THE COMPANY:
McGregor Coxall is an internationally renowned, multi-disciplinary design studio specialising in Biourbanism, Environment, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design. The studio is dedicated to crafting resilient cities and environments that contribute to a sustainable and prosperous future.
THE PROJECT:
The MCGC Video Profile Showcase is a mini-documentary series I was developing while working for the company from 2021 to 2024. It highlights notable projects and causes the company supports, while showcasing talented individuals and their achievements. The series emphasises the company's people and culture, serving as marketing material to attract new talent by offering a human-centric perspective.
Welcome to Grampians National Park. This stunning environment, rich in natural beauty, is one of Victoria’s most ecologically diverse regions. It fosters unique microclimates that support various vegetation communities and provide habitats for a wide range of insects, mammals, and birds. The project delivers essential infrastructure, allowing hikers to experience the entire park—from north to south—on a consolidated 12-day hike. The campsites were designed with hikers in mind, offering spaces to rest and recover from the physical demands of the journey.
CHALLENGES:
Working under tight time and budget constraints, my small team of three flew in from Studio Sydney with a strict itinerary. We hiked the trails for two days, giving us only one chance to effectively capture the location, project, and interviews needed for production. My primary roles included videography, audio capture, video editing, and pack mule as we trekked the long trails and steep inclines to reach our shooting locations. The abundance of life around us, while beautiful, made capturing clean audio nearly impossible. However, with some post-production magic, I managed to isolate and remove certain frequencies, greatly improving clarity, albeit at the expense of some depth.
Welcome to Manly Beach, home to McGregor Coxall's flagship Sydney studio. This project aimed to showcase the studio's stunning location and highlight its vibrant office culture while profiling coastal and environmental engineer Joao Castro. The focus was on his involvement in Operation Crayweed, an initiative to restore Sydney’s once-thriving crayweed population and revive coastal biodiversity.
CHALLENGES:
Outside from working in paradise our only major challenge was managing the often large, noisy crowds while filming B-Roll and capturing audio for the interview portion of the production.
Welcome to Bentleigh's Eat Street located in Victoria, Australia. The company's role was to transform this once overlooked public space into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly area. My role was to create a light, energetic 60-90 second video showcasing the project's key features while emphasising the human element through the space in use.
CHALLENGES:
Flying in from Sydney, we worked under a strict itinerary, leaving me less than an hour on-site to capture the location with no chance for a re-visit or prior planning. When our lead designer and interviewee pulled out last minute, quick thinking was needed to adjust the content and salvage the opportunity, leading to a shift in the series format.
Welcome to Dharawal Country, located in the Royal National Park of NSW, Australia. In this profile, we highlight Nathan Galuzzo, one of the company’s promising young landscape architects, and his achievements in winning the Hassell Travelling Scholarship for his thesis, “Drawing Landscape Narratives.” This exciting initiative aims to bridge the gap between rich Indigenous knowledge of the environment and its application in modern projects.
CHALLENGES:
As my first project in the video series, the end goal had not yet been established. We faced challenging weather conditions, including rain and overcast skies, which led to inconsistent lighting opportunities during the shoot. Despite these trials, I gained valuable on-the-job experience that laid the foundation for a more polished production and format in the future.
