3 THINGS I LEARNED SOLO-PRODUCING A TOUR DE FRANCE TV SPOT
In the Summer of 2021, while COVID restrictions still gripped most of the world and traveling with large production crews wasn’t feasible, I wrote, produced, shot, and edited my first broadcast TV spot to be aired during the Tour de France. This was Hammerhead’s debut on the world cycling stage and it was of paramount importance to get everything right. I had one week from the day I arrived in France until the final deliverable was due and only enough budget to pay for my travel, a rider, and a voice actor.
Time and budget are limiting factors on every production, but this was by far the tightest project I’ve had to produce. I remembered a book I had read by Adam Morgan & Mark Barden called A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages And Why It’s Everyone’s Business. Here are 3 things I learned by leaning into the “Beautiful Constraint” strategy.
1. PRIORITIZE LOCATION AND LIGHT
Location and light are free (unless you need permits), so prioritize them first. These are the cheapest and easiest ways to elevate the production value of a piece. Consider them carefully.
LOCATION
For this project, I shot everything on the renown Tour de France climb, Luz Ardiden, in the French Pyrenees. I knew the TV spot would be airing 6 days after the shoot, the day the race would be passing through this stage, so I used the tight timing to my advantage as there were already chalk drawings on the pavement signifying the race without infringing on TDF copyrights. This also provided for a nice easter-egg for those hardcore fans that might recognize the climb and appreciate the overlap between that day’s stage race and the commercial airing throughout the day.
LIGHT
As a rule of thumb, I only shoot during the hours of, and surrounding, sunrise and sunset (when possible). Mid-day light is too harsh and will ruin any chances of your footage looking cinematically beautiful. This is more important than any camera or gear you will be using. I would much rather shoot on an iPhone at sunrise than on a RED camera at high noon (more on gear below). Google Earth is a great tool for scouting locations to which you’ve never been. In combination with sun charts, you can use it to understand how the light will be hitting different parts of the road at different times.
2. PRODUCTION COSTS GROW EXPONENTIALLY — SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY
GEAR
As producers/filmmakers/photographers, it is very easy for us to get caught up in all the latest tech and gear specs. Don’t get me wrong, the right camera and all the associated support systems and accessories can really elevate a piece, but gear is one piece of the production puzzle. Camera technology has come a long way in terms of performance and price and when most people are viewing content on their phones anyway, I believe limited resources are better spent elsewhere. The more gear you have, the more people you need to operate it, the more time you need to set it up, the more disrupted the rider/talent experience. You will see exponentially growth to production costs with each of these consequences.
Here is the entire kit I used to shoot this production:
(Still Camera Body) Sony a7R III
(Video Camera Body) Sony a7S III
(2 Lenses) Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM, Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS
(Gimbal) DJI Ronin-S
(Onboard Mic) Rode VideoMic Pro+ Microphone
TIME
Parkinson’s Law dictates that a given task grows in complexity relative to the amount of time allotted to complete it. I gave myself 3 hours to shoot this commercial, including all the stills I also needed to shoot to build out the supporting digital campaign. And with only 5 days to turn around the final edit after shooting, I came to France prepared with a rough audio cut with placeholder music and VO. Having the commercial audio playing in my head while I was shooting and a rough storyboard of shots mapped out allowed me to shoot very strategically and not waste time on anything that wasn’t critical.
CREW
When budgets are tight, keeping a small crew headcount is the most efficient way to cut costs. Know your skills and only outsource roles you absolutely need to. Production costs can easily balloon with each additional person you add to the crew. Small crews can move nimbly, which is especially important when shooting cycling and you are covering large distances during a shoot. You can burn a ton of critical time during a shoot shuttling crew and talent around a given zone or up and down a mountain. The crew for this shoot was me, the rider, and a work colleague to drive the car.
3. UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
Like most sports, cycling can be very specialized and riders have a very sensitive bullshit-o-meter when it comes to advertising. That, combined with the fact that this was Hammerhead’s debut on the world stage, meant that everything had to be unmistakably authentic from rider kit, to location, to script, to sound design. The smallest error can render a whole spot not only ineffective, but damaging to the brand. Remember: people want to be seen and understood, particularly in a sport with a lot of earned knowledge. If you can tap into an esoteric feeling with your audience you can earn a lot of credit with them. That is one of the greatest characteristics of a strong brand.
TALENT
I was living in California when I produced this spot, so finding a legit rider in the French Pyrenees who was available on a specific day and time on very short notice wasn’t exactly an easy challenge. After many dead-end leads, I ended up reaching out to a contact I had at Pas Normal Studios who referred me to one of their ambassadors, Joe Rasscourt. Instagram is a great tool for vetting talent. If you pick the right rider you can outsource the added complexities of making sure all the kit/bike/gear is dialed, which frees up your limited bandwidth to focus on other production challenges.
Props to Joe for riding his bike to the shoot from Sitges, Spain and back for a total of 556 miles. We covered Joe’s overnight lodging costs as well as a talent fee for the shoot day, one of the few expenses of the production.
AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCE
Even though this was a commercial shoot, I shot it more like a documentary. In other words, we set out from the start and climbed the whole mountain virtually uninterrupted, and then descended in one pass. If you create an experience for the rider that is authentic, then you can outsource all of the stress and attention towards making it look authentic. I stopped once or twice to frame up a shot or two but otherwise just tracked alongside Joe out of a small rental car that my colleague drove. This strategy allowed for things like sweat, heartbeat/breath, rider speed, etc. to all display naturally and authentically. This approach also drastically cuts down on production time (read: costs) if you are able to move quickly and nimbly with your crew and cameras (another reason for keeping it minimal).
CONCLUSION
There are certainly productions that call for the scale and expertise of a large crew and big budget, but everything is a trade-off. As technology becomes more democratized and accessible, we creatives are continually challenged to deliver results more efficiently. I personally enjoy the challenge of a trim production because it creates beautiful constraints that I can use to my advantage to design the production.
