MARCH 2018: PVP's most watched video so far! Casio watch Instructional/advert film

This little project came about back in January as myself and the Casio Northern UK Rep Warren Halliwell started putting together a story to film about the new CASIO Rangeman for www.casio.co.uk.  It's tricky planning days for filming when you want to get up onto the Cairngorm plateau at almost 4000ft with a drone and other cameras especially so far in advance.

The day we filmed the tops of the hills only cleared for 30minutes after several hours walking in the mist on the hill.  Those 30 minutes gave us our spectacular opening shots, these would be hard to repeat.  (friends were out skiing on the tops all day and said that was the only time it cleared for them too.  My drone filming, story telling, camera and mountain/ropework skills all came into play to bring this film to completion.  

It has done well with over 434K views so far:)

G-SHOCK UK RANGEMAN GPR-B1000-1ER from Master of G, LAND Collection Part of the MASTER OF G series of watches designed for use in the most extreme conditions, the all new RANGEMAN challenges the limits of what a timepiece can be in true G-SHOCK style - the World's First*1 Solar-Assisted*2 GPS Navigation for the G-SHOCK RANGEMAN.

MARCH 2018: Pokemon Mountain and Water Safety

Hollywood comes to Scotland for the new Pokemon film and we did the safety in many locations for them.  I stepped back into my MIC (Mountain Instructor) role to join the www.mountainandwatersafety.co.uk team of which there were quite a few on this big budget feature.

Click the right side of the image to scroll through the three shots:)

FEBRUARY 2018: Drone filming for Visit Scotland Advert

Spent a day around Speyside and the Moray Coat filming some shots for Visit Scotland.  We had to hit the drone shots in-between snow and sleet showers but we got it done in the end:)

Bow Fiddle rock near the end of the day

FEBRUARY 2018: Locations work for plate shots for Mary Queen of Scots film

I spent a week travelling around with Angus Hudson BSC DOP, Erin Murphy (directors assistant), Julia Green (sound), and Nick Everett (Focus puller and DIT) as we filmed plate shots for Mary Queen of Scots that we shot earlier in the year.  It's always a chance when you come to take winter shots for the film in the middle of winter because sometimes it might have all melted for the week. Scotland did not disappoint us and the weather was sunny, snowy, cloudy, clear everything really.  We even got blizzards at sea level and it looked great.

FEBRUARY 2018: Pokemon Location Scouting

I spent a few weeks this month searching out locations for the new Hollywood Pokemon film.  Was a nice change from the usual. I drove around the country taking pictures and speaking to land owners etc.  Can't reveal much really but I visited a lot of places and they will get narrowed down by the folks in London.

Click the right side of the image to scroll through the three pictures:)

JANUARY 2018: Sullivans Wild Scotland - Rivers

I spent a couple of days working with mates Andrew O'Donnel (A very talented wildlife cameraman, songwriter, editor, story teller etc) and Blaine Abercrombie ( A talented Actor).  I was to do a bit of drone filming for the film which I have done before on the previous film Sullivans Winter, Well worth a watch (I've included below under Rivers)

In Rivers I just did a bit at the end of the film as Andrew did most of his own.  We also needed a canoe (mine from the back garden) and I had to do a bit of acting as a nod to Deliverance (1972 Burt Reynolds).  It was great fun and worked out well.

Andrew's company is called Beluga Lagoon and his films including the BBC Social shorts are always worth watching as he has a very different presentation to any other wildlife filmmakers with a good bit of comedy in there too.

https://www.facebook.com/belugalagoon/

Join Sullivan as he explores Scotland's Rivers and looks for the creatures that live there. Filmed & Directed by Andrew O'Donnell With Blane Abercrombie. https://www.facebook.com/belugalagoon/?ref=bookmarks https://twitter.com/BelugaLagoon Soundtrack available @ https://soundcloud.com/beluga-lagoon belugalagoon.alba@gmail.com All rights reserved by Beluga Lagoon Films.

Join Sullivan as he explores Wild Scotland during the most magical time of year. Winter! Filmed and Directed by Andrew O'Donnell With Blane Abercrombie Areal Cinematography by Kirk Watson Original Soundtrack by Beluga Lagoon https://www.facebook.com/belugalagoon/

DECEMBER: Filming entrepreneurs that might change the world, hopefully

A super interesting time filming for Unreasonable Impact sponsored by Barclays.  

Unreasonable Impact is well worth a look www.unreasonableimpact.com the people who run this and are attending on it are incredibly inspirational.  I filmed with my GH5 and drone, Interviews, GV's and shots of workshops and talks.  Worked with a great team, Rupert (filmmaker), Chad (photographer) and Jessy (sound person).

NOVEMBER 2017: A film for Galiford Try

I spent a few weeks piecing together the footage from a few different people who worked on this project to try and come out with a professional looking film.  Always tricky when you weren't there to film it yourself.  Interesting to see the build on a remote place.

I first started doing some films for Galiford Try after working with them in Antarctica on the Halley VI project which I think finished in 2012.  A short snippet below of this for your interest.

Construction of the new Health Facility on Tristan Da Cunha. Designed by Hugh Broughton Architects and constructed by Galliford Try

Halley VI build, the trailer. A state of the art station being built in Antarctica and was finished this year 2012. The building is like no other ever built before in Antarctica. It took many people from all over the world to put it together in a hostile environment with blizzards and freezing temperatures.

OCTOBER 2017: Aviemore Half Marathon

Aviemore half marathon was on and www.badaguish.org asked myself to make a film of it.  It was a very quick hit day running around trying to get shots during the race which doesn't last very long.  Good exercise for me.

The Aviemore Half Marathon is fundraising event for the Speyside Trust, a small Scottish Charity giving disabled people the opportunity to have an activity holiday in the care of our 24 hour respite team.

