The story behind an epic Christmas video

Is the #protectnorwich Christmas video one of the most festive films out there? Annika Redford, head of broadcast at Epic Studios, on how the company has managed to end this year on an epic note

The beginning of every year often is slower than the other months but, this year, as soon as Covid hit, we had to change our thinking, use Epic Broadcast facilities to its best potential, and offer the studios almost as a safe haven for productions companies to film with much smaller numbers under strict government guidelines. At this point events were at a standstill. We managed – with a local production company – to collaborate and bring in crew members to do 10 people’s jobs, build sets, and create an illusion that a big team had produced a full-blown set unit for a prime-time American TV channel. My partner Jamie knights would be in the studios for hours, filming with a director from London who directed remotely through a system where he could see his filming shots and speak to Jamie direct over a steaming system. Over the course of the month, it began to grow more popular to film this way and when more crew were able to join (legally) we were able to facilitate a later production unit to utilise our facilities. Epic Studios had already evolved rapidly after the merge of two companies in February 2019. From predominantly an event company, it’s developed a broadcast sector which brings in another aspect to the development of the studios entirely.

It’s Jamie’s experience which gets the blue-chip clientele. He has more than 34 years of experience and his friendship with our CEO, Jonathan Thursby, (from filming the World Rally years ago) is how/why we merged in 2019.

Lockdown 2.0 was when local film crew creatives realised they didn’t need to travel out of the area to hire equipment. We became the first port of call, which meant our CEO had to invest heavily to meet clients’ needs…but it paid off and it is still growing.

With the #protectnorwich Christmas video, Norwich City Council got in touch with us and we were in line with three other companies (in London and out of the area) to pitch for this project. I like to think we were chosen for our years of experience, but I think being the biggest facilities company in Norfolk probably had its pulling power. It is fantastic to be able to do things locally and building rapports with your local network. 

Most of the filming was filmed outside (in the cold, might I add) so it was easier to work around social distancing. However, for inside filming we stuck to strict government guidelines and we managed. Epic Studios is rather large, so we were able to isolate actors and crew members if needed. 

Also, all freelancers that were brought in were local, so it gave opportunities to the local creatives to get involved. We kept everything Norfolk, as it were. All the lights where placed and rigged – which took hours (as did the paperwork and organising, which was shared between myself, Liz Howard, head of events, and Elise Gedge.

The video has absolutely helped to showcase what Epic broadcasting can do. Our crew members have been in the industry for many years and if we could help put Norwich on the map over this festive period, we had the best crew and company to do exactly that! It is run by family and close friends, so it really is a wonderful team of creatives. What better way to show what we can do? As for 2021 – it is looking very fruitful indeed. 

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