Testimonial – DRUM.
“My team. Thank you for the last two years. The shared experiences of visiting those clubs will forever be lodged in my memory. Seeing those communities come together, and genuinely feeling like I had one of my own – in you two. Our shared love for the stories, seasoned with a healthy dose of swearing, underlined by true dedication. Our team wouldn’t be where we are today without your creative genius. You are truly remarkable.”
Kate Gilbert - DRUM Account Director
Jucy – Find Your Happy.
Two production units. 15 years of stock footage. one epic new brand for Jucy!
The expectations…
Jucy were looking for a brand story that followed their journey from it’s roots in a small garage to one of the biggest travel companies in Australasia. They wanted prospective travellers to get a feel for the Jucy experience and how they’d grown over the years by putting their CEO and founder, Dan Alpe, front and centre to tell his story and announce their new brand.
And….Action!
Production took place simultaneously across two units in Queenstown and Auckland. Our Queenstown team was tasked with capturing drone footage of the new vans while our Auckland team focused on the interview and campsite b-roll.
One of the biggest challenges was finding the right campsite for the interview. In high summer, they’re busy, noisy and tricky to navigate permits for. In the end we found a local farm and built a campsite set which gave us complete freedom. But when we turned up to shoot after the cyclone, the field was completely waterlogged and we ended up losing 2hrs of our shoot trying to tow out one of the vans!
Aiming to bring Jucy’s history to life on screen we knew we had work to do trawling through 15 years worth of stock footage. We also wanted to incorporate that history into the set itself rather than just cutting away to archival footage. So we printed a number of polaroids from old photos & videos and hung them from a washing line across the set. This allowed the camera department to shoot these within the environment of the film and provide the perfect segway to cut away from.
We only had Dan for a few hours – he’s a busy man. So, it was key to set everything up ready to shoot fast! We spent the morning building the set and rigging various modifiers to control the natural light. Shooting into sunset is always a rush because you want every last drop of that golden hour goodness and our handheld setup worked great for an authentic look & feel that was also super nimble from a production perspective.
Highlight?
Using our vintage lenses from the 1960s for the first time. We love the softness and imperfections that give a dreamy, romantic and sentimental feel to the b-roll of the campsite as the sun set on our scene.
Roll credits….
Agency: Shotover
Director/DP: Pete Whittaker
Second Unit Camera: Zyanya Jackson & Ash Walton
Drone Pilot: Zyanya Jackson
Art Diretor: Lydia Perez
Senior Editor: Floriane Caillot
Edit Assist: Millie Ketchley
"Their Auckland and Queenstown presence gave us the flexibility to seamlessly collaborate and capture content across the country while maintaining a small footprint, and the result is incredible"
We’re in Auckland.
Our new Parnell office in the City of Sails is finally finished and open for business…come say hi!
69 St Georges Bay Rd, Parnell, Auckland, 1052
We’ve spent the last 9 years producing video content across New Zealand from our hub in beautiful Queenstown. But, with projects taking us regularly up North, we thought it was time to open a second production office in Auckland. We couldn’t be more excited to become a part of the incredibly vibrant advertising and marketing culture here.
New offices mean new neighbours and we’ve got the best neighbours we could ask for in the Marketing Association, sharing the space at 69 St Georges Bay Road. Our Auckland team is small and growing fast and we’re excited by the opportunity to fill all the spare desks with new talent. In the meantime, Pete is heading up our film projects from Auckland whilst Zyanya will be our Queenstown based director. Completing the team in Auckland is our Senior Editor, Flo, and her Edit Assist, Millie.
We’ve always been about building spaces that function primarily to serve our creative work. Our Queenstown office has a studio downstairs, for example. And with the post production all running through Auckland, we knew we needed a purpose build post-suite to handle it. So we built one from scratch. Complete with a screening area for Directors, Producers or clients and soundproofing so we don’t become neighbours from hell! There’s even a wall of fame featuring behind the scenes polaroids from our favourite productions with our favourite people.
If you’re in Auckland, our door is always open and we love a reason to grab a coffee (which by the way is powered by Havana Coffee Works!) and chat. So pop in anytime! Although, it’s maybe safest to give us a call – in case we’re all out on a shoot somewhere!
With video production offices in Auckland and Queenstown, we can cost effectively shoot across Aotearoa, North or South.
So stoked that our work with Destination Fiordland just won the ‘Best Marketing on a Shoestring Budget’ at the 2022 TVNZ Marketing Awards!
SHOW ME THE GOODS!
We were recently honoured to collect the award for ‘Best Marketing on a Shoestring Budget’ at the 2022 TVNZ Marketing Awards in Auckland for our work with Destination Fiordland. We received this award in collaboration with Shotover and Strategy Creative for the viral Te Anau Time which was part of the wider Beyond Belief campaign.
