Eiger Safety promotional film continues

It’s been a little quiet for the past couple of weeks on the promotional film front at Video Artisan (unlike my #VHS-to-DVD service which has been going bonkers).  I don’t think I’m alone in this respect as the Olympics have taken over the lives of most people in the UK.  It seems that those who are not watching the Olympics are going through their VHS tapes and realising their VHS doesn’t work any more. It’s kept me busy anyhow!

But the promotional film work is all kicking off again this week starting with a two days of filming for Eiger Safety – the first of which was at the Force India Formula One Team Wind Tunnel on Monday.

Eiger Safety installing systems at Force Indian Formula One
A sneaky shot at the model in the wind tunnel

Before all the Formula One fans start getting excited about this blog entry there wasn’t a great deal to see on the day.  The wind tunnel itself was not in operation as there were various refits and upgrades going on whilst we was there – in addition to mention the numerous latch-way and staircase installations being carried out by the guys at Eiger Safety.  I was hoping to get inside the actual wind tunnel itself to do a mock up shot of the guys doing some work in there but that just wasn’t on the cards.

Force India Formula One Team Wind Tunnel during promotional film for Eiger Safety
Atop the Force India Formula One Team Wind Tunnel

The main aim of the day was to set up a time-lapse shot of the construction of a steel staircase leading from the ground floor up through the centre of the ‘U’ bend in the wind tunnel area to a mezzanine floor on the level of the rolling road.  But what with the restrictions of the other works in place, plus a lack of a good vantage point to set the camera going for the three days of the installation, the time-lapse shot was scrubbed too.

This was not the best outcome but it didn’t stop me getting some material of Eiger Safety doing some of their steel fabrication work.  Having designed and fabricated it off site, the staircase arrived in kit form on the back of a truck.  The next couple of days would consist of putting this big-boy’s Meccano project together.  They were also installing various latch-way systems to enable safe access to the top of the wind tunnel – so there was plenty to film.

Steel staircase construction by Eiger Safety
The Meccano kit arrives

Right now I’m getting my kit together for two more days filming for Eiger Safety at the Clifton Suspension Bridge at Bristol.  This will be at least our third attempt at getting this location in the can as the weather has been against us on all previous occasions.  Unless there’s a weather front that we’ve missed, tomorrow should be about filming the guys testing the safety systems on the chains. Then, on Saturday night, we’ll be back on there in the darkness to film them installing some new safety systems.

Until then, I’ll just carry on getting this VHS-to-DVD work turned over!   I need to start clearing the decks for another BIG promotional film that should go into pre-production planning the week after next.