With the London Olympics less than 400 days away, unsurprisingly British sport is receiving lots of attention in the press. Sport is a hot topic, and we are seeing a great deal of time and effort going into developing podium potential athletes in the build up to the Olympics, as well as identifying new talent into sport.

A recent Kite Film project took us to Buckinghamshire, to Bisham Abbey and the LTA International High Performance Centre, one of only four in the country. Sponsored by The LTA, Prince and Sports England it provides a perfect tennis and academic centre of excellence for children from the ages of 11 – 18.

In June 2011 Kite Films was asked to film the academy for a shorts 3 minute web based presentation, as well as a TV ready piece to promote interest in the development of young British tennis stars of the future. Working closely with Mike Walker – Head of Win Academies we were able to get close to the players in training, and match preparation. This allowed us to capture more of the up close action and demonstrate the attitude and work ethic of the players.

The film was shot over 2 days, and by using Canon’s 5 and 7D with 11,35, 50, and 70-200mm lenses we were able to make the most of the depth of field and light available to us.

We decided to use the pole cam during the outside clay court training session, which gave us more of a high production value in a number of aerial shots.

Editing took the best part of 2 days in the editing suite in Wokingham, and with use of the Mac, and Final Cut Pro we created a 3 minute film that was presented to Win Tennis as well as a number of Television Production companies the following day.

We would like to thank Mike Walker and his team of professional coaches and support staff, Andrew MacKenzie-James and his team of educational staff, Mark Cox MBE – Academy Mentor as well as all the young players for their effort, support and patience during filming. We wish you the very best in your tennis careers.