Google Pixel 4

Chasing The Northern Lights With Night Sight

The

Brief

We worked alongside Swift Co to produce a short documentary film as we journeyed into the Arctic Circle to shoot the Northern Lights with the new Google Pixel 4.

This film was to be used by Google and the Pixel Team across multiple platforms as part of a much wider awareness campaign of the Pixel 4’s release and technology.

Client

Swift Co + Google

Location

Senja, Norway

Team

1 Videographer, 1 Drone Pilot, 1 Photographer

Our

Solution

We had a very small window of opportunity with this project to ensure we were able to deliver all content by the anticipated launch date, all whilst keeping an eye on the conditions and strength of the aurora.

Unseasonably warm weather happened upon Senja as soon as we arrived, which did mean we had to contend with some melting snow and ice throughout the trip. However, the aurora strength was the most it had been in a while and the changeable weather meant there was plenty of opportunity to keep an eye on the sky for a break in the clouds.

We shot the entire film using a lightweight setup to allow better access to remote locations and capture content faster in limited light conditions. We only had around 4 hours of useable daylight due to the time of year, so this was of absolute importance to have a tight shooting schedule and equipment to allow us to adhere to it.

While we had a desired outcome and shooting schedule for the film, a lot of the content was dictated by what Tom was able to shoot and capture on the phone. We had to contend with a lot of changing weather conditions and chasing the aurora for gaps in the clouds. With this in mind, we shot plenty of b-roll footage to allow us flexibility in the edit later on, with the structure of the film dictated by the interview piece with Tom.

The film achieved over 100,000 organic views in just a couple of weeks, as well as a huge amount of engagement around the product and it’s capabilities. This is evidenced in the comment threads on YouTube with customers and prospective customers discussing the impressive results captured with the phone on Tom’s trip to Norway.