‘Andalucia: A Sensory Adventure’ – Cycling in Spain With H&I Adventures

WhereNext + H&I Adventures: a two-wheeled Spanish production partnership

One of our considerable strengths as a Spanish production company is our ability to deliver optimum results, no matter the physical and mental challenges involved in a shoot. A production in Andalucía with H&I Adventures provided a superb opportunity to prove our mettle.

H&I offer something beyond the standard cycling tour: their trips combine cultural immersion, gastronomy, and intimate experiences with genuinely challenging cycling. They grade their adventures from Novice + to Advanced +, but even people signing up for a ‘Novice’ tour are recommended to have at least one year’s off-road mountain biking experience. People on an H&I tour will taste new foods, meet new people, and immerse themselves in new cultures. But above it all, they’ll ride. Hard.

This isn’t a trip for the faint-hearted: our videographers had to be at the top of their game to shoot in this challenging terrain, all while cycling these dramatic routes

H&I Adventures’ Andalucia tour offers a vibrant mix of hardcore cycling, local culture, and gastronomy in one of Spain’s most off-the-beaten-track regions

The H&I Andalucia Tour is classed as ‘Advanced.’ Participants are required to be confident handling almost all types of riding and terrain, with excellent bike handling skills and considerable experience. They should cycle at least three times a week and rarely need to get off the bike and walk any sections. This is an eight-day tour for cyclists operating at an extremely high level. Just riding these routes would be a significant challenge for most cyclists. Now imagine riding and filming at the same time. That was the task set for WhereNext.

Since the routes involved in this tour are practically inaccessible for other vehicles, we were unable to use a van for the shoot. Our videographers had to ride the same route as the tour participants and shoot the whole thing at the same time. Luckily, we are an agency of adventurers, cyclists, and never-say-die thrill-seekers. We relished the challenge.

The extreme nature of the route and the time-limits added an extra spice to the shoot. We couldn’t ask the riders to repeat individual sections to get a better shot or delay the day’s cycling for filming purposes. There was a lot of road to cover and only a week to cover it. Miss the crucial shot, and there was no going back for ‘Take 2.’ Thanks to our extensive experience shooting cycling videos in Spain and across the globe, it was a condition that we were thoroughly familiar with, and a welcome challenge for our eager, road-tested team.

Our Head of Video Julian Manrique describes ‘H&I Andalucía’ as one of the most physically and mentally challenging shoots he’s ever been involved in. To put that statement into context, Julian is a seasoned high-altitude cyclist who’s used to daily climbs along the 8-12,000 ft routes that abound in the vicinity of his home in Bogota, Colombia. He had to be constantly ready for action shots, landscapes, and reaction shots, all while riding the same Tour de France-caliber routes as the other cyclists.

Julian’s knack for working under duress while maintaining a broad grin on his face makes our Spanish production company stand out from the rest. For eight days, Julian powered his bike through the wild mountains of Andalucía, filming as he went, getting up and dusting himself off from a couple of nasty spills, and capturing quality content for our client. And although he got to enjoy a few glasses of quality red wine to soften the (literal) blows, he had to be on top of his game 24/7 during that time. There was no let-up, physically or mentally. Julian brought peerless talent, persistence, and joy to the job, every day, and crafted a gem.

All challenges aside, the final video we delivered for our clients bears all the hallmarks of our Spanish production company’s work: gorgeous photography, poetic storytelling, and a little touch of magic

The resulting video - “Andalucia: A Sensory Adventure” – beautifully depicts the magical and bucolic energy of rural southern Spain and the gastronomic delights that are hallmarks of an H&I Adventures’ experience. The goal was to show the truly immersive nature of epic rides on expert routes and paint the finer details to showcase the uniqueness of their product. We seduced the viewer into the enchantment of Andalucia. The addition of the poetic, bilingual voiceover with the sultry, lingering panoramas of the Andalucian countryside being traversed by cyclists is the icing on the cake.

“Andalucía: A Sensory Adventure” distills all that makes our Spanish production company special: superlative field skills in challenging environments, coupled with world-class post-production and editing chops. The video is not just a hymn to the delights of cycling in southern Spain; it’s also a testament to our team’s determination, talent, and ability to produce breathtaking content, whatever the circumstance. That’s the WhereNext spirit in a nutshell: it’s what you get when you work with us as a Spanish production company.

A full day of hard cycling through the Andalucian mountains followed by a few glasses of local red wine. That’s the spirit of H&I Adventures and WhereNext: lots of hard work mixed with play.

Learn more about our Spanish film production company here.

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