Sir John Fisher Naming Ceremony — Aerial Filming on the Thames
Maritime event filming, photography and aerial coverage of the UK's first dual-fuel chemical tanker as she arrived in the Pool of London and was officially named alongside HMS Belfast.
James Fisher needed a film crew who could handle the full scope of a high-profile maritime event in central London: a night arrival on the Thames, a formal daytime naming ceremony, and a departure the following morning — all delivered as a single highlights film that did justice to a genuinely historic vessel.
We covered the project end-to-end across three core moments:
- The pre-dawn arrival as Sir John Fisher passed Tower Bridge and moored alongside HMS Belfast
- The official naming ceremony with guests, speeches, and the traditional bottle break
- Her departure the following day, heading back out down the Thames
Working with James Fisher and Sons plc was one of the genuinely inspiring parts of this project. Founded in Barrow-in-Furness in 1847, they've grown from a single family-run shipping business into a global marine services group whose reach is hard to overstate — operating a fleet of tankers delivering refined fuel to the UK, and, through their defence subsidiary JFD, designing and operating submarine rescue systems trusted by the Royal Navy, NATO, and twenty other navies worldwide. Being trusted to mark a milestone for a company of that calibre wasn't lost on us.
Another standout element for us was the drone work. The Pool of London sits inside one of the most restricted areas of UK airspace, and while we're experienced operating in central London, this shoot involved something we'd never done before: taking off and landing from the deck of HMS Belfast itself. Flying from a Royal Navy museum ship in the middle of the Thames, at night, in restricted airspace — that's the kind of brief that doesn't come around twice.
The result is photography, a highlights film and drone footage that captures the scale of the vessel, the significance of the occasion, and the character of the location in a way ground-based coverage alone couldn't.
James Fisher needed a film crew who could handle the full scope of a high-profile maritime event in central London: a night arrival on the Thames, a formal daytime naming ceremony, and a departure the following morning — all delivered as a single highlights film that did justice to a genuinely historic vessel.
We covered the project end-to-end across three core moments:
- The pre-dawn arrival as Sir John Fisher passed Tower Bridge and moored alongside HMS Belfast
- The official naming ceremony with guests, speeches, and the traditional bottle break
- Her departure the following day, heading back out down the Thames
Working with James Fisher and Sons plc was one of the genuinely inspiring parts of this project. Founded in Barrow-in-Furness in 1847, they've grown from a single family-run shipping business into a global marine services group whose reach is hard to overstate — operating a fleet of tankers delivering refined fuel to the UK, and, through their defence subsidiary JFD, designing and operating submarine rescue systems trusted by the Royal Navy, NATO, and twenty other navies worldwide. Being trusted to mark a milestone for a company of that calibre wasn't lost on us.
Another standout element for us was the drone work. The Pool of London sits inside one of the most restricted areas of UK airspace, and while we're experienced operating in central London, this shoot involved something we'd never done before: taking off and landing from the deck of HMS Belfast itself. Flying from a Royal Navy museum ship in the middle of the Thames, at night, in restricted airspace — that's the kind of brief that doesn't come around twice.
The result is photography, a highlights film and drone footage that captures the scale of the vessel, the significance of the occasion, and the character of the location in a way ground-based coverage alone couldn't.
Pre-Production
Maritime events in central London are unforgiving — the ship arrives when the tide says it arrives, the ceremony runs to the minute, and there's no second take. Planning started weeks in advance:
- Airspace coordination and flight permissions for drone operations in the Pool of London restricted zone
- Site recces aboard HMS Belfast to confirm safe take-off and landing points on deck
- Tide and lighting timings worked back from the vessel's ETA under Tower Bridge
- Shot list and storyboard built around the three key moments: arrival, ceremony, departure
- Crew, kit, and backup gear lists finalised for night and day shooting conditions
Production
- Night arrival: low-light cinematography from multiple positions to capture Sir John Fisher passing Tower Bridge and approaching her mooring, supported by aerial coverage flown from HMS Belfast's deck
- Naming ceremony: multi-camera coverage of speeches, guests, and the bottle break, plus stills photography throughout
- Daytime departure: aerial and ground coverage of the vessel leaving her berth and heading back down the Thames in daylight, giving the edit a strong visual contrast to the night arrival
Post-Production
The edit balanced two jobs: telling the story of the event for guests and stakeholders who were there, and showcasing the vessel and the occasion for audiences who weren't.
Deliverables included a 7 minute long highlights film built around the night-to-day arc, colour-graded throughout to make the most of the Thames at night, and a curated stills set from across both days.
Equipment Used
Filming Locations
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