GOING SKIING TO TELL A STORY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY WHILE TRYING TO STAY WARM.

As a leading manufacturer of data capture technology such as enterprise mobile computers, barcode scanners, label printers and rugged tablets, Zebra has many stories to tell.

We were engaged by Zebra to capture stores by visiting customers and sharing how they are using Zebra devices. After shootign an product overview video on a range of rugged tablets, off camera we asked who was using the devices in Australia and the first response was Mt Buller Ski Lifts.

One thing to lead to another and we were on our way to Mt Buller to shoot a video.

The shoot preparation began by coordinating the shoot with the Mt Buller Ski Lifts IT Manager and then ensuring we had the right staff on the job. Most of our shoots for B2B organisations involve just two people to capture the story but we needed two people that had skiing experience to lug the camera gear up and down the slopes.

Andrew Sill was going to host the video and he invited brother Michael to help out as he had the ability to carry the gear safely and knew his way around a camera or at least knew where the record button was.

Being seasoned skiers at Mt Buller, the team knew their way around the mountain but capturing the story was still the challenge it was was to be quite difficult conditions.

Just like the rugged tablets that were being used as they needed to be able to withstand the freezing conditions, so were we.

The shoot had a rough story line but we were not to shoot in the final sequence. Our aim is to minimise the disruption for any staff that may need to appear in one of our stories so we schedule to have them on camera at the most suitable time for them. We were fortunate to have the full support of the Mt Buller Ski Lifts IT Manager who was very accommodating to our needs.

We had to work on the run, scouting for locations as we went while being mindful of the conditions we were shooting in.

The customer interview was shot in a little hut at the top of the Abom chairlift. We got lucky with the location with an amazing shelf of skiing memorabilia as a backdrop. we also were lucky that the Mt Buller Ski Lifts It Manager was excellent on camera and was very in touch with the topic at hand.

Interview over so off to the bottom of the ski runs to the Bourke St ski lift to profile the rugged tablet in use. Shots taken and then a quick move to film the introduction in the village center.

Some would say the next phase of the shoot was fun as we got to ski around shooting B Roll footage. In fact the weather was closing in and Michael spent most of the time lugging gear and skiing backwards to film the shots.

Due to the environment, the shoot took an entire day which resulted in a six and half minute video edit which effectively showcased the solution in use.