The Symphony of Paragon: a Case Study in Construction Documentary
Updated: Sep 4
Expanding on last week’s blog on the value of quality construction video content, this week we explore a project we are extremely proud of: our long-form documentary on the construction of The Paragon by IGO.
The Symphony of Paragon is a documentary Hyperjump Productions created for one of our clients, Invest Group Overseas (IGO), who are a well-known luxury real estate developer in Dubai. For IGO, we were enlisted to create a full-length, in-depth documentary covering the project from start to finish. What remains is a crowning achievement for Hyperjump that reflects a major milestone in IGO’s storied history.
The Brief
With The Paragon we were challenged to go above and beyond what would normally be expected from real estate video content. They didn’t simply want us to record step-by-step of how they built a building; they wanted to unravel the challenges the team had to solve and the ideology that this company had in tackling them. It was such an interesting way for a developer to showcase one of their buildings.
The Process
We as Hyperjump worked for three years on The Paragon, starting with the first breaking of the sand on day one. What followed would be the meticulous capturing of every stage of the production process. We were there to see the huge challenge of dewatering, which required specialized companies to work together to solve complex issues and get this beautiful tower prepped for building. From there, we followed the entire construction, culminating in their installation of a showstopper façade at the very top of the tower.
It was an incredible journey, and through the process of creating a documentary, we learned so much about the huge amount of challenges such an ambitious, complex project poses. We learned about the quick decision-making required, the intricate timeline breakdowns, the teamwork of hundreds of people working together, the strength of character this sort of undertaking asks for.
A key element of this project that ensured its success was our regular shadowing of IGO’s CEO and Managing Partner, Dr. Anas Kozbari. Almost every week, we followed him around the construction site, filming his interaction with the team and showcasing his famous attention to detail. Our in-depth interviews with him also provided key insight which helped shape the story of the documentary in post-production.
The Theme
It was beautiful to piece together a film that we think authentically shows the chaos behind attempting such a project, but also the harmony of all the moving parts, and the perseverance of fixing the details and pressing on. These are important values of Dr. Anas himself, whose interview spawned the thematic direction we would end up taking in the finished film.
He explained that construction was like an orchestra, a beautiful symphony between many key players, who all have to play their part perfectly, and synchronize as a team, for the show to go on. This idea from him breathed life into our documentary. About halfway through the production process, we shifted completely to this metaphor. This idea that, construction isn’t just pouring concrete floor by floor, but connecting all of these different instruments together, at different levels of intensity, to eventually create this beautiful symphony.
The Tools
Following the building’s construction over the course of three years, we used multiple key filmmaking tools to show the scope and scale of the project. A key asset, naturally, was our sweeping drone footage, which captured the building in all its glory from a bird’s eye view. Always a popular feature in construction videography, there’s nothing like a drone shot to give this awesome sense of wonder, especially in the context of Dubai’s iconic skyline.
Also essential to demonstrating the project’s grandeur was our use of timelapse cameras, which we installed in multiple locations to film the step-by-step growth of the building from multiple angles. In the finished film, these timelapse montages allow the audience to take in just how much progress was made by the construction team over the 3-year period, from empty plot to massive tower.
Most important of all, of course, was our dedicated on-the-ground camera team, who went to the site whenever important issues or event would arise, ensuring we captured the key turning points for the documentary. This included middle-of-the-night concrete pouring, dewatering situations, key leadership meetings and more. All the way to the end of the project, when Dr. Anas was handing over apartments to key clients, we were there to capture the moment.
The Finished Product
Piecing all of this incredible footage together in post production, we knew that the film had to have a strong correlation between the chaos of all the different things that happened during the construction process - not to mention COVID and the Dubai floods - but also how deftly IGO would control all of these moving parts so meticulously to achieve their goal. Instead of looking at the challenges as negatives, we instead saw them bring versatility and intellect to not only overcome the hurdles, but use them to make the finished product even better.
Towards the end of the documentary, we realized we had made something quite important and quite authentic. The finished film is something Hyperjump is very proud of, so we actually submitted it to the Los Angeles Film Awards, where we received the Best Documentary award. This just goes to show the multifaceted narrative that each IGO employee, CEO and partner brought to the table, and that this wasn’t just a construction video anymore. It was a beautiful story that unraveled with many different people coming together, embracing challenges, and creating a beautiful building that will stand the test of time as an icon in Dubai.
As for Hyperjump, we learned to embrace the ever-evolving narrative of the documentary. It seemed to develop in different ways, as the interviews progressed and we began integrating them into the story. With all the different people that were involved in this project towards the end, we realized it’s not so much a construction video, but a very human video of how people embrace challenges, work together, and believe they’re a part of something very important. In this case, we’re also left with an incredible building that will hold hundreds of residents and offer incredible services and amenities, but also be quite architecturally remarkable, and we believe we managed to find the heart and soul of this story.
Your Project Next?
Does our journey with The Paragon resonate with you? Do you feel you have an ambitious construction project that deserves more than the standard corporate video treatment? A story that needs to be told in style?
Hyperjump Productions would love to speak with you further. Contact us now at info@hyperjumpproductions, or at the phone number at the bottom of the page, for your free consultation and quotation.
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