Directing CH4 documentary
The Rebel Chef
Directing CH4 documentary commissioned on chef Gary Usher

DIRECTING / DOCUMENTARY / PHOTOGRAPHY

THE PROJECT

To document what goes into chef Gary Usher launching a new restaurant

LOCATION

Pinion Bistro,
Prescot

THE OBJECTIVE

This hour-long insight created by Natural Selection Design, put’s into focus Gary’s mission to bring exceptional food to the masses and in turn regenerate the once forgotten town of Prescot, Merseyside.

 

Voiced by Ricky Tomlinson, in the hour-long documentary we witness Gary’s quest to open a new restaurant in one of Merseyside’s most overlooked town centres. He is attempting to bring bistro food to the people of Prescot, purely because his gut says everyone loves good food and he’s adamant he can build a thriving business. Sticking two fingers up at the banks, the restaurant chains and big businesses that ignore Britain’s small towns, Gary needs to crowdfund £50,000 to build a French style bistro out of the rubble of an old BetFred and convince a town of sceptical locals to fall in love with deep fried pig head croquettes and steak tartar…

 

This is cooking for a new generation. Amazing food for anyone and everyone – no frills attached. This is ‘The Rebel Chef: My Restaurant Revolution’.

THE BEGINNING

The British high street is in decline and a lot of small, once vibrant town centres across the UK are suffering. In Prescot, for example, they opened a retail park just outside of town, and the street that had all of the little independent shops that everyone used to go to suffered.

 

The success of the documentary was down to the locals warmth and openness when speaking about the area. They were proud of their town, and even prouder that someone was willing to take a risk in setting up on the high street. The real-life depiction of the locals was important. It couldn’t have the feel of ‘London chef brings good food to a poor Northern town.’ It was important that the tone was right and in doing so, it was imperative for Natural Selection Design, as Directors, to forge a strong relationship with the locals over the 8 months, and that they trusted us. This bond gave the documentary heart, originality and was 100% genuine.

THE OUTPUT

The final output of the creative work for the project, we decided to fuse together food and drink imagery. The idea is that the audience understands and feels NR&B have an equal passion for both food and drink. Over the course of the exhibition, there was a lot of noise about the split graphic concept; a hit amongst the industry. Our location for the photoshoot didn’t quite go to plan; with some rearranging, the images were taken in our HQ…using backdrops and textures from our studio to achieve the perfect shot; including soil from outside the studio to get that perfect carrot image. Our team designed the new logo and produced content for – the exhibition programme, ceiling hangings, demo stands, banners, digital screens, and more.

THE OUTPUT

The final output of the creative work for the project, we decided to fuse together food and drink imagery. The idea is that the audience understands and feels NR&B have an equal passion for both food and drink. Over the course of the exhibition, there was a lot of noise about the split graphic concept; a hit amongst the industry. Our location for the photoshoot didn’t quite go to plan; with some rearranging, the images were taken in our HQ…using backdrops and textures from our studio to achieve the perfect shot; including soil from outside the studio to get that perfect carrot image. Our team designed the new logo and produced content for – the exhibition programme, ceiling hangings, demo stands, banners, digital screens, and more.

Gary Usher Chef

‘Restaurants have a huge part to play in regenerating high streets. I’m talking about local eateries where people drop in after work and feel relaxed enough not to get dressed up. These are the kind of hubs that are capable of bringing entire communities together, in the same way as pubs do.’

Gary Usher, Elite Bistro

BEHIND THE SCENES

The commercial objective was simple, to put bums on seats by raising awareness, and showing how real the struggle is to launch a new concept in a place like Prescot. For example, before Pinion, the next best ‘restaurant’ was the local Wetherspoons and The Poundbakery.

 

The production Company, Thoroughly Modern Media, and CH4 were great to work with, they gave us all the creative freedom to shoot it in our style and focusing on what we thought was important. Of course they wanted jeopardy, which they got in buckets. But it was important it was shot in our style, framing the interviewee smack bang in the middle of the picture, using the shops on the high street behind them as our backdrop – Wes-Anderson style!

“By far this is the coolest project we have been involved in. We helped document something really special here. Everyone involved from the local characters to Gary’s team helped make the documentary what it is...a truthful and raw depiction of what is needed to launch a restaurant.”

Dan Burns – Natural Selection Design