Stories from the Set: White Peak Distillery

[Above: BTS photo from the original Shining Cliff Gin sample film, Summer 2020. Credit: Ian Cudmore at I C Things Photography]

This time last year, my team and I were working on a social media suite for White Peak Distillery. While I often like to share behind-the-scenes stories from Triskelle Pictures’ client shoots, what was particularly unusual about this collaboration was everything that happened before the filming day. White Peak Distillery was very much a dream client for me, as I'd been fan-girling over them for a while – but our collaboration came about partly because of the pandemic, and partly because of my short fantasy film, Songbird. 

  In the winter of 2017, having just completed work on Songbird, I was in a local country pub (at an early Growing Shadows costume meeting) when I spotted something called ‘Shining Cliff Gin' for sale. As Shining Cliff Woods was perhaps the most important location in Songbird, it inspired me to order a glass. (Gin fans, if you’re curious: yes, it was very good!) 

[Above: most of Songbird's marketing featured Shining Cliff Woods and The Betty Kenny tree, as it used to look. Photos by Ellie Victoria Gale, poster designed by Elly Lucas]

After a quick Google search, I discovered that Shining Cliff Gin was made by White Peak Distillery, based in Derbyshire, just as Triskelle Pictures is. The Shining Cliff name was used because their distillery is based on the outskirts of Shining Cliff Woods – at one of the best locations I've ever filmed in (you can book a tour here) – but also because they have a huge amount of love for their local area. Their cool branding features a strong use of The Betty Kenny tree, a legendary local landmark (sadly no longer with us) which is said to have inspired the nursery rhyme Rock-a-Bye Baby - and also one of the locations that featured prominently in Songbird's trailer and poster. All of this, coupled with my desire to work with more local businesses, instantly put White Peak Distillery to the top of my client wish-list.

Flash forward to late summer 2020, when the Covid pandemic was in full swing. As was the case for many businesses, my workload dried up, and I was searching for new ways to bring in work that I hadn't thought of before - partly because of financial worries, but also because I wanted to find ways to keep the creative muscles flexed and, just as importantly, get up and out of the house. The brilliant photographer Shelley Richmond, who I've worked with a few times, gave me some great advice. She recommended that I make some sample work to send to client I wanted to work with. While I don't usually support the idea of making videos for free, this specific 'sample video plan' was something I hadn't tried before, the sample videos would only be short and simple, and it'd be done in a time when I had more availability than usual - so I gave it a go. At that point, I had nothing to lose. I planned to shoot five little demo films for five potential clients (I ended up shooting four before my regular work came back), one of which was White Peak Distillery.

[Above: shooting the sample film for White Peak Distillery - and getting my creative mojo back in the process - in late summer 2020. Photo by Ian Cudmore of I C Things Photography]

For White Peak Distillery's sample film, I bought a bottle of their Shining Cliff Spiced Gin and shot a little social media video, which was kind of a 'how to make a cocktail with this gin' type film. I found a quiet area of woodland which looked so much like Shining Cliff, that I almost wished we'd filmed parts of Songbird there. I was also joined by Ian Cudmore, another fantastic photographer I frequently collaborate with, who got some BTS shots of me working as well as a few demo promo shots of the product - so that he could also keep his creative cogs turning during a quiet period. Ian and I both had an excuse to get our cameras out for the first time in months, and my God, it really did give me a boost in a period when my inspiration and energy levels were seriously low. (My Mum also paid me a visit during the shoot, before Ian arrived, and ended up doing some pouring action shots for me as a result!).

This is the video that was made that day:

I then shared this video with White Peak Distillery, and while it wasn't quite right for them to use (my knowledge of how to mix drinks is seriously limited compared to theirs - they are cocktail mixing masters!), it did give us the opportunity to start up a conversation. We sent messages back and forth over a few months, whenever our schedules allowed, sharing a few different ideas around. Eventually, in the summer of 2021, we had a meeting and decided to work together - using my original sample film as an inspiration!

Because White Peak Distillery have a range of products available, we decided to make a suite of social films, making one film for every product they offered (depending on how many we had time to shoot), all done in a similar style to the little film I made in the summer of 2020. As a result, when we made the new video to promote their Spiced Gin, it was pretty much a case of recreating my sample film, but shooting it at the White Peak Distillery premises - with the actual Shining Cliff Woods in the background - and using their branded glassware and correct mixers. So that was a unique but fantastic experience!

We made six social films in total, but all the footage was shot in one single day, using different parts of White Peak Distillery's stunning location. That's the type of filming schedule I often recommend to clients, because it means you can be cost-effective, capturing enough footage for multiple videos - even if these are edited and released months later - without having to pay for additional filming days.

[Above: a few phone snaps from our ace filming day at White Peak Distillery HQ, mostly taken by their marketing manager, Rosie Ferrer]

The shoot day itself happened in late Autumn 2021, and we had the fun task of using set dressing to make every video look different, even if we were shooting multiple videos in a single room at times. I'd featured a strong use of set dressing in the 2020 sample film as well, so it felt as though my old production design skills were coming into play again (even if that's an area of the industry I've moved away from lately). It made for a particularly creative shoot!

Also, because the effects of the pandemic were starting to ease off slightly, I was able to have a larger team around me this time, and not shoot the footage myself; I was joined by White Peak Distillery's lovely marketing manager, Rosie, who supplied some of the set dressing and also mixed and poured the drinks, aided by one of White Peak's legendary founders, Max Vaughan (co-founder Claire Vaughan also had a cameo in one of the videos!); behind the camera was Will J. Carman, who DOPs a few of Triskelle Pictures' cinematic commercials, and boy did he bring a fantastic range of kit with him too, helping to add extra visual interest and atmosphere to all of the videos we shot that day.

And just to bring things full circle, while we were filming footage for three of the videos in the exterior of White Peak Distillery - which, as I've mentioned, sits on the outskirts of Shining Cliff Woods - I couldn't resist getting a shot which homaged Songbird (see below). After all, if it weren't for my beloved little fantasy film, I may have never ordered that drink and discovered White Peak Distillery in the first place!

[Screengrabs from Songbird - above top, DOP Christopher Newman - and the White Peak Distillery Shining Cliff Spiced Gin promo film - above bottom, DOP Will J. Carman - captured in pretty much the same location, five years apart]

The first White Peak Distillery social video was released in November 2021 - advertising the Christmas gift options they have available (we had to do some wonderfully festive set-dressing for that film!) - and then the next five video releases were spread out over the following months, with the final social film being released in the spring of this year. So I had finally worked with one of my dream clients, after over a year of perseverance and 'thinking outside of the box' development, with not one but six gorgeous little videos to show for it - all of which can be seen on White Peak Distillery's YouTube channel and social media pages.

It remains one of my favourite jobs to date, in no small part down to the story behind the collaboration. I hope to have another chance to create films for White Peak Distillery in the future, and as I look forward to 2023, I certainly want to make it my mission to work with more similarly fantastic Derbyshire businesses next year.

Sophie