As the spring season approaches and the sun begins to show face again, so to do the productions from far and wide! We’ve been reflecting on what has been a fantastic start to 2023, with productions of all kinds choosing to visit the borough for all their filming needs. Check out some highlights below!
Calvert Avenue Tempts Only the Most Stylish of Ads…
Smuggler London along with cat treats brand ‘Temptations’ headed down to Calvert Avenue in Shoreditch to film a commercial for their latest campaign ‘cats lose their cool’ featuring a rather stylish looking cat in a limo. As one of our most popular filming locations, with it’s charming boutique shops and attractive red brick buildings, filming at Calvert Avenue and it’s surrounding streets comes with it’s own careful measures to ensure both resident’s and business owners are minimally impacted. Smuggler worked with 2 of the shops along Calvert Avenue to use their facilities as well as a holding area for equipment and crew. Additionally, as a gesture of thanks to the area, the production gave a donation to the local resident’s association which helps both to give back to the community and provide opportunities for local people.
Check out the ad below and yes, that is a real cat!
Murals Galore in Mile End…
Last year, Samsung collaborated with local street artist Pure Evil at Mile End Skate Park to promote the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 by turning photos taken with its signature Flex Mode camera, capturing unique and exciting angles, into a huge, colourful piece of street art. You can take a look behind the scenes of the mural installation below!
BBC’s Black Ops Causes a Scene…
The BBC are back at it again with another delightfully comical series, ‘Black Ops’ which follows two under-qualified, undercover cops thrust into a criminal underworld. This chaotic comedy with high stakes, high risk and high panic follows Dom and Kay who joined the MET Police to clean up their community but find themselves thrust into a violent criminal underground resulting in a series of situations and escapes.
The production visited the borough on multiple occasions last year with shoots taking place at Patriot Square, The LEB Building and an involved shoot on Shirbutt Street that included traffic management to execute a raid scene that involved replica firearms. As with all filming that includes sensitive filming such as this, our main priority is for public safety and that minimal impact is caused to locals, which means liaising across multiple council departments, open communication with local residents and businesses through both letter dropping and face to face consultation, and working in collaboration with the MET Police Film Unit who are always on set for scenes of this kind of nature. With all of these systems in place the productions filmed across multiple days in the borough and we can’t wait to see what it looks like! You can stream all episode now on BBC iPlayer and catch the trailer below!
The Academic
Ever the versatile filming location, this time the LEB Ground Floor was transformed into a 90’s bookmakers for indie rock band The Academic’s latest music video for their single ‘Pushing Up Daisies’ where they filmed scenes including a band performance and staged robbery. The LEB is one of our most multi-faceted locations with the ability to morph into all manor of back-drops and locations through dressing and props and over the years has been in a huge variety of filming and photography projects.
Check out the music vid below!
Pets at Home Take a Walk in the Borough’s Most Loved Park…
Victoria Park made a feature in the latest ad campaign for Pets at Home with an involved shoot including wind and rain machines to create a thunderstorm walk in the park for an unlucky dog walker. Here at the Tower Hamlets Film Office, managed by The Film Office, we’re always thrilled to welcome all manner of productions into Victoria Park. Beth Elliott, the Film Officer on the job said, “As a hub of vibrancy in the borough and widely loved by locals, its fantastic to shine a light and show off what a filming friendly and versatile filming location Victoria Park is.”
Look out for Vicky Park in the ad below!
