This recent cover story for Total 911 started out as a straight forward report on the latest Porsche 991 Turbo S Exclusive Edition. The initial plan was to drive the car and report on it, probably somewhere in the North Wales area. Then we found out that a classic 930 Turbo 3.0 in the period gold shade was also potentially available. That’s when it got really interesting.
Editor Lee’s brief expanded from simply featuring the 991 Turbo S Exclusive when we discovered that the 930 Turbo was available. As soon as we found out that the cars were both respective shades of gold and that Phil at Tech 9 could supply the 930, Lee had his cover idea for the issue.
Two-car photo shoots require a corresponding increase in manpower, as drivers for both cars are needed, plus a driver for the camera car tracking shots. Sorting the logistics of the production can be like herding cats. The ingredients of cars, drivers, photographer’s availability, thinking up a location that works both photographically and also logistically, while keeping everyone safe, is something that can be time consuming.
Car photo shoots may appear to be exciting and glamorous events, though in fact, they can be far from that if you’re a spectator.
I’ve lost count of the number of times that someone has said, “Can we come along?”
I do my best to deter anyone, even a hardened car enthusiast and explain that the majority of the shoot will involve cleaning the car, then cleaning the car some more. Then positioning the car.
Then positioning the car some more.
Then turning the front wheels just a little more so that it’s exactly how the photographer wants it. Then positioning the lighting, setting the flash head power packs.
And in the UK, we have the randomness of the British weather to deal with too. So around thirty minutes in, most people are glancing at watches, checking phones, asking “How much longer? Where’s the nearest toilet” etc etc.
To their eternal credit, Howard of CHC and his technician were patient and happy to wait around as photographer Chris Wallbank set up the Elinchrom lights and we cleaned the cars after driving through heavy rain that was totally not part of the forecast. Several hours of shooting later, the static shots were all done and we were tracking up and down a lovely section of road for the car to car and panning shots.
I distinctly recall driving the 930 for those sequences, glancing across at Howard driving the vivid Gold 991 Turbo Exclusive, with the forest of pine trees as a back drop and thinking, “Yep, that’s going to look pretty cool”.
Sometimes you just know when the feature is going to work. This was one of those times.
Rare Turbos – Behind the Scenes with Total 911 from Winward Media on Vimeo.
The behind the scenes film was shot by my other half of Winward Media, DoP Adam Watson, using our trusty Sony A6300, with a few drone sequences added for good measure.
BTS films can be hard to pull off, as Chris cannot stop shooting the stills for the magazine, the prime reason for us being there. So the lightweight Sony makes a great, agile little camera for that type of work. We’ve written before about or preferred kit for road trip stories, Sony mirrorless cameras are our go-to cameras.
And if the music sounds familiar, you’ve probably seen Baby Driver….
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