Kawasaki bag top awards for Isle of Man TT bike promo
A promotional video for Kawasaki filmed on the iconic Isle of Man TT Mountain Course has been recognised as being among the best of its kind at a prestigious awards ceremony.
Ninja ZX-6R – Set Your Heart Racing was shot in 2012 at various locations around the course and featured Kawasaki TT star James Hillier riding the new 636cc Ninja model.
The Quattro Plant rider, who starts this year’s Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy in the Number 1 position, said it was a fantastic experience to be involved in, ‘I had never done anything like this before and to witness roads being closed, helicopter filming coordinated with a camera “chase bike” and all the other elements being organised by the production team convinced me that we would have something special for Kawasaki fans to view' adding, ‘If I achieve the same level of success at the TT races in June I will be delighted!’
Now in its 55th year, New York Festivals is a major event for those involved in television and film industries on a global scale. Success at the awards ceremony, which was held in Las Vegas on Tuesday 9th April, is extremely important according to Senior Brand Officer for Kawasaki Motors Europe, Frank Zoontjes. 'For the new ZX-6R we used the iconic Isle of Man TT course as the location and engaged a top TT rider to star in the video. Spurred on by very positive public reaction we consulted our production partner, Pool Productions, and decided to enter submissions in several categories of the prestigious New York Festivals awards including best venue in the hope that they would be perhaps be selected among the finalists. To achieve this and then go on to win a total of two gold’s, one silver and a bronze award was quite simply amazing.'
The judging panel is made up of over 200 directors, producers, journalists, writers, actors, creative directors, art directors, filmmakers, composers and programming executives who are award-winners themselves. It’s no surprise therefore, the decision making process is extremely rigorous, as film maker Tom Moran explained. 'We have been working with Kawasaki for a number of years and felt the videos were worthy of wider recognition. To have each win the top award in a major category is an amazing feeling which makes all the hard work of the team involved worthwhile.'
Geoff Corkish, MBE, MHK, Political Member, Isle of Man Tourism, commented: 'This award not only reflects well on the skills of the Kawasaki crew in producing the films but is also a tribute to the work that the Government's team put in to facilitating the filming and indeed the welcome and support that the crew received from everyone on the Island that helped. The film superbly promotes both the TT Races and the Isle of Man as a whole.'
As well as first place in the event venue category for the Ninja ZX-6R 636, the Kawasaki films also won best cinematography for the Z800 productions and achieved silver and bronze status for cinematography and production design respectively for the ZX-6R video.