Four hours airside
How we filmed Qatar Airways' 25th-anniversary commercial on an A380 between flights.
The aircraft had a four-hour window on the tarmac at Hamad International before it flew again. Eighty people, a full camera and lighting package, and every one of them had to clear airport security first.
Four hours, 80 crew, one aircraft.
We started from relationships. Ten years of shooting in Qatar meant we knew who to call at the airline and the airport, and that permits and visas could run alongside prep instead of after it.
On the day, everything was staged landside and moved through security in waves, timed so the first shots could roll the moment the crew reached the aircraft.
The film went out for the airline's 25th anniversary, on time and on budget.