Oliver Valves

Oliver Valves Video Project

This year, one of our major clients is Oliver Valves; their project has presented a unique set of challenges. A 40-year success story spanning multiple continents came to Blue Whale to freshen its online presence and marketing. The video production team was tasked with creating a video for Oliver Valves, Valvetek, Twinsafe, Research and Development, as well as an interview with Founding Chairman Dr. Michael Oliver OBE, and finally an opening view of Oliver Valves newly constructed buildings. The videos for each company sector sit in the banner on their new websites and showcase a creative and insightful look into what each company offers. Dr. Oliver’s interview is to sit on the leading site, introduce his businesses, and discuss the company’s future.

The Project

A project of this size naturally comes with pressures. We had three full days of on-site filming. Typically filming would have taken around a week, but due to COVID Production Protocols both observed by Blue Whale Media and Oliver Valves, we had to keep our time on site down to a minimum. To make this, both parties relied on key communication to ensure a smooth operation when it came to filming days. As well as multiple video meetings, email threads, and phone calls, Anthony went out to the Oliver Valves on numerous occasions both to inspect the site and sit down with key members of the Valves corporation to hone in on what the videos should achieve.

Pre-Production

Due to our time on site being reduced, Pre-Production needed to be ramped up and covered every inch so we could get straight to filming while on site. As part of production, Blue Whale Media’s Drone Pilot Lewis was on site on day one of filming to capture a bird’s eye view of the multiple sites and get a grand view of the freshly finished buildings. When drone footage was first proposed, Anthony went away to research the site. It turned out that Oliver Valves is in the path of Manchester Airports runway, which is restricted air space. So Anthony and Lewis had to apply to fly to the National Air Traffic Services to get around this. The paperwork included a detailed Flight Plan created by Lewis. Filming was granted, allowing us to capture drone footage on the first day of filming as long as we stayed below 60 meters. The next stage was to produce a shot list for each day of filming. The shot list was again to ensure we kept to a tight schedule and maximised our time on site.

Filming

On each filming day, we were met by a highly experienced member of staff who guided us around each department. They talked us through each process, and the experience and input from the Oliver staff members were vital to our success. Josh stuck closely to the staff member to take detailed notes on each operation while also taking photographs for Blue Whale marketing and some to be used across the Oliver brands. In addition, the production team was on-site for three full days, capturing hours of footage across seven sites and speaking to various staff members. The planning and communication before filming and the input of experienced staff resulted in a smooth operation.

Post-Production

We are now in post-production, reviewing all of the footage captured and will shortly be ready to edit. Each video will be around 45 seconds long and will serve as an overview for each Oliver brand. We will work closely with the team at Oliver to present the videos in the right tone and ultimately sell the Oliver brand and culture. Despite the challenging nature of this project, it has been an exciting and rewarding one to work on, and we are excited to work with Oliver Valves and its brands on future projects.