Email

Print

What happened on Albert Street on Sunday morning? That is the question everyone’s been asking because from dawn on Sunday to 10 that night – 4 blocks of Albert Street was shut down – off limits to vehicles and pedestrians. But it wasn’t for the City Council to conduct urgent street repairs. Downtown was shut down because Albert Street, between King and Dean Streets, was the set for an international television ad for the British Army – and that meant army trucks rolling deep down Albert Street. 7NEWS went behind the scenes.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This was the scene Sunday morning in downtown Belize City. Albert Street between Prince and King Streets was flooded while lamp posts – or PVC pipes m made to look like lampposts were toppled, debris was strewn everywhere, cars were bogged down, and palm leaves were scattered. And if this all looks a hurricane had just hit – that is the whole point of it. This is a simulation of the disastrous aftermath of a hurricane – complete with rain and even hurricane victims – who are really just extras.

Hershabeth Ramclam, Extra
“As you can see I have paint on me. It seems so real, the experience is very interesting.”

Michael Geoghegan, Director
“We flooded the street and we got some lampposts to lean over, they are actually fake lampposts but they look very realistic, and we put in some cars, so we had to bring a tank to fill the sea with sea water to make it look like there has been a very high tide and the water is coming in and flooding the street.”

Sunday’s simulation is part of an advertisement which the British Army is producing to recruit female soldiers in the UK. Michael Geoghegan is the director.

Michael Geoghegan
“We’re making a commercial for the British Army and it is about hurricane relief and we are setting up four films to do with the hurricane and how the British Army reacts to those type of situations.”

Keith Swift,
Why Belize?

Michael Geoghegan
“Well there is a British military camp here called BATSUB, I am sure you are well aware of it, and Belize has been known to be hit by hurricanes.”

The team has been in Belize since last week – filming across the country – including in our 7NEWS studio on Sunday morning. And while the ad is being filmed in Belize, Geoghegan says it is not for Belizeans. In fact it won’t ever air in Belize.

Michael Geoghegan,
“It is a UK ad so it is to play in the United Kingdom and it is to recruit British soldiers , primarily female soldiers because they want more female soldiers as drivers, as nurses, as signallers, and there is a kind of infantry aspect. So they are looking for British soldiers primarily.

We’ve got great support from the Belizean people, an amazing kind of friendship and help from them and on lots of level they’ve been really good to us. They’ve given us roads and villages and all sorts of things so that we can work better.”

Other scenes were shot in Seine Bight, the Port of Belize, and on the Burrell Boom-Hattieville Road. 100 extras were hired in Seine Bight and there were close to 30 in Belize City on Sunday. They should be finished by the end of June. The director and producers were unable to tell us how much money they’re spending in Belize.