TV Production . Nordic Fixer . Crew
Hot on the heels of the 2018 Gold at the Pearl Awards, Preem launched into the 2019 campaign as lead sponsor of Sweden’s iconic Vasaloppet ski race. Again, leading the campaign was Swedish living legend & crowd favourite, former world champion & Olympic gold medal winning skier, Gunde SVAN.
Instead of competing in the Vasaloppet main event, this year’s challenge would be the Staffetvasan relay race. With a fresh team of four recruits, Melinda, Anette, Micke, and Jörgen, Gunde would make up the fifth team member for the five stages of the relay race. To ensure they performed at their very best, Gunde would pit the 2019 team against last year’s team of Ingrid, Roberth, and Johan + 2 pals. But first, there was plenty of preparation to be done on his team of relatively inexperienced skiers.
The four-part series was shot over three days, with episodes 1-3 filmed on consecutive days. Blessed with glorious sunshine for the most part, the production crew and equipment still faced temperatures of -15C in the beautiful Dalarna countryside. Episode 4 was filmed at the Staffetvasan race, as the teams vied for the honours.
Episodes 1-3 was filmed with a two-camera main unit originating on Sony PMW-F5’s in HD with Fujinon optics. A third unit filmed gimbal, cable-cam, and drone elements. A fourth unit filmed the spy elements with the 2018 challengers on Panasonic GH5. Additional crew included producer, line producer, sound recordist, ski-doo pilot, stills photographer, and a team of interns.
Episode 4, race day, was filmed with a streamlined crew of four. Line producer Christoffer CARRINGER lead cameramen Matthew GORMLY on Sony F5, with Joshua AYLETT on Sony FS7, and Tim KARLBERG on the GH5 third camera unit. The three teams were spread along the course, and leap-frogged from start to finish via the interchange points. Eight GoPro 7’s captured the body-cam angles through chest, head, and pole mounts.
Producer: Lars-Petter STEEN
Photo credit: Banfa Titi Jawla & Matthew Gormly
*Side-note: In December 2018, Preem’s Vasaloppet 2018 campaign “Gunde Coachar” (Gunde Coaches) was awarded the Gold for “Best Use of Social Media” at the Content Council’s Pearl Awards in NYC.