agency Mr President.

The project required us to dig down into the world of the electric car, chatting to ‘electric pioneers’ who have been championing the technology from its early inception and hearing what made them choose these vehicles over a traditional petrol car.

Warren and the Kia e-Niro

We spent the day over at car restoration and dealership Duke of London in West London, utilising three very different location spaces for each of our pioneers. Roy with his converted classic Bond Bug in the main hall, Warren and his beloved Kia e-Niro in the bodywork showroom and Nicola our environmentalist at an eight storey carpark. There was a conscious effort to interweave subtle flashes of yellow throughout the imagery, a nod to Aviva’s signature brand colour - an air freshener hanging from a rear view mirror, polishing clothes and the soft warm glow from a few Astera light tubes did the trick.

Roy in his Bond Bug

When shooting the car interiors our DOP found himself pretty crammed in (especially in Nicola’s G-Wiz!) with very limited space for equipment. We opted to use the Sony Venice Rialto system to help us out, being able to separate the lens from the main camera body was the perfect way to capture their interviews whilst on the road.

Nicola and the tiny G-Wiz

Chrysalis

Chrysalis is a dance project about strength, character and self expression - a visual love letter to those who shine bright. Even in moments filled with shadow.

Directing this film has been a real joy, and what started as an idea for a small test shoot a number of years ago has finally blossomed into something both much more beautiful and meaningful than the initial loose threads of a concept.

It was important for me to make a piece of work than revisited some of the more confusing and isolating experiences of my childhood, at times being outcast just for being me. I wanted to draw on those experiences to create an emotive piece of work which expresses through words and movement that it’s ok to be you, whatever that looks and feels like. Not to fall in line with those who dampen your spirit and diminish your joy because you stand out in some way, different from the status quo.

The film combines a beautiful culmination of talent and raw vulnerability, thanks to three wonderful dancers; Shevelle Dynott, Juan Sánchez Plaza and Ami Benton.

Photo: Jim Petersen

Photo: Jim Petersen

Photo: Jim Petersen

For the Love of Skate

I just recently finished a piece of personal work called For The Love of Skate. A project where I wanted to capture the totally relaxed, chilled out vibe felt whilst skating on a sunny day, the open and inclusive attitude of the skate community and why skaters get so much joy from the pain and glory of hitting the bowls.

We lucked out with the weather, hard sun transforming the landscape by casting interesting shadows over the textured concrete. Then to top it off, a nice warm grade to teleport us from London to LA.

I worked with Forte Model Management and one of their models, Leo Kirby, who travelled up from Exeter to shoot with us. It was also the perfect opportunity to test out the new Ronin 4D camera which has a built in gimbal and a super fast auto focus system, great if you’re a micro team like we were with no dedicated 1st AC on set.

Hydro K Selected as 2022 AOP Finalist

It’s a pleasure to be able to announce that Hydro K, a piece of personal work shot during lockdown, has been selected as a finalist in the sports category at this years AOP awards.

Now that the pandemic is receding from daily life, the awards are back to being held in person and I’m really looking forward to joining the other nominees at the event on April 20th.

Shot during one of the quieter lockdown periods, the film was a a joy to make. A micro team of four, we got to the location at 5am and waited for the sun to rise and long shadows to form over the concrete structures nearby. Kelsey danced effortlessly and put everything he had that morning into the emotive sequences you see in the final cut.

Malin Andersson Music Video | Reef

Now that her new track Reef has been released it’s great to be able to share some stills from the music video we shot for Swedish singer/songwriter Malin Andersson.

We worked up a creative brief that would send us to the windy white cliff tops of Seven Sisters national park and deep into the leafy wooded ferns at Tunbridge Wells. 🌿

With two locations to get to in one day the travel took a fair chunk out of our shooting time so it was down to the wire as the clouds moved in and things started to get dark in the woods.

The super 8 footage held out pretty well seeing as the needle on the light meter wasn’t even giving us a reading on the lower end!

Guardian Labs

I recently had the pleasure of working with Guardian Labs, Sap Solutions and Studio Yes to direct a short piece featuring research and development manager for Southern Health NHS, Dr Peter Phiri.

Dr Phiri has worked within the NHS for more than 20 years and during the pandemic worked with his team to develop a global reaching study to investigate the psychological impact of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed on people worldwide. It was interesting to get a bit of an insight into their work and how it’s going on to inform future policy decisions.

I also enjoyed getting to use the eye direct MKII, a piece of equipment which allows the interviewer to maintain eye contact with the interviewee through a simple mirror system, but gives the impression of the interviewee staring right down the lens. See it in use below…

New Work | Nilly

Nilly is a short stylised documentary taking a look into the life of Nilly Cetin, an incredible martial artist who dedicated her childhood to training in a Shaolin temple and who’s now continuing the journey onwards into the world of screen fighting. Her passion for martial arts is palpable, with a drive and determination that knows no boundaries.

it was an incredibly fun project to shoot with a combination of fight scenes, interview, and on location set ups rolled into one. The overall mood and colour palette is dark and moody, with strong pops of vivid colour throughout. The mood board above shows how individual scenes work in harmony when put together.

Bombay Sapphire Premier Cru

It’s certainly been a strange and at times uneventful year so when I was asked if I’d be interested in shooting an ad in Spain, my reaction was strongly positive to say the least!

This project gave me the opportunity to work with two new and excellent companies - Studio Yes, a Shoreditch based production company and Vagabond, who facilitated production alongside Studio Yes in Spain.

Our mission was to head down to Murcia in the south and shoot with farmers on a lemon farm for the launch of Bombay Sapphire’s new gin ‘Premier Cru’. With the gin highlighting its use of locally grown lemon peel as one of its ten botanicals, our part documentary part scripted film needed to hone in on all the things that make that process and execution special.

It just so happened that we were shooting over the hottest day on Spanish record with a max temperature of 48 degrees, I didn’t envy my DP Alistair!