3rd Free Film from Vol 3, Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown

Shooting Emergency Situations is probably the best of the 'behind the scenes' films we're giving away free before the launch of our new DVD.

The full Emergency Situations film is the most ambitious and spectacular film Gordon and I have attempted. 

During the shoot I kept a video diary. It reveals how stressful a shoot this was, coordinating multiple kayaking cameras, helicopter, lifeboat, shore team and Coastguard HQ.

We shot most of it last February off the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Expecting bad weather, we had a strong team of kayakers and contingency plans in case ferries were cancelled.  

However, a high pressure drifted over from Scandinavia and the weather was exceptionally calm.  Too calm.  And as a result, I was not at all calm.

All this is in the video diary.  You'll also see that our salvation came two weeks later, just off the Isle of Skye.

The photo right shows us planning the night session with the Lifeboat.

Gordon and Andy, plus Mike and Liz appear in the final version.  Calum, Donald, Graham and me were operating cameras. 

In addition there were three GoPros on kayaks, an RNLI helmet cam and a high camera on the Lifeboat.

That's a lot of cameras to get running and pointing in the right direction.

We had to wait for dark, so the kayak team decided to go for a short paddle.  

I took the opportunity to run some footage, and  the images looked fantastic shooting into the sun.

Incidentally, it's this footage you'll see in the opening animation on the DVD which leads into the main menu.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The next and final free film will be released in two weeks on 15th October. Emergency Situations - Short Version will be a cut-down of what's on the DVD. More about that at the time.

source: simon-willis.blogspot.com