As part of Peugeot's sponsorship of the ATP Tennis Masters Championship they commissioned a short series of films, shot in multi camera format, to promote their affiliation with the Tour.
Shot at the Royal Albert Hall where, after weeks of training, celebrities Helen Skelton and Anton du Beke, with their doubles partners, went head to head for bragging rights to win the Peugeot Tennis Challenge Trophy.
As this was an ongoing live event the challenge was ensuring that we had the coverage we needed with the cameras, unlike most shoots where we have full control and can stop / start as we like, for this we couldn't.
Careful planning of camera positions and lensing during pre-production coupled with some smart camera choreography on the day, ensured that we took every shot that we needed.
As expected Anton provided great entertainment to the crowd in this 'exhibition' match, all of which was brilliantly captured by our team in what was a greatly received film.
Live events only give you one pass, so unlike a scripted shoot, planning has to happen entirely before the day. That means camera positions, lens choices and a clear division of coverage between crew members all need to be locked down in advance, since there's no ability to stop, reset or reshoot once things are underway.
It captures genuine, unscripted reactions from multiple angles simultaneously, which matters when the whole appeal of the content is that it feels real rather than staged. For sponsorship activations specifically, that authenticity is often the entire reason a brand wants to be associated with the event in the first place.
Association with a genuinely enjoyable event does something a studio ad can't, it puts a brand inside a cultural moment audiences already want to engage with, rather than asking them to watch an advert. The content works because it reads as coverage first and branded messaging second.