This award recognises excellence in marketing for campaigns costing less than $30,000 and winning this award got us all reminiscing about one of our all time favourite productions back in 2021 (not to mention how the f**k we did all that with less than $30k!) Fiordland is famous for it’s remote locations, crazy weather and breathtaking scenery, so our small crew of 4 weathered storms and blistering sun to deliver this story in just 5 days. Creative development, production, editing, colour grading, sound design and motion graphics all created in-house with multiple deliverables from the hero campaign to the viral Te Anau Time TVC.
This award pretty much sums up one of our proudest values, that we can offer the best value for money in NZ. We don’t care about the budget, we’re always looking at how can we push the creative boundaries of a project because, ultimately, we want to come away feeling pride in our work and be so exhausted mentally and physically that we know it’s gonna be epic!
Our director pretty much lived in his waders for the 5 days as we filmed from sun up to sun down. We had 4 cameras and sound running almost constantly as we journeyed from forests and mountain tops to fiords, lakes and rivers. A typical day was generally a drive into the middle of nowhere, followed by an hour’s hike through the bush (with all the gear) to get to a boat and then casually hop on a helicopter to a remote lookout for sunset. Tough times!
Highlight?
There’s too many… but the sunset at Dusky sound, meeting Penelope the famous pig and finding hilarity in the craziest storm our production crew has ever encountered, would all be on the shortlist!
I had a look at the draft this morning and wow! I cried. It’s been a wild ride of a project and is something we can be immensely proud of.
Testimonial: Jucy.
“Their Auckland and Queenstown presence gave us the flexibility to seamlessly collaborate and capture content across the country while maintaining a small footprint, and the result is incredible”
Sean Towson, Jucy
Testimonial: Destination Fiordland.
“I had a look at the draft this morning and WOW! I cried. It’s been a wild ride of a project and is something we can be immensely proud of.”
Madeleine Peacock, Destination Fiordland
Testimonial: Bunnings Warehouse.
“We couldn’t speak more highly of the crew. Their hearts are in it, their passion is unwavering and their dedication sees no budget limit or version cap to get the best results”.
Kate Gilbert, DRUM Group Account Director
Welcome…Millie.
From Intern to Edit Assist, we’re pumped to welcome the newest addition to our Auckland production team!
“I love working in a place with other creative people, where I can be creative. I’m challenged and learn new things everyday”
Millie Ketchley has recently joined our crew in Auckland as an Edit Assist working in our Post Production team alongside our Senior Editor, Flo. This is something she’s been working towards whilst being our legendary intern over the past couple of months. Millie is one of the hardest working, talented and best people we could ever have imagined and we feel super lucky to have her on board. We sat down with her for a wee chat to distract her from all that hard work…
What did you want to be when you were older?
An astronaut
What’s your favourite movie?
Moonrise Kingdom because the editing is really cool, especially the monochromatic colour scheme, and the coming of age themes.
When was the first time you knew you wanted to work in a creative field?
When I was 11. I got really into Harmony Korine’s work. I loved the visually appealing aesthetic and knew I really wanted to do that kind of thing.
What do you love about editing?
It’s always different. You can put stuff tothether into so many different combinations and the end product can change so much as a result. Editing is like painting for me. I’ve never been able to paint but, with editing, I can create a form of art and make pictures come alive without a paintbrush.
What’s the best part of your job?
I love working in a place with other creative people, where I can be creative. I’m challenged and learn new things everyday.
Do you think AI can be used for editing?
Yes and no. I think it can be faster but not as creative. AI isn’t part of a team that can collaborate on the most creative outcome.
"Editing is like painting for me. I've never been able to paint but, with editing, I can create a form of art and make pictures come alive without a paintbrush."
Testimonial: Start Now.
“Anyone lucky enough to work with you stands to benefit from a team of creative geniuses who go above and beyond to deliver a great client experience and awesome product outcomes”
Melissa Jenner, Start Now
Bunnings Warehouse – Women in Rugby.
“They said nobody cared about women’s rugby. Well guess what? We are here! We are here, fam!” Ruby Tui
The expectations…
We’ve worked with Bunnings Warehouse from the beginning to capture their INCREDIBLE Rugby Assist initiative. Back for a second year, Bunnings were giving $300,000 to 10 clubs across NZ to improve their facilities to aid the women’s game. To drive entries alongside our launch video, our partners at DRUM needed a 3 episode series of content profiling women in rugby to demonstrate why the women’s game needs support. We followed the game’s aspiring players through to legendary Black Fern, Ruby Tui and beyond to the unseen supporters.
And….Action!
As a reactive brief, this entire series took just 5 days for a 2 person crew across NZ to interview our stars and tell their stories. We even managed to sneak into a gym session with the All Blacks and politley asked them to give us one side of the room to film Ruby working out! Production, editing, colour grading and motion graphics all done in-house to deliver 3 x 90’ hero videos, 3 x 15’ social cuts, 1 x TVC and a suite of campaign stills.
