MJZ filmed on location in the US Virgin Islands for a new campaign for the American satellite service provider DirecTV. The spots feature US model Hannah Davis on a tropical beach, while her New Zealand-accented talking horse ruminates on his success.
The production team considered filming locations in Puerto Rico and also St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, but in the end settled on the island of St Thomas.
The team cleaned the sand on their beach and also added greenery and small palm trees as set dressing.
The US Virgin Islands are a tropical paradise with the added bonus of being part of the USA. Its four islands - St Croix, St John, St. Thomas and Water Island - offer a range of pristine locations. You can scout all of them within an hour by helicopter.
It has plenty of regular television work from names like NBC, Disney, CNN, Fox Sports and the Discovery Channel.
There is a small but good industry infrastructure and a Film Office which is keen to help, financially or otherwise, whenever it can.
Thankfully, the nicest-looking beach for our needs was smaller and we were granted permission to control it. We also had to control boat traffic, which was the second challenge. Then we had to deal with wind, wave-crashing sounds, sand flies and sporadic rain, but we knew to expect this when coming to an island.
Lindsay Myers, Producer
The US Virgin Islands have a sub-tropical climate with little seasonal variation in relation to temperatures
– normally around 25C. September and November are the wettest months of the year. Spring and summer (April to August) usually bring calmer oceans off the coast, meaning greater visibility underwater.
The islands are susceptible to the Atlantic hurricane season between the beginning of June and the end of November, although August and September tend to see the greater concentration of hurricanes and tropical storms.
