It’s been a long time in the making, but after years of hard graft and almost 4 million cups of tea Cabot Circus has finally arrived in Bristol. Named after John Cabot, the luxurious shopping district is a huge development for the city and has already brought employment, money and well-deserved attention to an otherwise redundant part of town. Some of the features of Cabot Circus are:
- 13,500 tonnes of steel frame
- 18 miles of scaffolding
- 1 million Bricks
- 2700 panes of glass
- 30 trees planted
Digital Visitor had the honour of documenting the many stages of the project from the initial planning to its opening debut it September 2008 and with exclusive involvement and a whole host of cameras filming the entire performance, Digital Visitor has truly captured the very best of the Cabot Circus experience.
After gaining planning permission in December 2003 work began on Cabot Circus in September 2005, after which Broadmead was awash with scaffolding and building equipment, and with 120 shops and 200 luxury apartments to build, Bristol has been a haze of contractors for the last 3 years. Throughout this time it has been difficult to visualise the transformation about to take place, but with our lenses capturing every last inch of the action it is clear to see how much effort has been injected into the project and just how quickly the shopping district has come together. In a bid to involve members of the public in the early stages of development, the Cabot Circus team organised an open day whereby visitors could come down to see the build and gain insight into the proposed plans. Named ‘Cabot Circus Public Days’ this is the first of three promotional videos that Digital Visitor have arranged for Cabot Circus on behalf of Bristol Alliance. Having captured the excitement and inspiration expressed by the open-day visitors, this film goes a long way into dispelling the myth that Cabot Circus hasn’t been popular amongst local residents. It also serves as an expose, providing glimpses of the expanding building site and encouraging excitement and curiosity amongst those who’ve watched it.
The arrival of Cabot Circus has been long and eagerly anticipated, especially for those actually involved in its progress. The second video made for Bristol Alliance is a testament to the workers and to the many landmark stages that have registered the arrival of Cabot Circus to Bristol. Filmed over a period of three years, this video captures everything from the first tower block to be created to the final touches made by the Cabot Circus development team. Some of the key phases featured in this film are:
- The circus performers coming to town
- The Topping out ceremony
- The building and completion of the glass dome
- The maiden balloon flight – Cameron Balloons
- Public open day
- The Cantata Performance
The completion of the focal ‘Glass House’ is probably the most significant benchmark to be filmed and Digital Visitor are very lucky to have witnessed this along with so many other crucial milestones in the shopping district transformation. By employing the use of time lapse photography, the video shows the coming-together of the entire building arena, signifying the evolution of the construction project and providing evidence of the sheer enormity of the facility.
The use of creative direction (James Sykes) and animation (Melvyn Ternan) in the video brings with it a sense of humour but furthermore, sophistication and professionalism to an already informative and visually rich piece of promotional media.
The third and final video is a 90 second piece that Bristol Alliance can use as a promotional tool on their website. This will also be used by the Cabot Circus contractors, potentially as a pitching device when in talks about other building projects. This video will contain a lot of the same material as the second video as the second video comprises of such rich and visually stimulating footage.