The American aircraft manufacturer Cirrus has selected Bol as the perfect backdrop for creating new high-quality marketing materials to promote its products. Paul Schmutzler, the lead producer of the in-house media team, introduces the company and shares insights from the set
„Cirrus is the recognized global leader in personal aviation and the manufacturer of the best- selling SR Series piston aircraft and the Vision Jet®, the world’s first single-engine Personal Jet™.
The Cirrus in-house media team is tasked with enabling the sales team with the highest quality media assets of our products and customers’ lifestyles. We accomplish this by creating marketing content that combines beautiful places, people, and planes. This year, we were asked to update our European marketing content from a shoot we executed in Switzerland back in 2021.
We knew we wanted a different look than the Alpine views we had in Gstaad, so we started looking high and low. After perusing options in Scotland, Spain, France, Switzerland, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Finland, England, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Italy, we settled on the little island of Brač in Croatia.
The planning took several months of coordination between our media team in Knoxville, Tennessee, and local production assistance in Croatia. We partnered with Film Rentals for large equipment to use on sets like lights, stands, generators, and DIT equipment. Croatian Creative Casting provided us with talent and on-set talent management services. Ivana Loncar and Andrea Bošković provided hair and makeup while Marcela Vrcek and Ira Rumora took care of wardrobe styling for all twelve talents.
The travel and arrival to Croatia were lengthy from the US, but it was all straightforward and manageable. We transited through Amsterdam and arrived at Split Airport to pick up our three rental vehicles for personnel and gear. Film Rentals sent a driver to Split to deliver our gear directly to us upon landing in Split. From there, we drove to the ferry port and boarded the ship to Supetar.
Arriving on Brač was surreal as this was our first time laying eyes on places we had only been seeing in photos and videos up to that point. The drive over the mountains to our home base in Bol was magnificent with stunning views of the Adriatic and the mountains on mainland Croatia. Once we arrived in Bol and started seeing the surrounding terrain and village, we knew we had made the right choice to capture a unique European destination to highlight for our customers.
During our stay in Bol, we spent two days scouting and prepping and four days shooting. The local businesses that allowed us to utilize their properties were wonderful and accommodating, and we made some good friends by spending time with them. The town administrator Kristian Bačić helped us secure permission to shoot in many places throughout the town, and we had no problems getting wherever we wanted to shoot in public spots.
After our days shooting in Bol, we repositioned to the Brač Airport and shot our talent with the aircraft for two days. The manager, Petra Bonačić-Sargo, helped us secure permission to utilize the terminal building and ramp space required for our cast and crew of around 30 people. The entire staff of the airport was incredibly helpful and allowed us to work uninhibited while maintaining a safe and secure environment. Bol-based restaurant Mali Raj provided us with on-set craft services during our airport days as well.
Overall, we successfully ended our shooting in Croatia and returned with about 5 terabytes of photo and video content. Over the coming weeks, we’ll organize the content and begin our post-production processes to utilize these assets later this year.
