FILM PRODUCTION GALLERY 2

GALLERY - FILM PRODUCTION 2

looking for the Antarctic

In the New Zealand Alps for Martin Campbell, Challenge and the Land Rover Discovery Launch commercial - 1989.

cold (again)

For someone not too keen on cooler temperatures, I have spent quite a bit of time in snowy locations. This was on a Texaco recce for John Burrows in the Scottish Borders.

we could do it

Duck Lane's first commercials for B&Q Warehouse openings all began with aerial sequences, the recces for which were obviously right up my street, to use a rather inappropriate metaphor. Here we are over the Humber river covering Hull.

Huddersfield. John Burrows - Director David Tondeur - Focus.

BEING FOUND TOO

It's always a welcome bonus when one of the unit choppers turns up to save you a major foot trek off the mountain during a tough recce.

taking the heat . . .

At the opposite end of the UK, in a Cornwall clay pit, director Roger Lunn and I concentrate intensely on the progress of a take. I can't remember exactly what was happening at that moment on the Ford Range film, but I know our camera helicopter was about to cause us to duck.

we did it

After many films the aerial sequences were curtailed (predictably) and the new stores were covered from elevated platforms, always called "cherry pickers" for filming. This is us at Halesowen.

Safety first

It looks good but we soon learnt that there was no safe place on this snowfield to drive a Disco - rather a shame! The pilot left the rotors running as it was not safe to stop the engine. If it didn't restart, we would be trapped up here and perish. Then he got out and walked round!

. . . and dust

The state of my Discovery is witness to the serious number of miles driven on a very major recce for National Power. Top location manager Simon Darby (L) was joined for the North Wales segment by Bernie Jones; ace Second Assistant and Mountain Safety Expert.

how could we have done it?

Cherry pickers, it has to be said, are not everyone's idea of fun. Personally, I love them, but the view down can be somewhat unreal. On the privatisation commercials for British Airways, John Burrows, Geoff Randall and I had shared the bucket of the Moonshot, at the time the highest in Europe and even taller than this one.