EGGER - The Forest
Brief
Back into The Forest we go. EGGER wanted to tell the story of how they sustainably get the wood to make their products. A key part of being sustainable involves growing trees in forests across Northern England and Scotland specifically for this purpose. There's nothing like being out in the wild, so off we went.
Preproduction
Preproduction was really straight forward for this project - we were looking to cover information about the specific forest we were in at Spadeadam, how the trees are grown sustainably and which products they are used for. We'd look at the different stages of trees in terms of their lifecycle and capture where the trees are processed after they are harvested.
The team at EGGER were all over the key messages and we'd pulled together shotlists ready to head into the Northumberland forests.
Production
Production in this environment is heavy going, you're dealing with freshly felled trees so travelling as light as possible is essential. Along with that having the weather as dry as possible is a must (EGGER and ourselves have plenty of experience in the cold and wet months, not that we talk about it). When you're in Spadeadam there's also the small matter of being within controlled airspace of an RAF bombing range. Drone footage had to be cleared and we had a very short window to capture each drone aspect we needed, this is where the preproduction and knowledge of filming in the forest really came to the fore, landing just in time with some great footage in the bag. The rest of production hinged on traipsing the landscape to capture the different elements of the tree harvesting taking place, along with capturing the script with Ben. Then it was off to the sawmill to see the last stage of the process before the wood is used as the basis for the EGGER decorative and construction products.
Postproduction
Postproduction really brought this film to life. Once it hit the edit it went through the gears into something really quite special. Starting with the soundtrack it took a very process driven structure and turned it into something that flowed gracefully through the forest, with Ben Drake's narration weighted with shots from the different stages of trees as they grow from sapling right through to being harvested. The pace of the film runs through so much information in a short space of time without feeling rushed, which covers so much ground but allows the viewer to take in the views from within the forest. A gentle grade was applied to the footage to give it some life and reflect the lushness of the environment. The key point came late in the edit, where the team at EGGER supplied a fantastic quote from EGGER's founder Fritz Egger - "Wood is far too valuable to just throw it away" - we hear you.
Results
Two versions were created, this film which focusses on the wider EGGER Forestry purpose, and a slightly different version focussing on the forest at Spadeadam.
Used on the EGGER Forestry website, it's main strength is used with the EGGER customer base, detailing the sustainability thats always been part of the EGGER Forestry process. This is something which naturally receives more focus as we all pay more and more attention to sustainability in many aspects of our lives. We're really proud to have made a film such as this, internally it was the coming together of a key focus on our quality and storytelling, and we were working with a client that trusted us with a very important assignment for them. Filmmaking the way it should be.
