Written by new-contact on Feb 29, 2012. Posted in On Location

Alberta films new tourism campaign on location with Circle Productions

Alberta in western Canada isn’t short on eye-catching natural vistas and many of these have been captured in a new tourism campaign. Circle Productions produced the new series of commercials compiling 16 separate spots that promote the province in both summer and winter.

Sean Thonson shot and directed the campaign, and made use of a series of different filmic techniques to capture Alberta’s cities and natural landscapes at their most dramatic. Weeks of planning went into the 15-day shoot, with local crew adding their input to suggest the best places to film.

Creating a balance by shooting each vista while combining specific personal moments was my fundamental approach.

Sean Thonson, Camera/Director

Phil Copithorne is Group Creative Director at Karo Agency: “Both Sean and Circle Productions have shot a lot of films in Alberta for many clients and are familiar with the landscape and the experiences we needed to portray. Sean was a natural choice and he really understood our desire to capture this great, epic place called Alberta through the tiniest moments in time; the ‘goose bump’ moments that come from being in a near-perfect experience.”

Thonson comments: “Creating a balance by shooting each vista while combining specific personal moments was my fundamental approach. Promoting the magnificent Alberta landscape essentially as the product was an added bonus.”

While the campaign is primarily aimed at boosting tourism, there’s clearly a lot to appeal to filmmakers as well. Ontario has the lion’s share of filming production in Canada as a whole, but Alberta is particularly popular for commercial projects. Suzuki, Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz (the latter coincidentally also working with Thonson) are among the brands to have used the province’s frozen lakes over the past year.

Credits:
Client: Travel Alberta, Canada
Agency: Karo Group, Calgary
Agency Producer: Richard Cairns
Production Company: Circle Productions, Vancouver
Executive Producer: Chris Bowell
Producer: Rita LeRoux
Director of Photography/Cameraman/Director: Sean Thonson (Supply & Demand Integrated)