VIDEO JUNQUE

When I was asked to take over as unit director for a commissioned film project last August, quite a bit of the filming and much of the pre-production work had already been completed: it was necessary to re-shoot some piece-to-camera bits as well as get some new footage and shoot more scripted segments.

The two-day shoot I was involved with took place at a couple of locations: airside at London's Gatwick airport and then inside one of Oxford Aviation Academy's fantastically realistic flight simulators. It's no wonder they each cost millions of pounds. Getting security clearance at Gatwick took hours!  

What followed was a post-production commitment of nearly nine months - which I am happy to report: I survived! The extensive project changed often in post because as more and more industry interest was generated, scripts changed and animated segments were added to satisfy the various needs of the client partners.

Bruce Dickinson, the front man of the long-lived heavy metal band Iron Maiden, kindly agreed to do the presenting for the film. He also happens to be a commercial pilot who is passionate about aviation. Bruce is one of those enviable people who is really good at whatever he does - and is also a really nice down-to-earth bloke with a great sense of humour. When we had edited the film to the point where we were ready to add the voice-over, Bruce came down to the TV Studio in Exeter- and, being the true pro he is, nailed the whole thing in under 30 minutes, and most segments were done in one take.

Iron Maiden started their 2011 world tour a couple of weeks later - with Bruce piloting the tour plane. If you get a chance, check out the documentary about the band called "Iron Maiden: Flight 666" - here's a clip of Bruce-

(click on my hi-vis yellow vest below to take you to the Flight 666 clip!)

SAFETY IN THE BALANCE  is part of a joint initiative by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the UK aviation industry to highlight the importance of safe and accurate aircraft loading. It was commissioned by the Ground Handling Operations Safety Team (GHOST), a CAA/industry group committed to develop strategies to mitigate the safety risks from aircraft ground handling and ground support activities. The group is made up of representatives from UK airlines and airport operators.

Filmed in 2010 at Heathrow, Gatwick and East Midlands airports as well as in one of Oxford Aviation Academy's 757/767 flight simulators.  Filmed by FdA TV Production students and staff at Exeter College in Devon. Presented by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. Personal thanks to Jason Sandever who pulled it all together, and to Atila Mustafa who kept it together!  And thanks also to John Fitzsimons who got us the gig!  

I was really happy when I was asked to be part of this project and even more pleased to have helped see it through to completion. Of course, no project can be completely free of contoversy or conflict - even under the best of circumstances. What was most surprising to me was that the person most likely to have brought any inflated ego into the mix was one of the people who completely left it at the door. Bruce is a star!

To date the film has racked up an impressive amount of views on You Tube and has been adopted by the airline and cargo industry as an important part of their training programmes - not bad!  

...soooo at long last.....here it is! 

ENJOY!

(click on Bruce's face below to take you to the video or click this link)