Film Construction director Justin McMillan and Whybin TBWA reveal the real magic of skiing New Zealand in new TV spot for Tourism New Zealand
Tourism NZ has launched a unique spot in a ‘Ski New Zealand’ campaign created by Whybin TBWA and Film Construction director Justin McMillan.
On reading the TNZ “Ski New Zealand” scripts McMillan liked how along with amazing skiing, they also embraced thrilling activities available off the slopes.
Says McMillan: “Often factors like weather, fatigue, or the desire for something “more” can come into play with ski holidays. So I loved how these other cool experiences provided incredible scope for telling a visually rich “day in the life of” tale. But it also got me thinking…”
McMillan saw an opportunity to create a uniquely experiential take on skiing NZ with an approach that drops the viewer right inside the heart of the action via heli-skiing or mountain biking.
To capture the campaign premise, ‘More Magic In Every Day’, McMillan suggested using ‘night’ skiing as well as ‘day’ skiing as a spectacular finale to the spot with talented skiers holding brightly coloured illuminating flares.
Says McMillan: “I’d carried this picture in my mind for a while and here was the golden opportunity to try it out. Thankfully the agency also saw value in it and allowed me to go there.”
Conscious of a tight schedule and unpredictable weather; a talented crew was hand picked. Over just two days, they moved through a number of set ups resulting in a 60, 30 and 4 x 15 second commercials that include heli-skiing, skiing (day through to night), snowboarding, flying fox, mountain biking, relaxing and partying.
Says McMillan: “Everyone was so into it. Knowing the weather could fall apart at any moment (and it did), we had to be ready to action plan B swiftly moving on to another location if required. Being adaptable is so important on a project like this, and thankfully our enormously experienced team were okay with this.”
Top DOPs Matt Stewart and Tim Tregoning’s work on the spot results in stunning imagery which is intimately involving, helped by Tregoning who features in the day and night scenes skiing himself.
And even though conditions were at times risky (given fluky winds), mounting expensive cameras on a remote control heli-rig proved worthwhile for capturing technically difficult yet powerfully sensory shots. This was something McMillan felt strongly about.
Says McMillan: “My treatment outlined a desire for creating a visually stunning but ‘beyond picturesque’ experience of skiing New Zealand. I wanted it to be more involving, more real and therefore more magical than ever before. It was a harder challenge, but I think the outcome will strike viewers as different and inspiring.”
Recently McMillan was awarded AACTA Award for Best Picture International 3D society award for Best Documentary.
8 Comments
The Art of Flight
Nicely done
Epic. Well done Justin and Film Con
Epic. Nice work Justin
For a ski ad.
Cool.
The VO/scripting takes itself a bit too seriously for my liking, but there are some spectacular shots in there. Definitely the right choice of director in Justin.
Looks like it came from Top Gear. An idea would have been helpful