Medical Detection Dogs

Brief:

Live event filming of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall visiting Medical Detection Dogs, meeting senior members of the charity and watching a demonstration of the dogs at work.

This footage would be:

• Reversioned for MDD’s marketing campaigns
• Used for ITV news bulletins
• Streamed live via zoom to a select VIP audience

Background:

The event was a very high profile news story, not only because of the royal visit, but also because of recent breakthroughs in the dogs’ ability to detect COVID.

Our approach:

We are adaptable and able to increase or downsize our crew, as well as able to work with a range of budgets. In this case, MDD wanted to handle post-production ‘in-house’ but needed a skilled camera/sound op to ensure that all the critical moments were documented to a high standard.

The technology was key here – with a VIP audience watching via zoom, MDD trusted Octopus to ensure the smooth running of the live streaming.

As Octopus was the only organisation granted access to film the dog training, we needed to capture high-quality footage that could be handed over to the ITV news team to package for their lunchtime bulletin. Our crew all have many years of experience working for major broadcasters, and as all our kit is broadcast standard, this was easily achievable.

Outcome:

MDD was delighted with the result, and our Technical Director Giles received this wonderful note:

“We are so very grateful, and you did a perfect job in ensuring that our VIP Zoom callers got to see everything and that we were able to have some footage to keep. I have just watched it all back, and it was if they had front row seats. I personally also really appreciated how calm and unflappable you were. As you know, the tech was the thing that had been keeping me awake at night, and you immediately put me at ease when you arrived.”
Gemma Butlin, Marketing and Communications Manager

Production breakdown:

Days work per film: 0.5 days preproduction, 0.5-day shoot, 0 days edit.
Crew: 1 person crew – operating camera/sound
Budget guide: £800 plus VAT