Stitch & Pampers Celebrate #Everybaby Across the UK in Real-time

In a royal feat against time, Pampers have commissioned a delightful new campaign to focus on all babies born on the same day as the newest arrival to the British Royal Family, Princess Charlotte. 

Phil Currie of Stitch was on hand for Award-winning Director, Elizabeth Stopford, to pull together the rushes of film as new life hit the Queen’s Hospital, Romford and the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, Fulham.

The film, produced by Bare Films and edited by Stitch, is part of a large print, digital and online campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi for Procter & Gamble (Pampers). As the nation celebrated one special birth on 2nd May 2015, Pampers gives us an insight into a number of other new-borns who they feel are just as exceptional. 

Due to the unpredictable nature of the timing of the Royal Birth, a huge amount of thought and planning went in to capturing the deliveries of the children born on the same day as Princess Charlotte. In addition to situational logistics, the film had to be ready to air on television and online a mere 36 hours from the point it started shooting.

Phil Currie, Editor at Stitch, comments, “It was such a quick turn-around from receiving the rushes to sending the film to the client  . We’d been on call for the past four weeks in case Kate went into labour. It was imperative we were prepared as there could be a number of different outcomes and situations on the day. Credit to Bare Films, as despite the huge risks involved, they had coordinated and organised for everything, meaning that the process ran incredibly smoothly - and we were all relieved that there were enough willing mothers giving birth at the two hospitals which we were posted at on the day!”

Phil was stationed at The Queen’s Hospital, Romford with one assistant and a DIT, whilst another two assistants worked from the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, Fulham. Two-woman camera crews from Bare moved between both hospitals, with another crew at St Marys to get footage of the crowd awaiting the Royal Baby.

“We received the rushes straight from the hospitals after each birth was filmed but the challenge really came in choosing the right frames. As you might expect there are is an endless list of rules surrounding which parts of a birth can be shown in a commercial. Privacy is obviously key but what is often unbeknown to most is that the position of the baby is paramount. The baby must be being held in a way that it looks comfortable and unrestricted or it won’t go on air. But of course, just after delivery everything moves really fast and there were, at points, only single frames between what was suitable to go on air and what was not.”

With such a sensitive moment at hand the film required a very unique approach with the soon-to-be mothers. 

“Elizabeth was amazing, she has the ability to be at once emotionally engaged and entirely objective in her work.  Having just become a new mother herself she was able to relate to what these mums were going through on a very personal level, make the families feel at ease, remain calm - and in the midst of the chaos - capture those genuine moments and reactions we see in the film – which made it such a beautiful thing to edit, even under the time constraints.

“I’ve worked with Elizabeth on a number of occasions and it was excellent to have had the opportunity to work with her again on this project. We’re a great team and it felt like more of an experience than a job. I felt so close to the families by the end of the project. Everyone involved on this film felt that connection and did an amazing job of bringing these births to the screen and I think the end result is beautiful.”