We knew we wanted a really behind the scenes look at the clubs, players and supporters so following them through an almost day-in-the-life documentary style became our approach. With just a DP and a sound-op we pretty much ran around NZ for a week, chasing sporting legends and trying to keep up. We’d catch them at sunrise working out and then drink A LOT of coffee before lighting our interviews for the day. Once filled with inspiration we were flying drones, setting up small scenes and training under the floodlights until there was nothing left to film. Time to pack out and get on the next flight with our 150kg of kit!
Highlight?
Being a part of something so important. Ruby is an absolute inspiration to an entire generation of girls looking to get into the sport. But so were all the amazing people we were lucky to meet and we couldn’t be prouder to be part of spreading this message.
Roll credits….
Agency: Drum
Director/DP: Pete Whittaker
Producer: Kate Gilbert
Editor: Floriane Caillot
"We couldn’t speak more highly of the crew. Their hearts are in it, their passion is unwavering and their dedication sees no budget limit or version cap to get the best results"
Canyon Brewing – Beer for the Bold.
3 hazys, 3 different ads from beaches to the inside of a pineapple, without leaving the office!
The expectations?
Our friends at Canyon Brewing needed help to promote sales of their three major six packs – The Conehead Hazy, The Mix 6 and the brand new Vacation Hazy. They wanted some bold content that tapped into the personality of their brand and products that they could use to raise brand awareness across NZ. Making memorable content was key! We managed creative development, art direction, production, editing, colour grading, sound design and motion graphics to deliver a suite of video content and stills.
And….action!
Filmed in our in-house studio, we didn’t have the resources for any fancy motion controlled robots or crazy high speed camers like the big boys use. Instead we got inventive!
We started by capturing each of the cans against a green screen and then popped to our local K-mart to buy a lazy susan. Hey presto! Our can’s were spinning! Next shopping trip was to the pet store. For a fish tank. We spent a memorable afternoon dropping the cans and a bunch of fruit into the tank in different ways to nail the perfect shot. Cue our Editor, Flo, to piece all these little bits together into one seamless masterpiece.
The hardest shot by far was creating the exploding pineapple. The biggest challenge was that none of the pineapples we could find had a crown. Our Director, Pete, spent a memorable morning on the phone to various suppliers trying to track one down to no avail. In stepped our Art Director, Georgia, who created one by magic. We then threaded a hosepipe through the pineapple, loaded it with beer and had our crew blowing their lungs out underneath the table. It took forever, got beer everywhere and was worth every bit!
Highlight?
The most fun was bringing our idea for their Vacation Hazy to life. A core element was demonstrating the different ways you could enjoy this beer while on vacation. Without the budget to film on a beach, up a mountain and in a forest, we brought them to our studio building 3 miniature sets and using projections to simulate the environment’s background. Check out the behind the scenes video below to see a sneak peek of what went into that…
Roll Credits…
Agency: Shotover
Director/DP: Pete Whittaker
Art Diretor: Georgia Wales
Editor: Floriane Caillot
"Don't even know how this is possible. You're a freakin magician!"
Start Now – Build a Career to Love.
18 episodes of online content. 2 days of shooting. 1 epic set. Go!
The expectations…
It’s post-covid and career coach Melissa Jenner needs to get her course content online. She wanted a masterclass-syled series that encapsulated her creative and hands on approach to building a career to love. The end result needed to be 18 full length episodes of content as well as a suite of marketing materials for the launch.
And….Action!
We new wouldn’t find the perfect space for such a unique masterclass so building a set was always on our minds. This allowed us to design a bespoke space that worked from a brand and a production perspective. This was meticulously planned including building a computer generated model of the set from which to work out our camera angles whilst keeping Melissa inside our heads so we could collaborate on the vision.
The course had 3 distinct parts so we developed 3 unique colour palettes for each and changed the lighting, wardrobe and props to fit for each section. This meant filming all of the content out of order and having a clear plan for the shoot day and a very organised teleprompter! Each episode also contained a mix of seated pieces to camera and activities or live demonstrations. These activities presented one of the biggest challenges in that we wanted to film these around a table with character. This meant rigging a camera overhead of our antique office table, which sadly weighs a ton and took 4 of us several hours to get onto set!
Production took place over just 2 days with a day spent building and lighting the set before filming all the content with 3 cameras running simultaneously to capture the action. We ended up with hours upon hours of content which was collaboratively edited together with Melissa into the final course package. We then designed a suite of video and photography content to promote the course, one of which you can see at the link above.
Highlight?
After days of designing and planning, building our set from scratch and seeing it come to life was awesome. We even included a time-lapse of it in the content!
Roll credits….
Agency: Shotover
Director/DP: Pete Whittaker
Producer: James Perry
Art Director: Georgia Wales
Cam Op: Zyaynya Jackson
Editor: Floriane Caillot
"Anyone lucky enough to work with you stands to benefit from a team of creative geniuses who go above and beyond to deliver a great client experience and awesome product outcomes"
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