Northwest Vision and Media, create the bigger picture
Preston goes Crunchy Nuts
PRESTON GOES CRUNCHY NUTS FOR COMMERCIALS
ON a cold, blustery afternoon in March, the Flag Market, a key section of Preston city centre, is suddenly cordoned off and loud screams can be heard echoing from within. Passers by slow down to get a glimpse of whatever’s making all the racket, and some are stopping to question security and the police that guard the area.
But thankfully, there’s no need for concern. For the reason behind all the chaos is a bowl of cereal - or to be more precise, an advertisement for Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.
“I never thought a bowl of cereal could cause such a commotion!” explains Lynda Banister, Film Officer for North West Vision, the film, TV and digital media development agency for the Northwest.
Lancashire is rapidly proving to be a filmmaker’s paradise for commercials. That’s largely thanks to the work of Lynda, who works out of Lancashire County Developments, and who helped to bring over £7 million inward investment into the country in 2006, as a result of productions coming into the region.
The Crunchy Nut Cornflake commercial continues that successful enterprise. “We have 80 extras here and they’ll be here for most of the day,” says Chris Webb, location manager for the one-off Crunchy Nut shoot. “But its thanks to Lynda that we’re here at all,” he explains.
The shoot only had two weeks to turn around, so it came with tight deadlines and high expectations. “Lynda swung it,” says Chris. “Other cities couldn’t do the closures we required because they didn’t have the lead time - that’s not their fault, it’s just the way these things work.
“But we needed a street that felt like its in the heart of a city, and Lynda basically made the relevant phone calls, gathered the people that mattered together, and made it very easy for me to get things done.
“I’ve worked on loads of productions across the Northwest region and I can honestly say that the partnership between North West Vision and the local authorities is getting better and better,” adds Chris.
“We’ve been all over the Northwest to get this advert done. A few days ago, we filmed in Chester on the River Dee, with Kings School Rowing Boat Club. We filmed at a pub just outside Frodsham and yesterday we were in Bolton at Le Mans Crescent, and the Bolton Rugby Football Club,” says Chris.
However, its Preston that’s providing the peak for this carefully structured advert, produced by Manchester’s Chief TV. Taking centre stage is a ticker tape parade complete with trucks, banners, plenty of people and of course bowls of cornflakes.
Chris explains: “The ad will feature the rowing team reaching down for a bowl of cornflakes, we’ll see a landlady in a pub pulling a pint of milk onto her bowl and with the rugby scrum, instead of the ball going, you’ve guessed it... A bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes appears instead!”
Louise Allen, production runner for Chief TV added: “It’s great working on projects like this, you get to see places that you don’t normally get to visit and the Northwest is such an exciting region that it’s good to get out and about.”
Having worked on more than three productions, Louise now intends to register with North West Vision’s free crew database, an ever-expanding resource for Northwest-based talent.
For further information and to register as a crew member on North West Vision’s Crew database, please visit: www.northwestvision.co.uk/section/crew_facilities
