About the event
A major open-air music festival means huge crowds, several days in a row, stages, campsites and car parks as far as the eye can see. Behind the scenes, it also means a whole safety operation, of which the audience sees only a small part.
Protection Civile, a French accredited civil protection association whose motto is “help, rescue, train”, deploys its volunteers and first aid posts there. They are the focus of this promotional film, where their commitment shows most clearly: on the ground, during the event.
Deliteshot produced this film: a way of telling the story of an event from the inside, through those who watch over it.
The challenge
Filming during an event of this scale gives you no control over what happens. The festival runs its course, and the shoot has to adapt to it, without ever getting in the way of the audience or the teams.
The filming had to deal with several constraints:
- A very large site: the stage, the crowd, the first aid posts, the car parks and the vehicles to cover.
- Extreme lighting: broad daylight on the grounds, then night-time and stage lighting.
- A dense crowd: moving and filming among the audience, as close as possible to the atmosphere.
- Teams at work: following the volunteers without disrupting their mission or the people in their care.
The objectives
- Convey the energy of the festival, from the audience to the stage.
- Show the scale of the operation: vehicles, first aid posts and coordination.
- Highlight the volunteers and the team spirit.
- End on the Protection Civile identity, for a film that can be used in communications.
Our approach
1. Telling the story before the event
An event begins long before the audience arrives. So the film also shows the preparation: the volunteers' briefing, the teams gearing up, the convoy of vehicles and the setting up of the operation.
2. Diving into the festival
Shots filmed in the heart of the crowd and in front of the stage give the film its energy. The shot of a volunteer from behind, facing the concert lights, sums up the message: being there, in the middle of the celebration, to look after others.
3. Following the teams on the ground
The camera then follows the volunteers on their mission: ambulances, quad bike, first aid posts and the coordination post. These candid images show a side of the event that the audience almost never sees.
4. Building a story in the edit
The edit alternates the intensity of the festival with moments of teamwork, in a cinematic format, before ending on the association's logo and motto.
The result
The project resulted in a film lasting 2 minutes 20 seconds: a portrait of both a major event and the volunteers who make it safer.
Why film during an event?
An event offers a setting, a crowd and an energy that are impossible to recreate on a conventional shoot. For a brand or an association, it is a chance to show its teams in action and come away with images that are both authentic and reusable throughout the year.