The Coal Authority- Mining Clean Up
The Project
We were commissioned to follow three projects tackling water pollution caused by historical metal mining in the North Pennines.
Garrigill contained 60,000 tonnes of wastes, more than 1,400 tonnes of which were metals such as lead, cadmium and zinc. The Environmental Agency discovered 3 tonnes of this entered the river per year.
At Nenthead about 1 tonne of the same metals entered the river each year, caused by the erosion of the riverbank.
Carrshield suffered from the same problem, with several tonnes entering the river each year. However it was also at risk of a catastrophic collapse, meaning 100 tonnes would enter in one go.
We were asked to capture the clean up of these sites and to create a video highlighting what was done and why it was so important.
The Process
We used a variety of techniques and kit on these projects.
There were no quick fixes and the projects took 4 months in total to complete. We set up multiple time-lapse cameras in different areas of the sites, which allowed us to capture footage of the entire process and from a range of perspectives.
Drone filming also played a major part in setting the scene and showing off the beauty of the area being cleaned, both before and after. This also worked well to show the scale of the project, getting a view of the entire area affected.
Ground filming was also done using our Sony fs700 camera to give the great before and after transitions, presenting the change that happened over the months. We also used this whilst the work was on going to capture more detailed sequences, rather than just the time-lapse footage
We were put in contact with key people involved in the project so they could be interviewed and give us an overview of what was happening and most importantly why.
All of these techniques combined gave us a stunning set of final videos that do well to showcase the hard work of those involved and why the viewers should care.
If you need any help with video production, please get in touch.