The making of the Commercial

UNOFFICIALLY KNOWN AS ‘PUTTING THE WIND UP A FILM CREW’

Shooting a commercial in a film studio is a complicated and lengthy business. But to shoot one in the desert is an altogether different challenge. It wasn’t the 40 degree heat. It wasn’t the local Bedouins who kept popping up to offer us their camels and film-making expertise. It was a rather unpredictable desert wind that nearly got the better of us.

Cut to 24 hours later. There we all were – Rachel Silver, JNF UK Director of Communications and Daniel Epstein of JNF Israel, together with the writer, director, producer, lighting cameraman, focus puller, riggers and all the crew that it takes to do a shoot of these proportions – in a brand new location. It’s quite a surreal experience watching a family making Kiddush round a dining room table plonked in the middle of a desert plain!

As we neared the end of filming, we thought calamity had struck again. Slowly but surely a wind was picking up strength. As the sun began to set and the temperature dropped, the wind increased. You’ve never seen a film crew work so hard to get all the scenes in the can. For the closing shot in which the camera pulls back from the family – up & away into the desert sky – the camera wobbled about all over the place as it climbed to its full height of 30 feet in the air. Luckily with all the wonders of digital trickery, we were able to get rid of the ‘wobble’ when we got back to London to do the editing and Post Production.

Meanwhile, by the time the Director shouted “It’s a wrap!” to bring an end to a very hard day’s filming, we had one very happy and relieved film crew – as you can see from the picture below.

To see the commercial, click here.