Harrogate pop stars turned media business owners talk about new project 3,000 ft in a hot air balloon
Two best friends from a Harrogate village have talked about their journey from pop stars to global media business owners and why their latest project involved suspending an artist 3,000 ft in the air beneath a hot air balloon.
As teenagers, Josh Stockdale and Alex Boulton spent years playing together in successful pop-rock band Purple Mafia, recording in Los Angeles and performing in front of tens of thousands of fans in major arenas around the UK.
When the Hollywood dream had run its course, these two dynamic young men, who hail from North Stainley and went to Ripon Grammar School, founded Dream Beach Media in Harrogate in 2016.
An innovative and stylish creative production business, the last ten years have seen Josh and Alex produce award-winning campaigns in more than 40 countries, taking their cameras to the southern tip of Argentina to the summits of the Chilean Andes, through the tropical rainforests of Asia, across the remote beaches of Western Australia, into the vast deserts of Africa and beneath the ocean's surface.
"We started Dream Beach Media after we became tired of the music business although it did give us some amazing experiences,” said Dream Beach Media’s founders.
"We were just two 19-year-olds with a camera, big ambitions and no real roadmap, just a dream and a belief that if we worked hard enough and stayed true to ourselves, we could build something special.
"Ten years later, this milestone isn't just about surviving in one of the world's most competitive industries.
"It's proof that resilience, consistency and trusting your instincts really do pay off."
Instead of operating from one traditional headquarters, Josh and Alex have built a global network of trusted creatives.
The core team works across the UK, Malta and Indonesia, while the wider Dream Beach Media family includes award-winning filmmakers, photographers, editors and producers based throughout Europe, North America and beyond.
To say they have become accustomed to telling stories in some of the world's most challenging environments is to understate the situation somewhat.
Even so, their most recent project in collaboration with an international artist and one of the world’s best known brands was something even for them.
Centred around artist Werner Bronkhorst's limited-edition collaboration with Red Bull, the project required Dream Beach Media to produce the campaign's hero film and supporting content with one of their most audacious stunts to date.
Suspending an artist and his easel on a platform 3,000 ft in the air beneath a hot air balloon to paint three wingsuit athletes leaping from a hovering helicopter is the definition of high profile, as well as being logistically daring
"It was, without question, the most technically demanding production we have ever delivered,” said Josh and Alex.
"We had to design a bespoke 17-camera filming system and coordinate more than 35 crew members, specialist balloon operators, aviation teams and multiple camera platforms – all while working within an unpredictable weather window.”
The former teenage pop star also marked their decade in business by continuing a strategic partnership with Canon to showcase its latest EOS C80 camera that gives filmmakers exceptional image quality.
But there is more to business than business.
"Dream Beach Media has never just been about making films,” said Josh and Alex.
"It's been the vehicle that's allowed us to design the life we always dreamed of – telling stories from around the world, meeting extraordinary people and building a global creative family based on friendship, adventure and a shared passion for storytelling.”