Marshall Street Editors Support VCCP’s Epic Rugby World Cup Film for O2

Mobile phone network O2 rallies the support of the English nation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, with new film directed by Sam Brown at Rogue Films for agency VCCP.

Marking 24 years of shirt sponsorship, the one and a half minute storyline for O2 ‘Be their armour’ takes inspiration from the Samurai warrior culture and encourages England supporters to #weartherose to protect their team.

The village and horseback scenes were shot over 4 days on location in Prague. The material (seven hours in total) was sent back to MSE.TV in London at the end of each day allowing the editing team to create a timely first cut to assist an additional green screen shoot in Bristol with the England players (Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Jonny May, Ben Youngs, Courtney Lawes and Elliot Daly) for their face and body close-ups.

MSE.TV edited the campaign cut downs (60 seconds and 30 seconds) and also worked across a 10 day period to create the O2 social media activity (15 second, 10 second and 6 second edits for YouTube, Instagram and Facebook) using footage from a separate shoot, ready for live interaction with the match.

Tim Thornton-Allan, Editor, MSE.TV, comments: “It was one of those films where everything comes together; good script, well executed, beautifully shot and art directed. Editing is so much fun when you have great rushes, it enables you to try different ways of telling the story. I love cutting for Sam. He is a great collaborator, smart, conscientious and focused ”.

Sam Brown, Director, Rogue Films comments: “This job for O2 was a surprisingly tricky story to tell. Tim was amazing at building a mystery and intrigue at the beginning of the film that makes the viewer want to know more. There’s a kind of misdirect: you think the characters are bad guys intent on doing damage, but turn out to be heroes".