Armor in the Dark

One night around the turn of last month we gathered to film some long-anticipated low-key shots of the Armor Express Lighthawk XT tactical vest.  Our friend Declan was looking forward to wearing the gear, as expected.  He’s something of a weapons enthusiast and an all-around big guy, making him a perfect candidate to don the equipment. The following events of the night involved some quality camera gear, pyrotechnics, laughter, and grown men making action sound effects with their mouths. 

I also had some Ilford ASA 400 film on me, which I burnt through quickly with varying levels of success. 

  
   

For atmosphere, we purchased a half-dozen smoke emitters and a twenty minute-road flare. After having lit the area, we experimented for a while until we were satisfied with the levels of smoke in the foreground and background. The whole operation was pulled off with only four film lights:  two 1000W tungstens, for backlight and edgelight, and two fills.

  
  

The purpose of the project content for a series of Armor Express commercials. This will be combined with footage we’ve shot over the last few months including some other low-key studio footage we’ve filmed of AE’s individual vests. Because of the huge volume of usable footage from the night of filming Declan, as well as from the studio shoots, we can’t help ourselves but display the footage in some way. For your enjoyment, below is a montage of footage that we really liked which may or may not be able to be included in the finished AE commercials. Below this video is a collection of behind-the-scenes footage from the night. 

[Please use fullscreen]

  

Much more to come.

Matthew Bouwense

Editor

Eleven35