The Brexit Bunker: filming Eric Cantona for Paddy Power

Working with former professional footballer Eric Cantona was a thrill — and on one of the Solent Forts, no less!

Agency Officer & Gentleman and production firm RadicalMedia hired us to shoot the aerial sequences for this hilarious and timely ad, which pokes fun at Brexit and its Parliamentary figureheads.

It aired on national television, and has (at the time of writing) accumulated over a million views on YouTube.

We joined Radical Media’s film crew on their initial recce, readying ourselves for storyboarding and shoot planning.

Paddy Power provided us with a shot list and confirmed we needed to film in 6K Cinema DNG. Shooting Cinema DNG on the Inspire 2 isn’t too dissimilar to shooting on an Arri Alexa Mini — the format that the ground footage was shot on.

On the day of the shoot, we waited for our boat in Gunwharf Quays, to head over to Spitbank Fort. We took a fair bit of kit with us, including two DJI Inspire 2 drones, 10 sets of batteries, four controllers, Crystal Sky screens, a focus wheel, walkie-talkies, signage, safety equipment, PPE, and so on.

We all travelled over to Spitbank Fort on the boat: the team from Paddy Power, the director, Eric Cantona, and Eric’s brothers Jean-Marie Cantona and Joël Cantona. The Cantona brothers are a vibrant and talented bunch. Meeting and working with them was a pleasure.

After setting up our base camp and checking over our equipment, we led a safety briefing. Mike explained our flight procedures, and we confirmed how we’d be communicating during the day. Our flight plans were now confirmed, permissions obtained, and everyone was aware of our emergency protocols.

We practised each shot meticulously, worked with a body double and then undertook the real shots to be used in the final cuts. We thoroughly enjoyed working on this set.