We were invited to pitch ideas for a film which
would promote cycling within the Yorkshire Dales National Park ahead of the
Tour de France. The purpose being to encourage visitors, especially families,
to explore the park and stay a little longer, and therefore not just the cycle
racing audience who would be attracted to visit anyway. The film was to be
central to the National Park’s new Cycling
In The Dales micro-site, and support the UK-wide promotion of cycling in
National Parks.
The Pitch
Fridge has filmed cycling since 1998, but a lot of cycling
videos are often super cool, and have become highly generic and derivative. We
wanted to cleverly interweave geographic features with well know local cultural
elements into the visuals that would widen the appeal from just racing enthusiasts,
and include recreational cyclists and families.
We proposed to film a bunch of sportif cyclists out
on a typical ride along the proposed Tour route, and feature life and
activities that are familiar to visitor to the Dales. We were also fortunate to
recruit Lizzy Windzer, Team GB Triathlete to participate, along with a young family of cyclists who
would provide our final scene and finale.
To be filmed in a cinematic style, our pitch was a
compelling one and we were selected after a two tier pitch of more than a half a dozen
other companies.
The Concept
We had to work within the
highly protected ASO (Tour de France owners) brand guidelines and not infringe
their current marketing restrictions. However, securing the talents of ITV Cycling
commentator Phil Liggett provided us with a recognisable Tour ‘soundtrack’ and
a link between the world of cycle racing and the familiar Yorkshire Dales
backdrop and culture, by ‘wrapping them’ in Phil’s phrases which have become
familiar to racing fans world-wide.
The Shoot
To maintain continuity of weather, and keep a high
value shoot within budget our film had to be shot in one day. The logistics of
maintaining a rolling production over 70 miles involved 4 production vehicles, a
motorcycle camera crew, an aerial filming crew and 5 racing cyclists. We also
had to consider the take-off and landing of the remote aerial filming drone (UAV)
and the legalities that it presented.
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| Photos: Ravage Productions & Paul Harris |
Our production crew included our regular
cinematographer who has filmed promos for the Daks and Vertu brands, and aerial
filming specialists VuAir. We were also keen to involve as many local people
as possible, so our cyclists were recruited from cycle clubs in nearby Richmond
and Skipton. With a shepherd and his sheepdogs as part of the supporting cast
and ‘extras’.
This was filmed on a Red Epic digital cinema camera recording
in 5K Ultra HD, and completed with Phil Liggett’s 'commentary', a bespoke music
soundtrack and a flock of individually rotoscoped "spectating" sheep on the main
climb of the Tour de France race stage, Buttertubs Pass.
Since its launch the result has been viewed online by over 13,500
people from around the world.
Client Comments:
“Fridge Productions
came up with a great concept. Using the legendary Phil Liggett to provide a fun
commentary, the film shows what a great day’s cycling can be had in our
stunning scenery, meeting the locals along the way. The video achieved every
objective in the brief.
It has been an excellent
experience working with Fridge Productions. The team understood exactly what we
wanted to achieve and went to great lengths to deliver a great piece of film.
The result integrated
well within the client's newly launched Cycling in the Dales website
www.cyclethedales.org.uk in the build-up to the Tour's Grand Depart, but with a
long-term shelf life that would provide us with a greater ROI than a purely
specific video relating to the 2014 Tour.“
David Jinks
Fridge Productions Limited
Fridge Productions Limited
Tel: 0845 604 3582
