My college was offered the opportunity to create an advert for Toyota to promote their new C-HR car. The brief was very open, the only criterion being that it had to appeal to the Bridgwater locals. Working as a pair, my colleague and I decided that we wanted to include typical Bridgwater activities, interests and landmarks, using ideas such as the local Carnival Clubs, the Guy Fawkes statue, and the links to local 17th Century naval commander, Robert Blake. 

Using our College Tutor to drive the car, we were able to film a selection of shots over a few hours, showcasing some of the Carnival Clubs' Headquarters, the annual Carnival route, and several local landmarks.

My colleague was tasked with creating the final edit, so I do not have access to his work, but below are some photographs of my pre-planning and 'directing' the driver during the filming, and some of my raw video clips...

My dance school was also approached by Toyota, and asked to choreograph and perform a Flash Mob event at a local shopping centre, Clarks Village in Street, as a way to promote the new car. Originally, I was actually part of the dance troop that auditioned for Toyota, however, due to prior commitments, I was unable to make the scheduled rehearsals for the real thing. Therefore, I asked if I could help by filming the performance instead of being in it - they said yes!

Toyota arranged that local Olympic Swimmer, Brodie Williams, should be doing a 'Meet and Greet' at the shopping centre next to the cars, when 'shoppers', ie members of the dance school, should create the Flash Mob to Rita Ora's version of 'Praise You'.

I went to the dance school's rehearsal the day before the filming, in order to get an idea of what shots and angles would be good to capture on the day, which proved really helpful.

On the day of the filming, I arrived early and went over my ideas with the Toyota staff that were there. There were 3 of us due to film the event, all with handheld cameras. The Flash Mob was due to be performed twice, so for the first show I was stationed at the front of the "stage" for the entire routine. For the second performance I was granted more freedom, so used my prior knowledge of the routine and performers to move around the sides and get some really good shots. There was one particular move that I had noted during the rehearsal, when the dancers formed a diagonal line and then peeled off in a cannon-motion down the middle, and I was thrilled to be able to capture this from just the right angle.

Please find below the YouTube link to the final advert that was posted on several different Social Media platforms, as well as the video that I took at the final studio rehearsal and some photographs taken from behind the scenes at the actual event.