Commercial Video and Photography for Grassroots Kettlebells Season 2 Finale
Easter Sunday, I headed to Dominus, Strength and Fitness in York. One man, two cameras and a mission. I had two hours to capture the Grassroots Kettlebells Season 2 Finale Competition on video and photography for the client.
I had both filmed and photographed a number of kettlebell Competitions over the last few years for the same client. Previously the Events had been British Championships and IKFF Competitions; both organisations that were well established, but Grassroots had come from nowhere in little over a year to be a huge success, attracting competitors of all ages, from early teens to well into their sixties, and with an increasing number of Worldwide Gyms joining the Association, the need for some great photographs and video where in much demand.
Red Lime had already done quite a fair amount of work for Grassroots; as an experienced Graphic Designer, I had produced T shirt designs, banners, Social Media artwork and much more for the Events that had taken place since day one of the Association.
The Grassroots Season Two Finale video aims to show not just the athletic power of the sport, but also camaraderie and atmosphere of the Event.
I arrived with a camera specifically for shooting photos and another for video. The need for two cameras in paramount as the best results come from having each set up for their intended use.
I had already selected the music track I planned to use. With previous kettlebell videos I had put the focus solely on the power and grit of the Event, but this time, I felt the need to show the support, camaraderie and other aspects too. So a track that was both powerful and slow was my choice. With the track in mind, it helped keep me focused on what I needed for certain parts of the video. Whilst this was not a script by any means, I had a good idea of what I needed to capture.
With each flight (that's the name of the bit where a competitor takes to the stand to do their best against the clock), The first part is often methodical as they focus their mind on a target number of lifts. The competitors tend not to have much exertion at this point. As we pass the half way point, the noise from the crowd and the emotion on the competitors faces changes. Eventually determination, sweat and clenched teeth start to show. It is with this knowledge in mind that a methodical approach of going down the line of four competitor of each flight, taking photos and video as you go, before heading back up as the flight nears its climax provides a good spread of images. For me however, this is double work as I swap cameras to shoot video and photos!
Between flights, I grabbed lots of details (and coffee!) and soon my two hours of an Easter Sunday was done.
Once home I edited the photographs, producing 90 images online for not much after the Event finished. The two hours I covered were selected to ensure I had captured every athlete on at last one of their Lifts.
The following day, I edited the video and that was live later that day.
STATS:
Two Hours photography and filming
Photo editing (90 images) 2 hours
Video editing 3 hours
Needless to the say the finished images and video were very well received and Shared, with the video shortly to be given a high profile feature on a Kettlebell suppliers website and Social media.