The Brief

These short films had to create a sense of wonder and mystery about their respective distilleries in under 30 seconds. Each whisky had something unique to its flavour which could be associated with its surroundings, so I lent into these associations to bring the distillery's story to life. I built these stories in Cinema 4D, leveraging creative freedom to manipulate objects, colours and light in ways that couldn’t be done in real life.

Cardhu

This video tells the story of its second owner, daughter of the founder, Elizabeth Cummings. The distillery started life as a small farm where they distilled whisky for the surrounding crofters. This was illegal without a licence so, whenever Elizabeth saw the police approaching the farm, she used to cover herself in flour pretending she was simply baking bread, not distilling whisky. While the officers sat down for tea, she flew a red flag above the farm to warn other near-by distilleries that the police were investigating. The red thread running through the film nods to this red flag and also to the twists and turns taken by the mighty river Spey as it works its way towards the Moray firth.

The four distilleries in this tour represent the ‘four corners of Scotland’ and the regional variations of Lowland (Glenkinchie), Speyside (Cardhu), Islay (Caol Ila) and Highland (Clynelish), crucial to the art of whisky blending at the heart of Johnnie Walker.