The beauty of COVID (and there isn’t a hell of a lot of it) is that it’s forced the industry to crank up its agility and lean on its network. This project was the perfect example of both. When it came to producing a short Melbourne-based documentary series for global sports betting company, Bet365, ahead of the spring racing carnival — and with looming restrictions placing Sydney’s production industry in a metaphorical choke hold — Crater Agency passed the baton to Wildebeest. And as always, we were chomping at the bit to put our renowned film finesse to the test.
The project itself was nothing short of a creative sprint. Restricted by the horses’ scrupulous schedules and the limited daylight hours, we were forced to weave the narrative of trainer Danny O’Brien and his star horses within across 4 pre-dawn shoot days. What was critical was ensuring the final product did Crater’s original concept cinematic justice — something we achieved through a process of careful creative collaboration.
As always, the exercise was a pressure test from the moment the gates were flung open. While we may have been up against it in terms of time, our strength of creativity and execution won out in the end with the delivery of a beautiful cinematic mini-series. Better yet, what began as a collaboration born from convenience, has already evolved into a strong creative relationship with our new co-collaborators at Crater.
Client—Bet365Aus · Agency—Crater · Production—Wildebeest · Client lead—Liam Oghegan · Head of Production—Steven Farrer · Commercial Director APAC—Justin Alexander Solomons · Creative Director—Simon Morehead & Ed de Carvalho · Director—Jarred Osborn · Producer—Josie Baybes · Art Department · DOP—Marcus Cropp & Joel Egan · 2nd Unit—Levin Mundinger · Drone—Ed Sloane & Davor Breznik · Edit—Ed de Carvalho · Colour—Julien Chichignoud