Filming in London- Sights, Cocktails and Traffic
Hi everyone,
Its been a month since I last updated my blog with the ‘making of’ video of our MGV Productions Promo and I thought it was time I post up something new.
Its amazing how little time you have to blog when busy producing videos and going to university. As many may know from following my twitter I’ve been working on various video productions with MGV Productions not only in the South West but in London as well.
We have now produced over a 100 videos at MGV Productions (many of them still not public yet) and the ones that our public havc totaled more than 10,000 views on youtube which is great! One very important contact we started working on at the start of April was to work with Hilton Hotels producing new recruitment videos for 13 of their hotels. I cant show them yet as final changes are being made before being signed off but I can say its amazing how different each video came out.
Visisting the 13 hotels allowed us to see various famous London locations from angles many don’t get to see. Great views included the resturant at the top of Hilton Park Lane which has incredible views of the whole of London and The Trafalgar’s roof garden which I think has the best view of Trafalgar Square.
The sightseeing and views wasn’t the only highlight of the week, the food and drinks we “sampled” were excellent as well. This included many cocktails including an interesting chili one at The Trafalgar. Also a Tandoori chicken meal and a banana dessert at Hilton Gatwick which are probably the best food I’ve ever tasted.
The week was stressful at times, shooting three hotels a day and traveling across London by car but the organising by Hilton and the new experiences we had and the people we met made this a great experience. Everyday I film I meet someone new, I see a new location and often get to try or learn something as well.
I think filmmakers don’t like the idea of ’corporate’ video productions, seeing them just as something they must do to pay the bills rather gaining real enjoyment of producing them. Yes, some ‘corporate’ shoots can be a bit boring or may require not to be creative but I have found that in most cases that it can be extremely creative and enjoyable learning new things and meeting new people. Its so great when you can turn someones basic idea of what they want into reality.
With many of the Hilton videos we turned up without any preparation and with each hotel only having a small idea or no idea at all of what they want. In a matter of 10-15 minutes we helped expand that idea until two hours later it was all complete and filmed. This is the sort of film-making I love, coming up with ideas on the spot, constantly having to be creative and not having to stick to a pre-planned shot list.
While I was there I also shot some timelapses out of my room’s window at the Metropole, Philip Bloom style (well with one camera instead of 10!), which you can see below.
I will be updating with more blogs very soon, including a short ‘concept’ video I shot a few months ago (only just got round to upload) and a new student cameraman blog.
