Introduction

"Has anyone made a teapot before?"
This would not be a strange question should we be at the introductory lesson of a pottery class but we are at The Perris Skydive Centre, California.

After a year in development we are finally all gathered at the first of many team briefings in preparation for the filming of the new Honda TV ad. Over the next few weeks this blog will chart the making of Honda's latest commercial, giving a behind the scenes insight into the challenges that face a team of skydivers and some ad makers who are attempting to film some of the most complicated skydive formations ever attempted for the camera.

BJ Worth, the stunt coordinator for this commercial is briefing his team of skydivers on what they will be doing for the next 5 days.  He has worked on pretty much every James Bond film since Thunderball so when he explains to his 45 strong team of world class free fall skydivers that this is one of the most challenging aerial stunt sequences he has ever had to produce you get the sense that he is not exaggerating.

Tony Davidson (Creative Director) -   "When you write scripts like this you just imagine anything is possible.  It’s only when you start getting down to the nitty gritty of production that you realise what the real implications are.  That said, in this world where post-production techniques mean most things are possible, it’s nice to be attempting something for real."

Ginger talks through a typical day for a skydiver on the Honda set

Comments

[Mike]

You W+K guys have done it again I haven't even seen the ad but I think I know where it's going. Move over drumming gorilla we have a new champ in town

[Philip Franklin-Slattery]

Good luck to everyone taking part in what looks to be an exciting experience of creative expression, be safe - I look forward to following your progress.

[alex]

Not what I was expecting when I saw the advertisement it is rather misleading. Although I really like how your giving insight to the project and it is a brilliant example of just how much effort some things can take.

[jonathan tapper]

Hi Alex,
Sorry if you felt we were being misleading.
I would be really interested to know what you were expecting when you saw the ad. We were hoping to intrigue people but would be good to know what you first impressions were.
Glad you liked what we have done so far.
Will be posting more tomorrow

[Dom Wilkinson]

Hi all,

Being a bit of an adrenalin junkie myself, I found the advert intriguing and wanted to know what it was all about.

Having seen the advert a few times, I still couldn't workout what it was for. Maybe a new TV show? Maybe some sort of public information film? I knew that there would be a 'Part 2', but the question was when?

Several times I'd spotted the subliminal URL at the end of the advert and thought I must look that up on the Internet! But by the time I had my laptop in front of me I'd forgotten the URL!

Fortunately tonight I had my laptop right here in front of me and so I was able come visit this site.

This is an interesting project, which I assume is now complete. I look forward to seeing the final results.

Now I know where to find you, I'll be popping back to see what's going on.

Dom