Visit Victoria

Monster & Bear had been working with Visit Victoria for over two years to develop their “Stay Close. Go Further” brand video campaign – something that unfortunately pesky Covid kept at a stand-still. Despite the delays, we were thrilled to be creating the three-part marketing brand campaign; taking viewers on a journey through Victoria’s beautiful landscapes to promote tourism throughout the state following the lifting of Covid restrictions which at the time, was in sight. Cut to almost a year later before video production could actually begin – in the window between two lockdowns no less!

When Visit Victoria first approached Monster & Bear, our creative team knew exactly what they needed – a content agency and creative partner that could deliver high quality narrative pieces, through the lens of the state’s natural landscapes, whilst driving the story through the people of Victoria. But not in the run-of-the-mill, expected way. Visit Victoria wanted to do something different, bringing a little magic to what could’ve easily been a cookie-cut, copy and paste, tourism advertisement. Victorians needed to be inspired after a particularly uninspiring two years.

Our Creative Director Sarah Hickey crafted the brand stories and creative approach, setting the scene for our talented team to follow through, with Josh Mitchell-Frey (Cinematographer) and Julian Lucas (Director) at the helm bringing the visual brand content to life. Across a whopping 162 unique locations, over a combined 12 weeks of filming throughout the three regions, our team captured morning sunrises, crashing oceans, and vibrant landscapes, putting the beauty of Victoria on full display.

“The real challenge was making sure we did this the right way – shooting that many locations, where a lot of them fell under different jurisdictions, we had to make sure we were getting all the permits from the all correct people and places – there was a lot of juggling, and even more when we would have to reschedule!”

– Josh Mitchell-Frey, Cinematographer

The films delve into more than just the stunning land that makes up Victoria, further expanding to the creatures, landmarks, and unique characters that make up the spirit of each region. The stories interweave both people and land, coming to a crescendo where the two intersect, before settling into another reminder of the breathtaking natural architecture, and nailing the concept 

“Stay Close. Go Further” message from Visit Victoria (if we may say so ourselves.)

“There’s so much more to the Great Ocean Road than I expected…it’s mesmerising…from mountains and oceans to the waterfalls and forests…it was just beautiful – and we really got to show that off. When you think of the Great Ocean Road, you think of the beaches, and the Twelve Apostles, but it really is so much more.”

– Maria A. Perdomo, Producer

Monster & Bear collaborated with many local talents, including Lowell Hunter, an indigenous artist who creates the stunning sand art featured in the lead Great Ocean Road video.

During production, the crew participated in a Welcome to Country ceremony, acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which was filmed, and paying their respects to Elders past and present, guided by Uncle Rob Lowe. We were also privileged to be able to record a second Welcome to Country ceremony to share in the brand films – no easy feat when you only have one take, you’re juggling the elements, the quickly setting sun, and Covid-safe practices all at once!

What typically would be a straight forward video shoot, became progressively trickier as Monster & Bear also had to navigate challenging COVID-19 restrictions. This included having to reschedule the shoot several times due to lockdowns and restrictions. Despite these obstacles, we hurdled through and delivered the marketing videos at our consistent high quality standards, much to our clients delight.

“We ended up having to change things around and reschedule the shoots about six or seven times just because of lockdowns and restrictions happening at the last minute – it was hectic but we got there in the end”

– Maria A. Perdomo, Producer.

After a long lockdown, and filled with optimism around the lifting restrictions, we began pre-production in early April 2021 for all three feature locations of interest in the series of brand videos. Production for “Great Ocean Road” ran over the course of 3 weeks, and with a little stop-starting and a lot of patience, our production crew successfully produced and delivered “Stay Close. Go Further – Great Ocean Road,” as well as three separate talent profiles “The Makers,” which featured Great Ocean Road locals by early March 2022.

Great Ocean Road showcases Melbourne content agency Monster & Bear’s dedication for delivering the full creative package in any situation – from pre-production to post production – creating marketing content from story development and treatment, production shoot days, to editing, sound design and colour grading, bringing your brand films alive. No matter what “uncertain” or “unprecedented” event comes our way, we’ll be there for the ride.