Marine video production
Capturing the Navantia UK Seahorse Journey from Methil to Appledore
Major engineering projects can take months or years to plan, but some of their most significant moments happen only once.
That was very much the case when Helidragon was commissioned by Notus-Fagioli to document the load-out and marine journey of Navantia UK Seahorse, an 85-metre transport barge built at Navantia UK’s Methil facility in Scotland.
The purpose of the film was clear: to create compelling visual evidence of a large-scale project that Notus-Fagioli could use to demonstrate its engineering expertise, experience and capability when pursuing future projects.
For Helidragon, that meant following the story from the moment Seahorse first emerged from the fabrication hall in Methil, through its transit across the yard and load-out, before documenting the marine journey, float-off in North Devon and arrival at Navantia UK’s Appledore shipyard.
A Major UK Engineering Project
Navantia UK Seahorse is an 85-metre-long, 25-metre-wide transport barge weighing approximately 1,400 tonnes.
Built at Methil, the vessel will support the Fleet Solid Support programme, transporting major ship blocks and components between Navantia UK facilities at Appledore and Belfast.
For Scott Mitchell, Managing Director of Notus Contract Lifting, the project represented something broader than the movement of a single vessel.
As he explained during filming:
“The project is ultimately for the MOD. Seahorse is a work barge designed to move major components between the fabrication facilities, and it forms part of a much larger programme of work over the next few years. It’s great to see large-scale fabrication coming back to the Methil yard.”
For Notus-Fagioli, the project also provided an opportunity to demonstrate the capability of the joint venture on a complex UK heavy-lift and marine operation.
Capturing Seahorse Emerging from Methil
The story began inside Navantia UK’s Methil facility.
One of the key moments for the film was Seahorse making its first appearance from the fabrication hall.
Helidragon documented the vessel emerging from the building before following its movement across the Methil yard on specialist self-propelled modular transporters.
From a filmmaking perspective, these were important sequences. They immediately established the physical scale of the vessel while showing the specialist equipment and personnel involved in moving it.
Filming within an active fabrication environment also required careful consideration of security.
Some engineering activity and equipment within the facility were commercially sensitive, so camera positions and backgrounds had to be carefully controlled to ensure that only appropriate areas of the site appeared in the finished production.
Capturing the Load-Out
Seahorse was subsequently transported across the yard and loaded onto the marine transport barge ready for its journey south.
The load-out itself was a highly controlled engineering operation.
Simon Crawley, Notus-Fagioli JV Manager (UK), described some of the variables the team had to manage:
“We have advanced software monitoring the weather and a buoy in the water measuring the swell. During the load-out, the engineer is monitoring the ramp while we balance the tide, the weight of the trailers and the ballast system on the barge, making sure everything remains within the calculations.”
Weather conditions also had a direct influence on the operation, with the project team having to wait for suitable marine and engineering windows before key stages could proceed.
For Helidragon, that meant working flexibly around a live project programme governed by operational requirements, weather and tide rather than a conventional filming schedule.
That adaptability was essential. Once a major stage of the operation began, it could not simply be repeated for the camera.
Taking the Story to Sea
Once Seahorse left Methil, specialist Dutch marine operator HEBO Maritime Service carried out the offshore element of the operation.
Rather than allowing the geographical jump from Scotland to Devon to become a gap in the story, Helidragon produced an animated route map illustrating Seahorse’s journey south around the UK coastline.
The motion graphic helped audiences understand both the distance travelled and the transition between the different phases of the project.
Filming Offshore at Clovelly Bay
Helidragon rejoined the operation at Clovelly Bay in North Devon, where preparations were under way to float Seahorse off its transport barge.
Capturing this part of the project required working both from shore and at sea.
Aerial filming was carried out with the drone launched from a RIB in the bay, providing views of the complete marine operation that could not have been achieved from the shoreline.
At the same time, a dedicated time-lapse camera was positioned on land to record approximately six hours of the submerging process.
The result condensed a slow and carefully controlled marine procedure into a sequence that viewers could understand in seconds.
HEBO Project Manager Laurens Wendt explained the principle behind the operation during his interview for the film.
"Once positioned in Clovelly Bay, the transport barge was grounded at low tide. As the tide returned, the controlled submerging operation allowed Seahorse to become buoyant and be released from the transport barge, completing the float-off".
This combination of interviews, time-lapse, ground filming and aerial cinematography gave the audience both the technical explanation and the visual scale of the operation.
Following the Story to Appledore
The production continued through to Navantia UK’s Appledore facility.
Marine operations do not always cooperate with filming schedules, and Seahorse’s arrival provided a good example.
Thick fog developed on the morning the vessel was due to arrive, preventing the safe use of the drone.
Rather than lose a critical part of the story, Helidragon adapted the coverage and documented the vessel’s arrival using ground-based cameras, including time-lapse.
The team also worked through the night to record the dry dock progressively filling as the incoming tide raised the water level, before returning early the following morning to capture Seahorse arriving at the yard.
Working through changing tides, darkness, early starts, weather delays and poor visibility was simply part of documenting an operation governed by marine conditions rather than a conventional production timetable.
Creating Evidence of Capability
The finished film was not intended simply to provide a record of an impressive engineering operation.
For Notus-Fagioli, its longer-term value is as evidence of capability.
When bidding for complex lifting, transport and marine projects, companies need to demonstrate that they have successfully delivered comparable work.
Professional video provides a particularly powerful way of doing that because prospective customers can actually see the equipment, engineering, scale, people and coordination involved.
The Seahorse project brought together specialist expertise from Notus Contract Lifting, Notus-Fagioli, HEBO Maritime Service and Navantia UK, with the finished film creating a lasting visual case study from an operation that could never simply be recreated for the camera.
Industrial Video Production Where the Work Happens
For Helidragon, projects like Seahorse demonstrate why industrial video production often requires considerably more than turning up with a camera.
The production involved filming within a security-conscious fabrication facility, following an evolving marine programme, working around tide and weather windows, aerial filming from a RIB, overnight filming, long-duration time-lapse, interviews and motion graphics.
Most importantly, all of those elements had to come together to tell one clear story:
what was achieved, how it was achieved and why it demonstrates the client’s capability.
For businesses working in heavy engineering, marine operations, construction and complex industrial projects, those moments provide some of the strongest evidence of what the organisation can deliver.
The opportunity is often there only once.
Client Testimonial
Simon Crawley, JV Manager (UK), Notus-Fagioli:
“When we commissioned Helidragon to document the Seahorse project, our aim was to create a strong visual record of a major operation that demonstrated the scale, expertise and capability of the Notus-Fagioli joint venture.
The Helidragon team worked flexibly around a challenging marine programme, changing weather conditions and the operational requirements of the project, while capturing the key stages without interfering with the work taking place.
We are very pleased with the finished film. It communicates both the scale of the operation and the technical expertise behind it, and gives us a valuable piece of content that we can use to demonstrate our capabilities to existing and future clients, support tender opportunities and showcase the type of complex projects Notus-Fagioli can deliver.”