This shoot was in KONA BARIDI…. this place is in lay and language COLD AF!!
KONA BARIDI is a swahili word meaning a COLD CORNER.
WE went on reece with the team almost a week before the shoot date and the director pointed out a place with grass and bushes to be cleared before the date an gave us specifics of what to do.
Later a another team went and decided OTHERWISE and i wasn’t updated. Anyway, a day before the shoot i rock up on set with my 4 man team ready to clear the bush make a pathway bla blaaaa blaaaaa and after 4hours or so we were done and SET for the day!
Headed back to Nairobi and finished up the rest of the prep.
We had to get a Jeep convertible and i remember my assistant was to handle this. come 11pm at night the owner wanted a down payment on Mpesa before 5am or thy won’t deliver the car!!
So in the morning 4am we are at KONA BARIDI, wrapped up like a new born, wind blowing so hard it can knock you down and walaaaaa…. 1st the director goes like ohh Siteiya you prepped the wrong place….you should have seen my face! i chocked and almost dropped! and the space he had choosen was more bushier and dirty! i needed hand on deck ASAP, but we were too far from Nairobi to call my guys so everyone dropped there and started slashing!
2nd thing, ohhh as you clear there is the Jeep here do we can start some shoots with it!!! AGAIN! the Jeep guy cancelled and my assistant never informed me. OK the Jeep guy got a contact of one of the other ART directors he had worked with before and the Art Director simply told them not to give me the jeep! lets just say the person went ahead to jeopardise my Job so that they could get it! but anywaaaaay… i needed a solution and i needed one FAST!
Thanx to my friends on social media a guy saw i was looking for a Jeep on the day and as i stood there waiting for the producer to fire me, the only spot on the whole set that had phone connection, my phone rung! it was Lewis a Jeep owner who was willing to bring it for me all the way! SEE GOD OHH
Next the set was ready and we had started Shooting. so the Jeep was slotted for later on in the day. it was actually a CUTER VERSION of what i could have gotten!
I had a food stylist on set, seeing as its an oil commercial, before i could deal with all this i got back on set to find he had almost chopped his finger off while slicing onions (you will see that awesome shot), my heart broke 2o times over 🙁
After this nothing else could have stopped me from making this commercial breathtaking!
Toshy, this director has patience with me on another level, the producer really helped me with calls and making people on set help me with handy work! I’m just simply humbled and grateful.
I really don’t miss Kona Baridi as a location, i got a flu for days after this, i was tired as a donkey. Got home at 10pm to my lovely daughter and it was all worth it.
Anyway weeks later i see the billboards and Commercial and i’m like THANK YOU GOD for always having my BACK!
I really love this commercial
