Last week I delivered my first film whilst newly freelance. It’s was for the oldest continuously working theatre in the English-speaking world! The fantastic and much treasured Bristol Old Vic.
I was asked to help artistic Director Tom Morris and Marketing and Sales Director David Alder to create a fundraising film to bring the wider public’s attention to the difficulty the theatre is in through the forced closure due to Covid-19.
It was decided to repurpose some of the recent great work the Bristol old Vic had produced and let Tom lay out the current situation for the theatre. Tom and David were keen to bring in a host recognisable faces that have had a special connection to the theatre. Also, they wanted the audience to hear from young people that have had recent experiences working at the theatre too. This mix of experience and youth was to appeal to the broad spectrum that attend and love the Bristol Old Vic.
For me I had to work out a few key elements. Namely, how to film Tom under Covid guidelines and also how to get the supporters of the old Vic to appear in the film in an interesting way using video footage they made at home. I felt it was important to try and integrate their footage onto the stage, the place where all the magic of the theatre happens.
I brought in cameraman Remco Merbis to help with the shoot. His cinematic style was just what I needed for this film. We shot Tom on stage in the auditorium. It was actually very simple. We kept to the 2 metres distance guidelines and as there was just a small number of crew it was all very achievable.
With the help of Matt Harris Freeth, we turned the at home footage of the famous faces and supporters into projections from different seats in the auditorium onto the theatre safety curtain. This was an ideal way to see them as part of the story.
Tom Morris brings the film to a close with the current plans and hopes ahead cut with more great footage of productions and closes with the ask, ‘for those, who can, help reopen your theatre’.
It was a joy to work with Tom and David and I thank them for my first freelance gig! With over 25k views in the first three days and hundreds of shares on social media it seems the film has got out to a wide audience we were all hoping for and is hopefully raising the Bristol Old Vic lots of donations.