‘We are working every day to protect and restore Suffolk's wildlife

and wild landscapes, and to inspire local people to take action for nature’

Client: Amy Rushton, Head of Income Generation

The Trust wants to increase visits to their new cafe and education centre at Carlton Marshes and raise awareness of the conservation area. The brief is to produce a visually appealing short film that features the site's unique offering to the local community and urban wards. The video will be optimised to play on centre screens with closed captions, hosted on the Trust's website, and created in versions for social media sharing.

'Lowestoft is a complex urban area comprising a port, town centre, retail parks,

offshore industry and beaches which make the town a magnet for tourism, alongside areas of deprivation’

Lowestoft Neighbourhood // Development Plan

Challenge:

The brief was to produce a video with a lyrical feel, featuring local artists including a mindfulness practitioner and poet. The narrative would follow a family travelling from the busy town and moving into the peaceful marshes with a bold opening drone shot and audio soundscape to create a captivating transition. Narration would be a commissioned piece of spoken word poetry, the audio would weave in and out of the visuals. (A drone could not be used due to bird migration)

'I love the idea of using sound and the transition from urban noise into the tranquillity of the reserve.

The idea of basing it on one family’s visit is also really strong…

it would be great if to include something on Vicky’s work on Mindful on the Marsh'

Approach: 

The project was paused because of national lockdowns and during that time the proposed new visitor’s centre was completed. The emphasis for the video changed, bringing more focus to the new site, cafe and multi-use space and what it offers to the local community, for wildlife watchers and those enjoying the wetlands. There was still a desire for the film to create a sense of space and to communicate the restorative quality of being in Nature.

The Shoot:

As a self-shooting director, I was responsible for all video, photography and sound recording and for making the ultimate decision on what to shoot. Guidance was given on suitable locations and where I might find the wildlife of most interest. The majority of shooting was deep within a large reserve I had to make very specific choices on equipment and how I could best capture the footage safely and in difficult terrain. I decided to break the shoot into key parts of the day, Dawn, Noon and Evening and to cover the activities that were on offer. I shot on a compact Sony A7iv, in 4k to render the best quality and detail and I used an on-camera condenser mic to capture the ambient audio. As I was shooting mostly landscapes needing to zoom a long distance I hired a telephoto zoom lens. I also had to conduct several interviews and get footage of the visitor centre. I used a fixed prime 35mm lens and a wireless lapel mic to isolate the audio.