Subaru was the client for this project, commissioning two car reviews for their new models of the Forester and Levorg.
November in Snowdonia isn’t for the faint hearted, but we pulled off the shooting in 3 days despite the weather doing its best to stop us!
Both cars fall in different sectors, one being a 4x4 and the other being a Sports Tourer. So, with just three consecutive days available to shoot a film for both cars, the challenge was that of ensuring efficient use of time, to find a location that would suit and enable us to show the strengths of both vehicles without having to make time consuming location moves.
After lots of researching on Google Maps and then two days of physical recces, we decided upon shooting in Snowdonia.
We found a spectacular disused slate mine as the location to shoot the Forester. Subaru were keen to heavily feature their ‘x-mode’ system which is utilised in challenging off-road, low grip environments and the slate mine was the perfect place to show this.
For the Levorg, we really wanted to show its capabilities as a Sports Tourer, focusing on the ride and handling of the car. The twisting mountain roads of Snowdonia was perfect for this, not to mention the stunning scenery that it also provides as a backdrop.
Add former Stig Ben Collins as the host and you have the perfect person to put the cars through their paces.
Thorough research before committing to travel, including desk research followed by physical recces, usually pays off, particularly when different vehicles need to demonstrate different strengths within a single, tight shooting schedule without time-consuming location changes.
A host with genuine credibility in the space, rather than a generic presenter, brings built-in trust for driving-focused content, since audiences already associate them with real skill rather than someone reading lines about performance.
Building schedule flexibility in advance is essential, since outdoor conditions can shut down a shooting day entirely with little warning. Planning contingencies before the shoot starts, rather than reacting on the day, is usually what protects the key shots a client actually needs.