Virgin Mobile, the successful telecoms branch of the Branson empire, selected Bearwood College as the setting for its latest advertisement.
Launched in the USA in March, the ad can be seen by UK viewers online at
http://www.virgin.com/media-and-mobile/news/richards-virgin-mobile-quest–advert
The advert humorously follows the growth of Richard Branson’s entrepreneurial spirit, evident even as a toddler, through adolescence to the present day. It shows his babyhood inspiration for a wireless world in the disconnection of his mother’s landline through to his current dream of unlimited data and messaging, delivered by Branson in a space suit, demonstrating that Virgin Mobile will always be reaching for the future.
Headmaster, Stephen Aiano, generously allowed the complete redecoration of his own lounge within his home, Bearwood House, on the school site, for the filming of the toddler scene which opens the ad. The set designers painted the room cream, blocked off the windows and added artificial lighting, took out the furniture, replaced the carpet and installed soft furnishings. It took two days to dress the set and one to return it to its former state, with only a single morning of filming in between.
The Billiard Room and one of the rooms in Blake House, the boys’ boarding house within the Victorian Mansion, were also used. The Billiard Room became a scruffy common room, the backdrop for the adolescent Branson’s chat with his friends about texting; “In the future people will talk to each other with their thumbs”! The third floor boarding house bedroom was the setting for the bedroom scene with a lover frustrated by his obsession with the future of telecoms. The rooms took a day to dress and a day and a half to put back together again.
The advert provided a great opportunity for two Sixth Form Film Studies students to interact with the film crew. Accompanied by their Film Studies teacher, they observed the action and spoke to a number of the production team.
Virgin Mobile are the latest in a tradition of organisations who have selected Bearwood College as their preferred filming venue. Productions which have used Bearwood in the past include Midsomer Murders, Soldier Soldier, Lions Rampant, and the horror film Fragile. The school was also used as a photoshoot backdrop for a feature last Summer by Vogue (Turkey).
