Punters attending the newly opened All Blacks Experience at Auckland’s SkyCity are being treated to an All Blacks haka quite unlike anything seen before. Created by Augusto, the haka section of the Experience brings people face to face with the 2019 squad as they perform what was arguably the most impassioned haka in recent memory.
Filmed in 6k resolution and projected at 50 frames per second onto a curved 14-metre wide wall, the single, stationary shot places the audience in the room in the unique position of receiving the famed challenge. But creating an experience so true to life was more easily said than done.
“It was never going to be a straightforward shoot,” Augusto creative strategist, Oliver Sealy, “The All Blacks have a rule that the haka can’t be performed outside of a Test match environment which meant we would need to film in front of a packed stadium while also being broadcast live to the world. Basically, we had one shot at it and we had to be invisible.”
Having worked with the All Blacks and their major sponsors for more than a decade, Augusto is used to these types of challenges. So after multiple camera tests exploring combinations of camera type, lens choice and optimum distance from the players, the production team built a custom rig that was able to be set up and struck from the field in less than 30 seconds. Then, to add even more pressure it was decided they would shoot at Stadium Waikato in September 2019 ahead of the New Zealand v Tonga Test match – the last game before the team headed to Japan for the Rugby World Cup.
