LocationsSpain seem to work pretty often with Andy Glass. This is James’s 3rd time working now with Andy, and Bill has worked several more times with him, and just before this job had started we were already preparing our next job together which all being well should begin shortly after this one finishes. 

This particular job was for a company called Champix, and for those of you who haven’t heard of them (of which i was one), they have developed a drug which helps people to give up smoking. The shot was of a family on a summer vacation climbing up steps at a tourist destination, being followed by a smokey figure. So some pretty nice looking steps were found at what is a tourist resort (the steps were leading up to the Cathedral in Girona). The only problem was that all the models and the extras were to be running around in T-shirts, and general summery attire, and it was decided it should be shot in January. And it was freezing, although Spain is generally associated with the sun and a warm climate, it does still get pretty cold in the winter…… and as it turns out wet. But as luck would have it, and for some reason we have our fair share of luck with the weather (i’ve cursed it all now though), the day it decided to do most of the raining was the day when Andy was shooting in the studio. The studio shot was needed to capture enough smoke so as a re-toucher could later mould it into the smokey figure that is following family about. Although this was supposed to be an anti-smoking campaign (and not a single member of the crew smoked) we certainly got through the cigarettes and tobacco. I think something like 100 cigarettes and a packet of rolling tobacco was used to create an authentic looking smokey figure. 

So with all eyes on the skies we moved on to the outdoor shots of the family running up the Cathedral steps. We walked from the Hotel to the location, and the ground was covered with ice…. we were supposed to be recreating summer, we all started to feel a little for the poor models. But the sky was clear, and the sun was out so with a bit of luck it would warm up a little. Also we had the luxury of shooting right next to a cafe (so many shoots are done in the middle of nowhere that this was a huge bonus) which meant there was somewhere for people to duck into to get warm during shots. From watching Andy shoot i get the impression that the most important thing is to capture the location, which he does all throughout the day giving him as many different lighting variables as he can possibly get. I guess the thinking is that the only reason you are shooting on location is for that specific location, so you make sure you capture it well. Most other things such as models etc. when given to the right re-toucher can be captured in the studio and dropped into the image at a later date. For obvious reasons this isn’t the best way, but it is always possible in emergencies. In this instance though everything (as it always seems to when shooting with Andy) went very smoothly, and he captured the models in the location. Fortunately although it was freezing the models had to rather energetically run up and down the steps, so even though they were wearing just T-shirts, they still managed to keep pretty warm. After the models were shot in the location we wrapped the shoot, and the next morning we all headed to the airport, apart from Bill and James who had a 9 hour drive home.

See Andy Glass’s images here – andyglassphoto.com

Behind the scenes -