Behind the scenes of the ‘It pays to be with Your Move’ TV ad

Your Move’s Brand Manager Emma Tildesley takes us behind the cameras with the story of how we made our TV ad – ‘It pays to be with Your Move.’

We prayed it wouldn’t rain…

We spent most of early November on weather watch, desperately hoping for decent weather for the filming of our TV commercial. The crew were provisionally booked for 24th, 25th & 26th November in Derby. The week before, our weather watching told us that we’d be ok. It was going to be cold with a series of short showers but we were on; directors, assistant directors, cameramen, gaffas, actors, extras, a dog and a horse were all booked. Your Move’s first ever TV commercial was going to be shot at the end of November.

Day one

The call sheet for day one scheduled an early start with lots of set up to do. We would be shooting our estate agent coming out of the branch with a small number of people starting to follow her. We wanted to make sure the branch looked perfect. We met the cast and chose the main characters’ outfits and approved their hair and makeup. And importantly on day one we were introduced to Neela, the 3 year old fox red cocker spaniel, the dog to be featured in our TV ad. (I was disappointed that my 5 month old cocker spaniel was deemed too likely to misbehave to be cast in our ad. But, on reflection, that is definitely a good decision!.)

For the Your Move team on set it was really important that the commercial felt Your Move branded throughout, so we made sure our estate agent’s badge and folder looked prominent and the branding was clear.

We didn’t shoot the ad in the order you now see it. The first scene featured the newly married couple excitedly running from their photographs to follow the Your Move estate agent to the property. We were granted permission to film outside the cathedral in Derby which was perfectly placed just opposite the Your Move branch.  It was a cold day and the bride did exceptionally well performing a number of takes in a sleeveless wedding dress. She must have been freezing. After a few takes of varying angles the church scene was “in the can”. Next up – the estate agent coming out of the branch ready to go and meet her sellers.

All done quickly and, importantly, no rain.

Next up our builder jumping over the scaffolding keen to get in on the action and follow our estate agent. This is when, unfortunately, the rain did come so this scene was filmed in between a couple of downpours. By this point we were starting to lose light but we managed to get the scene filmed, along with another scene of potential buyers following our estate agent around the corner.

And we were done for the day one. Cold but delighted. We were on schedule.

Day two

On the morning of day two we filmed some scenes that you will only see in the 40 second version of the ad. Check out the website next week when we will be exclusively revealing this version of the commercial. It literally involves a bus load of people!

In the afternoon the whole crew moved to the park and filmed quite a few of the initial crowd scenes that afternoon. And it is in the park scenes that the magic started to happen.

How many people do you think it looks like we have in our ad? 500? 800? 1000?

We actually had only 150 extras who were filmed in different positions along the path in the park. These different scenes were then digitally mapped together to make it look like one seamless crowd of over 500 people. Pure trickery but the same technique that was used in Gladiator and Lord of the Rings, so we’re in good company!

Day three

On the final day another animal special guest joined the set – the horse, complete with rider. The horse joins the crowd in the park following the estate agent to the house for sale and you can see her in the final scene as well.

Our actor playing the seller also joined us on the final day, fortunately able to fit our TV ad in between pantomime rehearsals. We selected his wardrobe and off we went to the final location of the shoot – the seller’s house, which would be the final scenes of the ad.

Our location scouts searched the whole of the UK to find the perfect house. Being a nationwide company it was important that we could find a house that looked as if it could be in London, Deal & Hitchin or Newcastle, Bolton & Edinburgh.

We filmed lots of scenes with the estate agent walking up the drive with the crowd in different positions, once again allowing us to perform further crowd mapping. Positioning everyone took a little time as it was important to get the crowds lined up perfectly and avoid any gaps.

The final scene of the shoot involved our seller saying a few different lines as he opens the door to the Your Move estate agent, surprised but delighted that Your Move really comes with thousands of buyers! Again our 40 second version does feature one of these lines but I won’t spoil what he says. We think it’s quite funny and the director finds it hilarious every time he sees it…

Final scene’s done. Director’s happy. We’re happy. Everyone has got their coats on and ready for a hot cup of tea. And that as they say… is a wrap!