Hamm gets one shot with EPCOR

Edmonton-based Frame 30 director Michael Hamm says the two spots he recently directed for Western Canada energy company epcor were a challenge the likes of which he has never experienced before. He presided over nearly three weeks of construction and rehearsal – and more construction, more rehearsal and finally the shooting.

The difficulty making the spots was that they were both to be filmed in one take – one steady shot – with no cuts. To achieve the proper look, Hamm mounted a camera on the end of a 39-foot crane which was to be maneuvered carefully through the rooms of a house. The idea was to get a bird’s-eye view of a family going through its morning routine.

Before Hamm could tackle how to film the spot, a much more pressing issue seemed to be where to film the spot. Realizing that it would be difficult to find a house that could accommodate such a shoot, Hamm decided he and his crew of approximately 30 would erect a house in the Allarcom soundstage that could handle the family, their many appliances and electronics, plus an abundance of filmmaking technology.

‘We built, for all intents and purposes, a full-blown house,’ says Hamm. ‘Rather than using flats, it was built out of drywall and two-by-fours, real windows and floors, with washer-dryers and a working electric stove. It’s for an energy company so it’s an energy-sucking house. If it was electric, it was in this place.’

With the house built, the obstacle remaining was to choreograph the spot in such a way that it was one shot, which followed the various family members moving from one place to the next, preparing for their day and eventually sitting down to breakfast.

After exploring the alternatives, Hamm and dop Ryan McMaster decided the only way to properly shoot the spots was with a hot head attached to a 39-foot crane.

‘We looked into doing it with computers or with motion control and there was no way we could figure to do it except off of this huge crane,’ says Hamm. The director reports that the platform for the crane alone was huge, consisting of 50 feet of scaffolding, 10 feet above the floor.

To fit in all the action, the ad was shot at 96 fps, thus making a four-minute take a minute’s worth of television. For McMaster, the action-packed epcor spots were exceptionally challenging.

‘We had to do the move in one minute because we were running the camera at such a high speed,’ says McMaster. ‘The first rehearsal with full action and full speed was one-minute, forty-seven seconds, so we had to shave almost half of the time.’

McMaster says despite some tight corners, the crew was up to the challenge and the camera moved fairly freely throughout the house.

‘It was just a matter of a lot of rehearsing and guys on the crane getting comfortable,’ he says. ‘With the areas they were passing through there was literally about three-quarters of an inch on either side and the crane was 39 feet out in front of them,’ says McMaster.

After three weeks of preparation, construction, rehearsal and filming, two epcor spots (one 30 seconds, one 60 seconds) were completed. Hamm and McMaster agree they have never undertaken anything as complicated.

‘Everybody had quite a thrill doing it,’ says McMaster. ‘It was a major challenge for all those involved, but it turned out wonderfully.’

The spot was made through Watermark Advertising, Calgary. Charles Blackwell acted as creative director while Mark Kamachi served as art director.

The editing – or rather the post – was handled by Scott Parker of Picture Engine.

Dustin Dinoff