Extraordinary Canaries
Explore all the possibilities the Canaries have to offer
A summer look with a winter shoot in the diary is a familiar challenge. The Canary Islands give us plenty to explore, from coastal light and contemporary houses to forest roads and the character of old city streets. The pleasure is in finding the setting that takes a treatment somewhere interesting. Drawing on our shoots across the Canaries, we look at what makes Tenerife such a useful starting point - and when another island might be the one that catches your eye.
Tenerife is a rewarding place to scout because the landscape keeps changing around you. A treatment might bring us to the island for its coastline, then send us looking through pine forests, historic streets or roads running through volcanic terrain. Each offers a very different mood, and plenty for a director or photographer to respond to.
That range gives us room to follow the idea.
La Laguna’s colonial architecture has a character quite distinct from contemporary Santa Cruz. Modern houses open up possibilities inside and out, while mountain roads and forests bring another scale and texture. Some locations speak unmistakably of the island; others can suggest somewhere much further away. Pine forests can evoke parts of North America, and La Laguna offers possibilities for Latin American settings, but those are just two directions a brief might take.
And let’s not forget, at this time of year, the light brings its own appeal.
Tenerife’s southerly position gives it a longer winter daylight window than much of northern Europe, and mild coastal conditions make it worth considering for a warmer-season look. For UK and European teams planning a winter shoot, that can put a different set of options on the table. The same creative range gives clients coming from the US and elsewhere plenty to explore, whether the brief calls for the island’s own character or somewhere it can become on camera.
Behind those possibilities is a production community we know well. Tenerife’s two airports and local crew and equipment suppliers make it our main base for shoots in the Canaries. Our relationships there help us bring the right people into the conversation early. We have worked on Hyundai and Cerruti campaigns on the island, alongside Scripted projects including Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue and Den of Thieves 2: Pantera-very different productions, each drawing on a different side of Tenerife.
"Tenerife is so much more than just a warm destination in winter. It has some of the most breathtaking locations in the world, many you won't find anywhere else. When clients need something special and truly captivating, Tenerife offers a variety of unbeatable backdrops that bring real personality to their visuals. Our relationships with local teams on the island help make the production process smooth and bring even complex productions to life." Stephanie Marrou, EP Commercials, Palma Pictures.
Sometimes the search takes us further. Gran Canaria adds two studio stages to the options, with crew and equipment transfers from Tenerife planned where needed. Our work on BBC’s Walking With Dinosaurs took us to Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura. Burberry brought us to El Hierro, where we used the island’s dramatic terrain to create a truly remarkable production. The smaller island takes more planning, but that shoot is a reminder of what can happen when a distinctive setting is worth the journey. Most recently, our Photo & Motion team shot Soru on Lanzarote, drawing on the island’s volcanic landscapes.
That is what keeps us looking across the Canaries: the next brief might reveal a place in a completely different way. Our team brings the experience of the shoots already behind us, and the curiosity to see what else is possible.
IMAGES CREDITS: Ricardo Delgado & Tenerife Film Commision