OCTOBER 2017: OUTLAW KING NETFLIX SAFETY

Here I joint the team run by Liam and Graeme who own www.mountainandwatersafety.co.uk to cover the safety mainly on the River Etive but also in other places.  There were a good bunch of us and it involved quite a lot of technical water scenarios with ever changing water levels.

Few pics below showing the changing river, no revealing pics of the actual film set until after the film comes out:)  The big crane in the water was when the river came up about 3-4 meters over night!  We got the crane out safely and we had attached it to the rock using climbing protection which held well:)

Clickon the image to scroll through the slide show:)

OCTOBER 2017: Mountain and water Safety on Mary Queen of Scots

For a weeks this month I headed up the safety on Mary Queen of Scots for www.mountainandwatersafety.co.uk with a team of around 16.  We had some porters there and the rest were doing safety for a large battle scene that would take place in a river and steep banks with 40 stunt people.

Building a floating camera platform

Camera platform ready and easy to position anywhere on the river

Once the film is out I shall post some more reviewing images of the behind the scenes:)

OCTOBER 2017: Majorca with Dickson Minto

Here I travelled to Majorca with Dickson Minto to make a short film on a cycling trip they organised.  Later in the year some of this footage will be used in a film for new recruits, along with other footage I will collect back in Scotland.

The team cycling in Mallorca in 2017. A great trip in the sun:)

SEPTEMBER 2017: Filming on Islay for BBC ALBA - Call air Cladach Ile/The Loss on Islay's Shore

I do quite a bit of drone filming for BBC ALBA and this time I headed to Islay to meet Les for a documentary on the American ships that were sunk and the sailors swam ashore here during WW1.

I was working for www.caledonia.tv for this shoot who make several programs in Gaelic for BBC ALBA

The program will air in April.

SEPTEMBER 2017: Less Castle the Isle of Lewis

I headed out to Lewis and Harris for a week with a mate Rupert (www.rupertshanks.com) to make a promotional film for Natural Retreats.  We had a great time going round filming the Islands and working with some actors/staff to produce the below film.  I did the aerials and second camera and Rupert did camera produced the films to there final products.

The main film is below

From beaches and crystal clear waters that rival luxury tropical islands, to its rich history and stunning scenery, this remote and spectacular destination in the Outer Hebrides is the perfect venue for wonderful memories. Overlooking Stornoway harbour, the impressive gothic-revival style castle was built in the mid 1800's by Sir James Matheson.

AUGUST 2017: Water Safety on a Netflix film

This month I did quite a bit of recci work and some water safety for the Netflix film Outlaw King.  Back to my old trade as a mountain and Canoe Instructor:)  Always interesting to see how the big budget guys do things.

I do my film safety through a company called www.mountainandwatersafety.co.uk who are the folk to go to for Film and Television mountain and water safety as they do all the big budget films that come to Scotland.

On Skye looking into spots for Outlaw King

Water safety here for cameras and stunts to try the place out

August 2017: Drone recci for a big Scottish film

I had a day up in Glen Feshie in the Cairngorms to carry out a drone recci for the DOP John Mathieson for the upcoming film Mary Queen of Scots.  It was a good day out meeting all the crew that I would be working with later in the year during the actual shoot.

Drone set up for a wee flight

We had quite a few land rovers and they were needed:)

JULY 2017: Filming instructional films for Glenmore Lodge

With the Glenmore Lodge instructors we headed to Reiff in the North West of Scotland to make several instructional films on Single Pitch Climbing.  We lucked out with the weather and got many films made.  This is where it helps when my past career was as a Mountain Instructor so I understand what is going on and can picture exactly how to put the films together.  I was using my Mavic pro drone, GH5 and Oslo here for the filming of these clips.  We also headed up in to the mountains one day too.  A fun bunch of days with a good group of people.

Below is the first video of the playlist on Single Pitch climbing

Visit our website http://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk or call us on 01479 861256 This film gives an introduction to single pitch rock climbing. It is the first in a series of 17 films. We run through walking to the crag, using the guide book, checking weather and locating your climb.

JULY 2017: Drone filming for BBC 2 on "Secret Agent Selection, WW2"

I spent two weeks working with the Wall to Wall crew doing all the aerials for this five part living history series. It was a fun few weeks with a good crew and different flying for me each day.  The best day by far for me was having the use of a steam train (www.strathspeyrailway.co.uk) for a morning to get as many interesting shots as possible in the time.  The most exciting was flying straight towards it two feet above the tracks as it came full steam towards me and then rising up through its steam and over the top of the carriages.  The shots of this day were used in the opening sequences to each episode.

Screen grab from the drone footage

JUNE 2017: Jacobite Drone filming on Loch Ness

I headed out for my second time filming from a moving boat with my drone.  Always exciting especially with their return to home functions when the home point is now 4 km behind you:) I have gotten used to it now though and it was a fun day out

On this project I was working for Fergus Thom a local filmmaker www.cinestag.co.  Fergus shot all the ground shots and edited the film.  The film was for www.jacobite.co.uk.

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JUNE 2017: Flying for Freedom, WW1 Western Front

An incredible three weeks filming with Flying for Freedom in flex-wing microlights.  We did our first sea crossing over the Channel then flew the front lines of WW1 100 years to the day sometimes within an hour (and 100 years) of when Britain took the lines back from the Nazis.

I have done all of Flying for Freedoms filming since 2012 you can check out their films at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4VcFnKqTr-i2EsQrjVxvgA

Below is one of the ten films made during this trip all made on the laptop while camping:)

The team head to visit Lochnagar Crater, a huge crater (70m Deep) created by an underground explosion in mines below the German stronghold. The British tunnel from behind our lines at an angle downhill then horizontally across underneath our lines and forward to the German lines.