2019 Review: Our Top Film and Video Productions of the Year
What a wonderful year for all of us here at WhereNext. We produced documentaries and marketing campaigns for exciting new clients, ventured to even more wild and remote locations around the world, expanded our team in Bogota and the US, and transitioned into a global storytelling agency.
Celebrate with us the 2019 WhereNext review, featuring some of our favorite projects, experiences, and people from what’s been a pretty fantastic 12 months.
Let’s spin the globe!
Esteban Chaves: Behind the Smile
We’re a team of passionate cyclists here at WhereNext. Our storytelling agency was born out of an epic cycling trip taken by our founder Gregg Bleakney. So when SCOTT Sports approached us to bring the story of the Colombian cyclist, Esteban Chaves, to the screen, it was a dream collaboration.
Esteban is one of the top grand tour cyclists in the world, but after a series of injuries, he was questioning his cycling future. ‘Esteban Chaves: Behind the Smile’ follows him on a redemptive journey with his family through the mountains of his youth. Our team went on the road with Esteban and forged a firm friendship with him at the same time. The resulting film garnered over 100,000 YouTube views in less than a month and was given an Honorable Mention in the Sports Documentary of the Year category by the Fédération Internationale Cinéma Télévision Sportifs (FICTS) at the Milano International FICTS Fest in Italy.
Find out more about ‘Esteban Chaves: Behind the Smile’ here.
CAT Footwear: Mexico City, Valencia, Bogota, Oregon, & Detroit
Our partnership with CAT Footwear has been a clear standout experience of 2019. We filmed a series of experience-driven campaign videos in four countries, on three continents. From the beautiful story of perseverance of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast in Oregon to dynamic, urban shoots in Mexico City, Valencia and Bogota, the campaigns have been diverse and inspiring. We can’t wait to up our game with CAT in 2020.
Check out our blog for more about CAT Bogota and CAT Valencia.
Steller Ireland – Tom Skerritt
What could be better than exploring the bucolic vibes of Galway, Ireland? How about exploring them with legendary actor Tom Skerritt? This holy grail of an assignment was for Steller (named one of Apple’s Best Apps of 2019) and Tourism Ireland. Tom’s ancestors were from Galway, and joining him on this voyage of discovery to the heart of his heritage was a profoundly enjoyable and often moving experience. It was our first experience as a storytelling agency in Ireland, but hopefully, it won’t be the last.
Exploring the magic of Ireland with legendary actor Tom Skerritt
Discovery Channel: Bogota
Bogota is home to the WhereNext studios, and we love to highlight the best of our adopted hometown in our projects. So this chance to promote Bogota’s surprising biodiversity through its wetlands, rivers, and mountains was a dream come true. Working with the mayor’s office, ‘Bogota Vive Natural,’ and Discovery Latin America, we set out to record migratory birds, critically endangered fish, and the beautiful flora of the Eastern Hills of Bogota. In just one week, our agile camera crew and post-production team smashed this project out of the ballpark.
Awake Travel – Casanare & Montes de Maria
We love exploring Colombia, and this project with Awake Travel and USAID gave our team the chance to get out into some off-the-beaten-track regions of the country and promote ecotourism in former conflict zones. The Colombian wildlife safaris of Casanare allowed us to show off our capabilities filming wildlife, while the unexplored Montes de Maria region highlighted our team’s expedition-strength powers. As an agency that is passionate about experience-driven storytelling, we were delighted to tell the stories of these dedicated individuals who were promoting tourism while yearning to leave behind the violence of the past and write a new chapter.
Follow these links for behind the scenes looks at our experience filming in Casanare and the Montes de Maria for Awake Travel.
Dictador Art Masters 2nd Edition
Dictador Art Masters is easily one of the coolest projects we’ve worked on as a storytelling agency: how could building the world’s greatest graffiti museum in an abandoned rum distillery in the jungles of northern Colombia not be an incredible experience? This year we produced the 2nd Edition of Art Distilled, inviting the world’s most celebrated graffiti artists to bring the crumbling buildings and rusting pipes back to life in a shower of color and creativity.
Sharing such a unique space with such bright and innovative artists was genuinely unforgettable. We also grew DAM’s social media following by fifty thousand and created memorable campaigns to highlight the project, including an innovative series of street art GIFs.
REI Peru
Our team thrives in harsh conditions. After all, we’re an agency of climbers, cyclists, and global explorers. So the task of trekking for nine days through the Andes of Peru on assignment with REI was a dream come true for our Head of Video, Julian Manrique. His remarkable images of Machu Picchu, Ausangate, and the breathtaking Rainbow Mountain speak for themselves. That’s what sets us at WhereNext apart from other storytelling agencies: we’re proven on any terrain anywhere on the planet.
Trekking the high Andes of Peru is no easy task, but our Head of Video Julian made it look easy!
‘The Birders’ on tour
Our feature-length documentary ‘The Birders’ went from strength to strength this year as it was screened at bird fairs, film festivals, and other events around the world. It was even screened at the Colombian Embassy in Washington DC to a packed house by the ambassador himself. This film has touched the hearts of birders and non-birders alike, and we’ve loved seeing its journey since we set out to produce this global campaign for Colombia in 2017.
Our distribution campaign for ‘The Birders’ broke the Colombian Ministry’s record (and perhaps any tourism ministry’s record) for organic likes and comments (more than 30 million) and successfully positioned the country as the world’s top birding destination
Colombian Birds Go Big: How our global storytelling agency created The Birders campaign
Thanks to everyone who has been a part of this spectacular year. We have some dazzling projects in the pipeline for 2020. Keep an eye on this blog for the lowdown on our past and future work, and keep living the #WhereNextLife. We certainly will be!
Learn more about our global storytelling agency here.
Let the bad go. Follow the good. A hallucinogenic mushroom trip in India.