Project Breakdown
pulsar wildlife avilume launch
Pulsar Wildlife reached out to us just 10 days before the scheduled start of production , asking us to produce a full campaign of videos and imagery for the launch of their new multi-spectral binoculars. The product was launching just 6 days after production was scheduled to wrap, so we packed up and headed to swedish lapland for what would end up being one of our favorite shoots to date.
PRODUCT: avilume multispectral binoculars
DELIVERABLES: Complete video/photo package
mini-doc launch film, with 10 cutdowns and teasers for ads and social media placement
10 feature cutdowns showcasing the device’s features in the field
Still photos (300)
THEME: See the heat, explore the color.
Most of what’s out there, you never really see. Enter the Avilume Day, Night, and Thermal binoculars from Pulsar, a multispectral device designed to give wildlife observers and photographers the ability to locate and see animals they would normally never be able to. From the packaging, to the device, to the media production, everything was designed to appeal to wildlife observers, not hunters, giving them a tool and an experience tailored to them.
Talent: Magnus Winbjork and Christoph Nolte
Crew: Jack Armstrong (Director), Cèlian Durand (Photographer), Annalise Harstine (Producer // Swing), Ziggy Jovaišaitė (Creative Director), Fred Huxham (Editor)
LOCATION: Swedish Lapland
Choosing to shoot this campaign in Magnus’ home region allowed a unique perspective on location. Not only was magnus the talent, but he ended up guiding us to his secret spots, and showed us a side to the land that is rarely seen. The landscape matched magnus’ character perfectly, grand and strong, yet inviting and gentle, giving it the perfect setting for this campaign.
GEAR CHOICE: Canon R5’s // Mavic 4 Pro
Filming on a Canon R5 in 8K and a Mavic 4 Pro gave us the flexibility and efficiency to get everything we needed in just 2 and a half days of shooting. It also gave us the ability to shoot at a moment’s notice, as we often had only seconds of notice to get shots of wildlife when they would appear.
CHALLENGES: rain, rain, rain, and a quick turnaround time
From the moment we arrived at the lodge until we took off a few days later, there was a solid layer of clouds and often rain. Due to the quick turnaround time before the product launch postponing to a better weather window wasn’t on the table. We ended up shuffling around the schedule, making a variety of contingency plans, and executing more than one of them. On the final morning, we made a gamble and drove up towards the norwegian border, where we thought we might get a patch of sun. We were rewarded by a couple hours of patchy clouds, which we used to shoot most of the wides and scenics to cut with the closeups we’d shot over the previous days.
Since we had less than a week between wrap and product launch, pre-production was key. We had an extremely detailed shotlist and plan beforehand, so the client had a clear idea of what to expect with the final stuff. We also culled photos at the end of each shoot day, so that we could get approval from Pulsar’s HQ, and make any necessary adjustments throughout the shoot.
