The brief and the project
Leaving The Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa is a financial thriller written by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede about his journey from setbacks to sucess. In 2002, Aigboje and his business partner, Herbert Wigwe, aquired Access Bank, then one of the smallest and most crisis-prone banks in Nigeria. Their ambition was to transform it into one of the country’s largest and strongest financial institutions. In his ‘Leaving The Tarmac’ book, Aigboje opens up about the challenges and triumphs the pair experienced along the way, offering valuable insight for anyone looking to build a business in the fast-growing, often volatile markets of modern Africa.
Originally planned as a traditional book launch, the event was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the event had to be reimagined and was turned into a global virtual event. The event was to contain performances, an interview with the author and book reviews from respected individuals in the industry. MELA Events, based in South Africa, were leading the project and approached DreamingFish to help provide filming support in the UK. Our role was to capture the UK-based content and ensure it could be seamlessly integrated into the wider virtual event.
The challenge
The challenge was to film an interview between Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede in London and author and interviewee, Uzodinma Iweala in New York; more than 3,500 miles apart. MELA Events asked us to coordinate the UK and US shoots, which needed to take place simultaneously in green-screen studios. The two speakers also needed to communicate with each other in real time, so the interview would feel natural and could run smoothly. In post-production, our team would then bring the two shots together, creating the illusion that they were sitting in the same room. How hard could it be? Oprah and Obama had done it!
The production
First, we sourced a production crew in New York. We then handled the pre-production from the UK, making sure both crews were perfectly aligned. We matched the set-ups as closely as possible, which included sourcing the same chair for both subjects and carefully mapping camera and lighting positions. Unlike our regular shoots, Zoom became our virtual production room. We used it to communicate with the New York crew and cross-reference every detail of the set-up. The MELA Events team also joined live from South Africa, allowing them to review and sign off the shots in real time.
In addition to the setup, we also needed to make the interview feel natural for our subjects. Much like in the Obama and Oprah reference, we connected them via earpieces so they could hear each other throughout the conversation. A laptop running a Zoom call allowed them to see each other too. We carefully positioned the screens to create the right eyeline. This meant that, once the footage was brought together in post-production, it would look as though they were sitting in the same room and speaking directly to each other. Check out the green screen build below:
Post production
This is where the magic happened. MELA Events had also sourced a crew in Nigeria to film an authentic location for the interview. The Nigerian team sent the footage to us, and we got to work bringing everything together. First, we keyed out both subjects from the green screen. We then composited them into the Nigerian location, carefully matching the shots to create a seamless environment. Finally, we added a considered grade and a few clever post-production techniques to bring everything together. The result? You’d never know the pair were more than 3,500 miles apart! You can watch the whole book launch video below. Enjoy!
