Despite a challenging year for businesses everywhere, the team at Aberdeen film company signal have announced their busiest six months in business.
signal has completed over 40 unique films for new and existing clients, with filming taking place across 3 continents and in and around the North-east, in conjunction with a number of local organisations.
Jamie Baikie, signal managing director, said despite the downturn in the early months of the pandemic, the team were able to keep the business going throughout the various lockdowns and are now reaping the benefits: “By January 2021, we started to see some enquiries returning and by March 2021 we were very busy. By the summer, the number of projects had increased to the point where we needed to hire a new member of staff.”
This year marks signal’s 10th year in business and, to mark the occasion, the company has lent its support to Aberdeen-based charitable fund, supPORT-all. The initiative is part of Aberdeen Harbour Board’s new £30,000 community support programme for charities and groups undertaking work local to the port.
supPORT-all benefits four organisations through financial donations, volunteer and resource commitments and a marketing support package, which includes complimentary marketing videos produced by signal.
“While the pandemic prevented us from holding any celebrations to mark our 10th
anniversary, we decided we wanted to celebrate in a more creative and kind-hearted way,” explained Jamie. “We are proud to be a part of supPORT-all in helping a number of good causes in our hometown of Aberdeen.”
Aside from its charitable endeavours, the signal team is pleased to report a number of high-profile projects undertaken in 2021.
One of its most significant projects included a commission by Shell to film a documentary about the Brent Charlie Platform. The Brent field, near Shetland, has been a cornerstone of the UK’s oil and gas industry since 1971. After 40 years of service, the Brent Charlie platform is now being decommissioned.
“We filmed multiple interviews with key team members, some of whom worked on Brent for their entire careers or formed the base of their career on it. “We were honoured to be a part of the project marking the last of the Brents”, said Jamie.
As September rolled round, the signal team had the privilege of producing a promo film for the True North Music Festival. The four-day Festival, which took place in the Granite City, featured one of the UK’s most talented musicians, Ayanna Witter-Johnson.
“It was such a pleasure to work with the extraordinarily talented musician Ayanna Witter-Johnson continued Jamie. “To film her performing her inspirational song Rise Up in some of Aberdeen’s most popular beauty spots was a real honour.”
To add to the diverse range of projects signal can add to its portfolio this year was a visit to the world’s first floating offshore windfarm. The flagship project, known as Hywind Scotland, is run by Equinor who commissioned signal to capture footage of the wind turbines.
Traveling by boat, signal’s intrepid film crew travelled 30km offshore to complete the project, “We had perfect weather conditions and managed to capture some amazing footage of these very clever floating structures, which are over 250metres high. We also sent up our drone which required some careful piloting to ensure a safe landing back on the vessel.
“Hywind’s six turbines have been producing since 2017, demonstrating the feasibility of floating wind farms that could be ten times larger,” said Jamie.
The signal team remain optimistic about what the future holds, “After such a challenging and unpredictable start to the year, we are delighted that the outlook is looking healthy for the remainder of 2021 and beyond,” said Jamie.
To watch the final film, Shell Brent Charlie End of an Era, click here: https://youtu.be/r0szeqVsk0Y
To see the promo film produced for the True North Music Festival, click here: https://www.facebook.com/TrueNorthFest/videos/379511487005374