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The Hibiscus Coast is the star of a video produced by YouTube sensation and Manly resident Logan Dodds, which will be launched next month.
Logan, 25, is a plumber by trade, but since the YouTube video of his travels in Europe went viral in October 2015 (with more than five million views), he has moved into professional photography and video work; his credits include a music video for Six60, campaigns with Air NZ and, most recently, the launch of the latest Go Pro.
He was commissioned by the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board in May to produce a video clip promoting this area as a tourist destination (HM June 1). Ratepayers funded the video, which cost $15,000.
For Logan, who has lived on the Coast since the age of two, it provided an opportunity to showcase an area that he loves, especially for outdoor activities.
The timing meant that filming had to be done mid-winter, while highlighting outdoor scenes at locations such as the beaches, Tiritiri Matangi Island and Orewa Estuary. Logan says this meant taking advantage of any fine day during two months of shooting.
As well as the challenge of making winter look like summer, Logan and his team put in some long hours – one six hour shoot at Orewa Estuary (during which Logan’s drone plummeted 40m from the sky, suffering severe damage) resulted in less than 20 seconds of footage.
Logan’s friends and family, including his mother and sister, were called upon as ‘extras’; Coast musicians, including Josh Grace of Arkles Bay, supplied music for the soundtrack.
The three-minute clip, 50 percent of which was filmed by drone, includes activities such as paddleboarding, surfing and hiking and Logan says he is “stoked” at how it came out.
ATEED external relations senior advisor Michael Goudie and some local board members are among only a handful of people to have so far been shown the video, which will be launched officially on November 30 at an event in Silverdale.
The video will be made available to tourism operators, schools and business organisations that can use it as promotional collateral as well as being promoted via social media by Logan.
