Our taste buds were maxed out last week as we filmed a series of recipe films showing off a range of tantalising new 'Belazu' products from The Fresh Olive Co. We shot the preparation of sumptuous dishes such as Butterflied Spiced Chicken and Pomegranate Couscous and Chargrilled Beef Kefta with Tomato and Smoked Paprika. Nice! Needless to say it was rather hard concentrating on what we were filming with the waft of Rose Harissa, fresh mint and toasted almonds in the air...
Shooting over 3 days at the fabulous Faith House (a kitchen frequently used by Jamie Oliver), we filmed a total of 10 Moroccan/Mediterranean recipes using the awesome Canon C300 and the Canon 5DMk2 (our camera B). We used various primes for some juicy close-up shots (when the couscous reminds you of Laurence of Arabia, you know you're doing something right) and a tall yellow ladder came in rather handy when getting those ever important overhead shots of steaming chicken, spinach and chickpea stew (and the like).
DOP Mark created a soft lighting design with a little bit of shape using a 400wt HMI (the 5ft Deido Oxodome), Kino Diva lights and the Lowell Blender for perfectly backlighting our packshots.
Save for a couple of steamy lenses and a mysterious beeping sound (finally discovered to be a dying landline phone hiding behind a curtain) the shoot was a pretty smooth affair and all involved were quite remarkable at sticking to the rather tight schedule (a running theme for Hi-Gloss it seems!).
Come July we have another 10 delicious recipes to shoot. Watch this space for more info re film release dates (so impressed were we, we haven't been short of homemade packed lunches all week).
The Team: (From left) Producer Lorna Pitman, Hair & Make up artist Patrizia Lio, Director Sam Harvey, our presenter George (FOC), Ali (FOC), DOP Mark Moreve and Sound Recordist/1st assistant Craig Connibeare
