Making BMW TV: Part 6.2, Details

I didn't write too much yesterday about the experience. I was just too tired -- we were out in the wind and sun and heat for a really long time. I wanted to get some of the details written down so I don't forget them.

Brian Shown got into town late the night before and looked a bit wrecked when I saw him in the morning. I think he shook off most of it in the car on the way up to Lake Hughes. We started pretty early, following the 328 in the video van. They had the Ultimate Arm out in the morning and got some killer car-to-car shots. We had all kinds of dandelion-like tree seeds floating around in the sky. It was pretty thick and more than a few of us were worried about how it was going to look in the shots. As it turned out, when the car got up to speed you didn't see them at all. The car looked amazing -- I think we have some footage that starts to convey what an absolute blast it is to drive one of these.

We did some process trailer later in the day to get some interior and through-the-windshield shots of our principal actress. During the first process trailer session I got to run across the lake to get a shot of the car whipping around a horseshoe section of the road. It was a tiny, tiny snip of film that may never get used in the final spot but it was a lot of fun to be put in charge of a shot from the agency perspective. That being said, it was the team from AERO that did 99.9% of the work -- another impressive experience with them.

Another round of process trailer (I got to ride along on this trip) and then it was off to set up the pack shot. While we were at the pack shot location (over looking Lake Hughes) Roger was on the ground with a camera crew shooting the car running through some windy sections while Brent was in a chopper above shooting stuff at the same time. Crazy amount of work going on simultaneously.

Dave, Helen and I worked to get the cars positioned correctly while the camera crew started working on getting the crane and camera moves figured out. We had something we thought was cool, but then Brent, Roger, Bill and Lance showed up and created a shot that was nothing short of amazing.

All in all it was another totally killer day. Thanks again, AERO.

Pics from the day.