This week’s post is about the experiences on the third day of filming on the streets of Paris.

What I read on the third page of the brief.

Filming : The Pledge

Naudic has always been the kind of presence that has valued the beauty of the spirit. And as such, with this new campaign the idea will be to create a visual journey that tries to encapsulate a feeling of love.

Bring into the fore a sensitive and authentic curated representation of love and what it means to each one of us….Written by Keyur

We had our early morning team huddle, in an inner-city office space which had antique whitewashed walls, high ceilings, plus those big glass door windows which fully open where you can lean out and feel suspended. This space had been rented out just for the day of shooting, via AirBnB. The views were chic and thoughts of having a creative workspace just like this flashed around in my mind. White antique furniture, fresh coffee as you arrive to work, a croissant of two, views of the neighbouring offices and the buzz of traffic below on the streets of Paris, yes I would definitely be creative and satisfied sitting for long lengths of time, inside these four walls.

The day begins, with steaming the outfits for the number of different scenes we will be shooting today. This is one of my favourite outfits, the Hilton linen cape in Rust, layered back with the Imperial top and Toffee skirt in Candice print moonbeam, an outfit I loved putting together for this scene, it’s for those days when you want to feel relaxed when you are running around, you can dress it up or down going to work or for those “go to” low maintenance travel pieces. These three pieces are so situation versatile. Since we will be on the move all day, we needed to neatly pack all outfits, shoes and accessories to be swiftly mobile, being organised to drive around to the variety of locations, oh this is going to be fun, I love the juggle.

In the office, all the team were there and discussions were going on; how to make this scene work on the Metro during normal commuter hours, then later, on the streets of Paris during lunchtime and afternoon activities. I enjoy the buzz of conversation so much, listening to ideas being thrown around, hearing all the languages bouncing off the walls is inspiring, then someone summaries the action plan in English and delivers the “how we are going to tackle this” plan, this is our internal communication strategy and it’s working. There was talk about how many of the crew could come on the train to shoot the scene, it was going to be a tight squeeze getting the equipment, crew, actors, hair and makeup into a metro carriage, but it all worked out, we didn’t lose anyone and anything. A few more cigarettes might have been smoked, but we did it.

This day was all about capturing two characters in everyday life activities, catching the metro, walking down the street, catching a taxi, meeting each other in a park, catching a glimpse of each other, on the metro platform, then the train pulling away from the station and they miss each other, disappear from view. Just as we eventually cross paths with people we are meant to meet, on the flip side, if we make a different choice, it can change the course of your life. I really enjoyed this day and took small time outs to be in the moment and soak it up.

Once above ground after tackling the metro scene, we regrouped and breathed a sign of relief. Now into the real street crowds. We took over a street corner, an alleyway and the steps of a church. The Naudic prints and fabrics, really came to life on the street, the colours popped, I can’t wait to see these on film and watch the fabrics and colours floating around, reds, yellows, hot pinks and white.

Mother Nature sent in an unplanned added bonus which made the final part of Day 3, wet and rainy, moments of romance on the streets could be captured. I have no idea if this will make the cut into the film but the colours against the sand stone buildings, grey and dark rain clouds looked incredible from where I was standing. Then the filtered light after the rain reflected colours into the puddles of water on the street. I had to sit down at ground level to be able to view the full spectrum, there were prisms of colour everywhere after the rain.

At the end of Day 3, around 10pm a food truck pulls into the curb to feed us dinner and it’s Indian food, so good to eat the hearty soul food of India. We are wet tired and hungry, still talking to each other, there is laughter, flow of conversation in multiple languages, crew getting out of wet clothes on the streets, props and equipment being packed away, and we got the itinerary done. We split into our home base groups and head off. This night the 3 of us walked home, enjoying the city scenery, found a tavern which had energy, took a seat, ordered cheese and drank wine and beers to chill out, if you can’t share the shenanigans of the day, whilst shoving runny cheese in your mouth, washed down with a good guzzle of french wine, having a laugh all at the same time, then what’s the point.

The Location

SHOT LOCATION 1 // SUBWAY
Métro Nation – Entry Avenue Dorian 75012 Line 6 // Nation à Boissière

SHOT LOCATION 2 // CAR
Métro Boissière à 10 rue des Pyramides 75001

SHOT LOCATION 3 // STREET CHASE
La Rotonde St Honoré - 10 rue des Pyramides 75001

SHOT LOCATION 4 // STREET - GIRL ALONE
2 Passage Saint-Roch 75001 PARIS

SHOT LOCATION 5 // STAIRS – AFTER PARTY
Eglise Saint Roch - 296 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001

SHOT LOCATION 6 // STREET – AFTER PARTY
296 Rue Saint-Honoré à Place de la Concorde

SHOT LOCATION 7 // SQUARE – AFTER PARTY
1, Place de la Concorde 75001 PARIS

What this day meant to me:

1. Trust that it’s always worth having a go, grab that shot, catch that train, take that turn, meet that person.

2. Inspired by creating a team and small gang that faces challenges head on and keeps going.

3. Having fun and creating memories with people who have a healthy mix of good times and work life balance.

4. Grateful for the best days ever in Paris, first with my sisters on our Kombi van tour, second trip pregnant and just finding out I was having Sophia, third trip making a Naudic film.

5. Reminder to keep dreaming, thinking big and climbing mountains with a full heart.

6. Charged and emotional about capturing it all, sharing and giving back some of the joy and good times.

Paris rewind

Happy Days in Paris with my sisters and we still talk about this trip as if it were yesterday, the memories and feelings are strong.