“Switch it Up” Bearfoot Bistro & Market by Jean-Georges

The initial meeting with both Shangri-la Hotel in Vancouver and The Market by Jean-Georges was only 8 days out from the first night of the Switch event. We accepted the gig and straight out of the gates we were off and running. We had to ‘Switch’ – scramble, plan and reschedule everything on our own plate to be ready for this big upcoming show.

The main challenge in filming this night was to strategize functionality, to be able to quickly adjust and adapt to spontaneous shifts in what needed to be captured. In order to do this and keep production running smoothly we booked two nights at the Listel hotel in Whistler to cover Market at the Bearfoot Bistro and another two nights at the Shangri-La for Bearfoot at the Market – hence the title of ‘Switch it Up’.

Having our own room to prep in was extremely resourceful to this production allowing us to work efficiently minimizing the tedious tasks encountered when filming such events. The room housed all our gear while we jumped from scene to scene giving us the time advantage needed to make alterations to gear and rigs the flexibility provided more options for composition and style. Having a room removes all stress about any equipment getting damaged or stolen, permitting you to work with a clear mind remaining alert and focused on the assignment.

Restaurant ‘Switch It Up’, took place on two separate evenings at two different locations. Each night welcomed a full house and by no means was this an ordinary fine dining experience. Both nights required a lot of planning and teamwork, endured many hours of set-up and prep by the kitchen staff at both establishments to create the menus and transformation. Chef Monty and Melissa along with Management, Servers and Staff had to work together in new environments overcoming the pressure to create two memorable evenings for all who attended.

Now, onto the main course, here is Double Vision’s feature video project ‘Switch It Up’.

Footage was captured from Market by Jean-George in Vancouver and Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler, this project was in collaboration with the Shangri-La Hotel in Vancouver. This was our fourth assignment with the company, we can’t say enough of how proud we are to continually work with them having earned their trust to create media products in a style they feel represents their brand. A big thank you to Shangri-La Hotels.

We also like to add each assignment my brother and I work on we come across new ideas or some good stories that are fun to share. Just like this project, when we traveled to Whistler one of the highlights for us was not the Sea to Sky Highway but, the GMC Suburban we rented to transport all our gear. The Suburban is a beautiful beast to drive a real luxury on wheels that will reduce your dependency on smart cars. A must have vehicle to add to our B&H wishlist.

The GMC Suburban made it feel like a Special Ops mission we felt safe in this beast because in no way is the Sea to Sky Highway safe to travel. The lanes are very narrow we traveled at night and most of the trip was in complete darkness… where are the street lights? The most dangerous part of the road is not so much the turns or the lack of lighting but bike lanes, yes bike lanes! I approve of bike lanes and their relevance but they need to be in places that make sense. I hope that brief rant didn’t just road kill this post?

Let’s look at some of our production notes. To capture the high production value look we needed superior colour resolution. For this we utilized the Atomos Ninja-2 with all Canon 5D MK III footage (minus the slow-mo 720p – 60fps sabring shot), we extracted clean HDMI out for 10-bit ProRes HQ 4:2:2 quality. It offers more colour data latitude for Jamie when editing. Every bit-depth helps, so you take it wherever you can.

We placed GoPros in the kitchens and dining areas for time-lapse coverage mounted onto suction cup, these were used for establishing prep work in all the kitchens and set-ups of both dining rooms during the furniture switch. GoPros are versatile and rugged cameras to get you into areas with unique perspectives and dynamic compositions. Our main frustration and we’re sure with anyone who uses the GoPro Hero 3 Black edition; they eat way more battery power than their nimble little bodies deserve. It staggered us constantly having to exchange batteries and monitor the little buggers to make sure they were juiced (at the time of this writing we have ordered two more batteries and chargers to keep these little power hungry GoPiggies fed). Yes, we are aware of the new Hero 3+ improving this issue, unfortunately we got burned with the rapid advancement of GoPro suddenly releasing the new improved version.

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“We worked with Double Vision on several projects for multiple events, and truly enjoyed the experience. Their team is professional, respectful, and goes above and beyond to ensure the desired results.”

— Liz Sperandeo – Director of Communications | Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver

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Throughout the night we were back and forth to our room for modifications, recharging and refueling of our own. These were also opportunities to offloaded footage and photographs onto our homebase set-up to: the ASUS g750 laptop then repeated once more by backing up onto an external hard drive. This securely protected us from any mishaps that can occur if we were to unwisely keep only one copy of the master files.

The experience of this project showed us how resourceful we can be to get the job done. We made definitive strides in our capabilities, adrenaline got us through two 18 hour days. There was never a moment of doubt at the end of the shoot we were exhausted yet proud of what we accomplished and inspired by what Double Vision is becoming. This video shows how entertaining this night unfolded, how the cuisine was a sight to see and as far we were told ~ delicious. We only had time for room service at the Shangri-La Vancouver; the Market Burger became a favorite.

Hover above the image and click the arrows to view the gallery

Event videos like these are must have promotional pieces that can also be kept as legacy media to advertise future events. If you have any questions or thoughts we’d be happy to hear from you and welcome your comments below.

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