Challenge:
When Eurostar moved to St. Pancras they needed a film that showed how they were regenerating of parts of London, that would be shown at the opening of the new station. As well as Eurostar, there were two other major investors. Track One was the engineering firm who created the tunnels and created the whole infrastructure behind the track, and there was a development company who was behind the transformation of the station and the former Midland Grand Hotel. The problem was that three investors couldn’t agree on exactly what story the film should be telling.
Solution:
I was approached by a production company 6 weeks before the launch and the opening of the station and was briefed individually by the different investors. To sidestep their different agendas, I chose to focus on the story of human connection that all three businesses enable, and re-interpreted WH Auden’s poem ‘Nightmail’, as a way of capturing a relevant and contemporary vision of 21st Century travel.
The film was premiered in the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth II as well as the Prime Minister and dignitaries from across the world. Combining the romance of train travel from a bygone era with state-of-the-art technology and with a live performance from the London Philharmonic it was described as ‘the show-piece’ of the opening.
Director: Daryl Goodrich, Writer: David Harris, Production Company: New Moon
Launching Eurostar at St. Pancras
Uniting different agendas with a story of human connection