BARNOLDSWICK FC JUNIOR GIRLS U-12S PROMO VIDEO, SEPTEMBER 2021
CLIENT ; BARNOLDSWICK FC, COACH ANDY
TASK TYPE; PROMOTIONAL VIDEO FOR GIRLS FOOTBALL TEAM
In September 2021 XES Drones were approached by Andy, the coach of Barnoldswick FC U-12 girl’s team, to see if it would be possible (and legal) to produce a short promo video for his team. His brief was to try and showcase the ground and facilities, the players and some live action from a real live game, using a drone rather than traditional ground- based video, in order to give the video a bit of X factor. It was meant to capture the fun inclusivity element, as well as championing the actual football skills of the kids.
Andy’s aim was quite straight forward in that he wanted to produce a video which would engage with the local population via various social media platforms, and perhaps encourage other young girls to come down and give it a go at playing football for a local family orientated club. Everything seems to stem from social media nowadays, so a short impactful video was likely to appeal to a wider audience than older more traditional methods.
He was particularly keen to use a drone to showcase this imagery, both as an alternative to traditional stills, but also recognising the potential for social media traffic increases when using bespoke video captured from unique angles and perspectives.
From our perspective, we immediately recognised that we would have several challenges to consider and overcome before even attempting this kind of a task, namely;
- Data protection/GDPR/Safeguarding issues
- Getting permission from everyone involved, coaches and parents
- The physical overflying of folk and how to avoid
- Physically following the game from a reasonable distance… too close and the drone becomes a distraction, too far away and everyone looks like an ant
We recognised very early on, that we would have to engage with a lot of parties to overcome the privacy issues, and then concentrate on how best to capture the imagery. We came up with the following solutions, which I’ve briefly summarised as follows;
- Providing an electronic ‘warning’ letter to send out to all the coaches and parents to reach the maximum number of involved people.
- Any letter would try and allay the concerns of all the above by dealing with the following;
- A confirmed CRB check for all pilots
- Evidence of public liability insurance
- Proof of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) operational authorisation for this type of filming
- The size of the drone to be used and how we can mitigate any risk of injury
- The position of the drone whilst in the air and how quiet/noisy it is
- The flying experience of all the pilots on this kind of task
- The opportunity for people to object and a contact number so that concerns can be alleviated before the filming day
- We decided to use a sub 250g drone, the Mavic Mini 2, to enable flying closer to the players than would be possible with a heavier drone. This was to be combined with a flight plan which stayed behind or to the side of the players for the majority of the action.
- Lastly, we enlisted the help of some friends beforehand to hone our football filming skills, to both optimise the distance from the action and also the best angle from which to film.
The day or rather the evening of the game finally arrived, and we were very lucky to have a really still clear weather window in which to film. Our pre task risk assessments coupled with all our practice runs ensured the filming at the live game went brilliantly. We captured some great slow- motion imagery before the game, carried out the inevitable team photo, and then filmed constantly for much of the game. The crowning moment was capturing both the goals in the first half, due to equal amounts of luck and pilot skill, but in the words of Gary Player, “the more I practise, the luckier I get!”
Our final task was to produce an edited video for Andy and the girls, including soundtrack, enabling them to showcase their fantastic club and welcoming set up. We then fed this back to Andy for final analysis before he obtained consent from all the parents to put the video on Facebook and several other social media platforms.
When we approached Andy for some feedback, this is what the later told us:
“I was fairly uncertain if this would work as I didn’t really have much experience with drones, so it was a bit of a leap of faith to be honest. Having said that, I was absolutely blown away by the quality and content of the final video. XES did a really professional job, and the preparation work around parental concerns and what the film would actually look like paid off handsomely. Everyone whose seen the video has been mightily impressed with the content and quality, and I wish I could use them for every game and every age level!!!! Cheers gents, you played a blinder”