Big Hole Lodge: Brand Film
Since 1984, Craig Fellin has been delivering world class fly fishing guide services to anglers from around the world. We teamed up with the owners Craig and his Son Wade Fellin to create a film that captured what it means to visit Montana's last best river.
Check out the case study below.
Summer Film
Big Hole Lodge: Case Study
Capturing the full beauty of a Montana fishing experience
Background
At Big Hole Lodge, guests quickly become family. While father-son team Craig and Wade Fellin can host up to 12 people at a time, “we prefer eight,” Wade says. “It’s better around the dinner table.”
During a week-long stay at the Fellins’ southwest Montana fly fishing retreat, experienced guides lead vacationers through daily fishing trips on the legendary Big Hole River and others in the area, and the group gathers each evening for a hearty, artisan-style dinner from the lodge’s chef of more than 15 years.
“I think everybody should spend a full week on the Big Hole River,” Wade says. “You see it at the dinner table on day five — they’ve finally relaxed.”
Opportunity
Today’s “work hard, play hard” generation can be hesitant to dedicate an entire week of vacation time to one laid-back lodge — especially if they don’t know what to expect, Wade says.
So when we met Wade and his dad in 2015, they were eager to hear about our authentic, emotional films that capture resorts, ranches and lodges. They saw video as a way to showcase the Big Hole Lodge experience and promote it to a broader clientele.
Process
When we visited Big Hole Lodge in July 2015, we set out to create an educational film that would leave viewers enchanted by the experience.
As part of our pre-production process, we’d spent time interviewing Craig on the phone leading up to the shoot, so our team already had a clear vision for the film when we arrived.
Craig and Wade don’t go easy on their guests — they spend the week making them better fly fisherman. Our goal was to highlight the gorgeous Big Hole Valley and show heart behind the Fellins’ work.
Wade has worked with other videographers in the past, and typically the crews disrupted life at the lodge, he says. But working with our team was a different experience.
“I think they were here three days, and it was almost like they weren’t here,” he says. “We were able to go about our daily operation and attend to the clients, and they were just there with us.”
For this shoot, we used a drone to capture aerial footage of the Big Hole River, and we went out on several guide trips with lodge guests. And the day the group fished the Beaverhead River, we captured the excitement as one of the guests hooked a fish.
When we sat down for interviews with the Fellins, Wade says he felt more like he was having a conversation.
“Once they turned the camera on, they sat down, folded their hands and listened all the way through,” Wade says. He didn’t need to perform for the camera or speak to a script, he says; he felt like he was talking to a friend.
Results
Wade has enjoyed sharing the final video with his social media audience, and he hopes it will continue to draw newcomers to the lodge in the same way that the film “A River Runs Through It” did in the ‘90s.
The video captures Montana’s unique environment and the beauty of the Big Hole River in a new way, he says. In online comments on the video, Wade says, “some people said, ‘Wow, it’s really hard to explain even to our friends and family what Big Hole Lodge is like when we get home — but this video got it.’”
Wade says he and his dad plan to continue working with our team to build their identity through film — and we’re looking forward to more fishing trips out at Big Hole Lodge.
“They’ve become friends that we have out to fish with us,” Wade says of our crew. “They’re the type of people you just want to work with.”
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