A Creative Production Agency.
Discovering Calabria
Over a number of years Symrise came to us for a variety of different briefs – all that were separate in creative and delivery than the last.
When they wanted to produce a film that earnestly went into detail about one of their most important products – citrus – they gave us a ring. They outlined the brief in some detail and we were extremely excited from the outset: Film the Bergamot harvest and document the landscape and people that are intricate to that process.
90% of Bergamot are native to a very small part of Southern Italy during the mild month of January, it’s a hybrid fruit that can be found in upmarket scents and perfumes.
Calabria is a stunning part of Italy but not renowned for it’s production support so we focused on working with the excellent crews from Rome, with a plan to traveling down. We had the chance to recce and meet the protagonists upon arrival and planned to shoot the three minute film over a period of two days.
There is so much history and romance around the Bergamot fruit, people become so animated about it that we found ourselves being submersed in a crash course on a fruit that up to that point we knew little about. From the people in the field to those responsible for turning the fruit into oil the passion was contagious.
In typical Italian style we were hosted everywhere we went and for the four days that we were in Calabria we ate some of the most amazing food – such is the hospitality. Best of all our hotel was across the road from Italy’s best Gelaterie – a perk for the team to enjoy after a busy shoot day.
Symrise really wanted the film to be honest and sincere, and so they backed up the hero film with a behind-the-scenes film that lifted the lid on the cameras but also the process. It showed just how real and sincere the passion for the product is and the romance attached, and positioned themselves in the thick of that.
A great shoot with some impassioned people in a stunning part of the world.
