JB Personal Fitness – producing their short film

JB Personal Training

Swindon’s premier group fitness and wellbeing company is run by Julie Boyle and Shona Watt. JB had previously used video marketing to promote their business and wanted to invest in a professionally produced short film to showcase all their main classes in one video.

Since JB offer a diverse set of fitness sessions, we had a lot to feature in one video. Ultimately it meant that each segment of the video could only be 14 seconds long, The pacing of the edit was crucial in producing a short film that is concise with high energy throughout.

The filming took place on various dates in October and, apart from running club, the sessions were all normally scheduled classes to capture the real atmosphere and energy. This meant I had to work quickly to catch the right shots and also keep out of the way! All participants who appear in the film gave their permission and we made sure that they knew that there would be no dialogue in the final video so they could be more relaxed.

The music for the video was going to be essential so I composed it specifically to drive the video along and reflect the music used in their energetic classes.

The Filming

Ultrabox

Ultrabox is high energy and loads of stress busting fun!
I wanted to get interesting angles to show the power of the class. To get smooth moving shots I used a tripod dolly (tripod with wheels). I attached a GoPro camera on top of the main camera to simultaneously film ultra-wide shots. The other shots were hand held to get as many interesting angles as I could.

Pilates

There is a completely different feel to a Pilate’s class, relaxed and rejuvenating yet hard work. A lot of the workout is mat/floor based and I wanted to show this from the perspective of a participant. To achieve this I used a micro dolly to get my cameras low to the ground to produce smooth passing shots. This meant I was lying on the floor too, pushing the dolly whilst keeping focus. I also took some higher angle shots using the tripod dolly and hand held.

Couch to 5k running

I wanted to convey that the course really is for complete beginners, and starts at a very easy pace – so I included shots of walking and warm up exercises which are all part of the training (as are cool down routines and stretching)
I had previously done the course myself with JB so I knew what to expect. On the day, I liaised with Christine (the running coach) and Shona to find out the plan for the evening so I could set up in multiple locations and get the shots I needed. I still ended up puffed out chasing them around!
My main concern with filming Couch to 5k was the amount of available daylight at this time of the year after 7pm, but it did mean I was able to get my favourite silhouette shot on the second evening’s filming.

Metafit ™

This was probably the trickiest to film as everything happened so fast. The routines chopped and changed at a fast pace. It took a certain amount of trial and error to work out how and when the changes were going to happen. This is such an energetic class.

Park fit

Park fit makes use of the fabulous Lydiard Park grounds. The class uses the space and features of the park to create an energising outdoor class. I had not seen this class before so I tried to shoot as much footage as possible to capture the essence of the full range of activities and also to show some of the beautiful surroundings. A hand held stabiliser was used for some of the shots.

Running club.

Running Club sessions usually take place later in the evening which, in October, means after sunset! So an extra session was put on during the day to allow filming. I tried to get the runners in small pools of light when they were running on the paths and for me the best shots were those with the runners going past the horses. These were taken as a passenger in a car moving at the same pace as the runners – shooting out of the open window.

The edit.

This is the most important and, in fact, the most time consuming part of producing a short film.
About five hours of footage was captured which needed editing down to 100 seconds.
The edit starts with a fast montage and branding to set the scene, and finishes in a similar way with a subtle call to action.

Ultrabox, and Metafit™

These were edited to emphasise their high energy, using very short cuts, showing power moves timed to the beat.

Pilates

This was edited with (relatively) longer shots and the music was thinned out to make it more relaxed like the class, but I kept the tempo up make sure that it didn’t drag.

Couch to 5K

This was edited to show that it really is a supportive group effort with lots of encouragement. The silhouette shot conveys a sense of achievement and moving forward. (Generally in films, progress on a journey is shown with the characters moving left to right)

Running club

Again some left to right shots and longer clips to show steady pace and rhythm.

Park fit

It looked great fun on the day so I simply tried to show that!

JB used the video in a Facebook promotion and received over 10,000 views in 4 weeks.
This was such a fun short film to work on. Thank you JB Personal Training.

If you would like to work with me to promote your brand please get in touch.