This past Sunday, October 13th 2013, was the event Push-Those-Pedals 4 Life. Off road cyclists from all over South Florida took part in trekking this 26.2 mile loop around Markham Park + the Everglades to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Luckily, we were at the event with our quadcopter to capture some amazing cinematic aerial footage of the off road cyclists finishing their 26.2 mile loop. When it comes to getting cinematic aerial footage, we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day and location. Thanks to Push-Those-Pedals 4 Life for letting us film at their event, and shout out to my friend Dave for coming in 1st place in his group.
Please support cancer research by supporting Push-Those-Pedals 4 Life.
Music by: Sun Ray (Conveyor) / CC BY-SA 3.0
Licensed under Creative Commons @ the Free Music Archive.
Blog
Behind The Scenes Of A Promo Video
The making of the promo video, “Life Intertwined,” was a lot of fun. It was also a lot of work that involved multiple rewrites, a storyboard, 5 days of principal photography, scouting for 5 locations, casting 6 actors, and executing 10 motion effects. All of this we did on a limited budget. But pushing the boundaries are fun!
Below, I uploaded some of the content that shows us at work behind the scenes. You can watch the original video here. Enjoy!
Since we knew the edit would be focused around the client as the narrator, we started creating the script by focusing on the narration. Above, you see notes and scribbles. The client and I went back and forth 5 or so times until we came to a tight narration that efficiently communicated the ideas he was trying to put forth.
After the narration was locked down, we focused on the visuals and created a script. As you can see, we wanted to visualize Chris’s words by incorporating a hardworking man and his family. We hoped this would signify the importance of wealth management to the viewer.
To help visualize the script, we made a storyboard. It’s not the most detail oriented, and it is kind of funny at some points, but this is a great tool to start getting an idea of script’s pacing.
Once the script was locked down, we crewed up, scouted the locations, casted the actors, and finally got down to shooting. It was a fun shoot. We were able to work with some great people, and shoot at some exciting locations that included a huge warehouse (+/- 40,000 sq. ft.) and a sailboat.
The Crew (Nico Gomez, Clapper/AC/Grip, John Craven, Producer/Director, Mike Bajer, AC/Cameraman, Vincent Hogan, Producer/Director of Photography) setting up a scene with actress, Jeanne Tidwell, and actor, Vince Casademont. Photography by Richard Rawson.
Make-up Artist, France Tasic, fine-tuning the make-up before a shot.
France Tasic preparing the actress, Melia Morgan, for her scene.
The one and only, actor, Joey Myers.
After we completed principal photography, we edited the footage, following the storyboard shot by shot and ended up with a roughly 3 minute edited piece. After taking out a few scenes and some shots, we eventually got it down to just under 2:20.
Here is a shot that not many people notice, but it took a lot of time. We couldn’t find a good set of blueprints that we could license, so we ended up buying a blank blueprint roll and overlaying the diagram onto the blank sheet. Rotoscoping hands is a tough thing todo!
The info-graphics of numbers and stats that we incorporated into this film (Designed by Nurge Media and Animated by Beverly Rosenzweig) were to contrast the main character’s scene at work and at play. It was important to get across the idea that the main character has a busy life and show how important it is to hire a wealth management professional.
Above, you can see the stages the design went through to get to a final look.
That is it! Hope you enjoyed. I am looking forward to providing more behind the scenes content in the future.
To watch the finished video click here.
Simplifying Investment Advice • Animated Graphics in a Corporate Video
Visualizing our client’s investment strategy in everyday life is the idea that formed the basis for our newest corporate video for Nichols Wealth Partners.
The Challenge:
Chris Nichols, CEO of Nichols Wealth Partners, has done a lot of research into investment strategy and market behaviors, which led to the creation of his own investment philosophy that he applies to his own clients. And also writing a book about it. The problem is it is hard to communicate to new clients about his investment philosophy without having an hour long meeting. A well written corporate video can efficiently communicate the message Chris needed to communicate to his clients.
The Solution:
To visualize the basics of Nichols’ investment philosophy, we inserted animated graphics as if it was another character in our down-to-earth story about a fictitious business owner and his family. The goal of this visual strategy is to demonstrate how beneficial a Wealth Advisor like Chris Nichols, can be for hard working people who do not have the time to stay on top of the constant activity of the following the world’s financial markets.
“We were so impressed with the attention to detail of all aspects our our shoot. From hiring first rate actors, to making sure the script and all aspects of the film caught the attention of the viewer.”
-Chris Nichols, CEO, Nichol Wealth Partners
Check out our behind-the-scenes post at Behind-The-Scenes blog post.
The Team:
Client: Chris Nichols Advisors
Produced: Corporate Creative Film
Written + Directed: John Craven
Director of Photography: Vincent Hogan
Edited by: John Craven
Infographic Design: nurgemedia
Infographic Animation: Beverly Rosenzweig
Rotoscope: John Craven
Color Correction: Matt Perrin
Make-up: Janelle Vidi, France Tasic
Wardrobe: Clara Orejuela
Camera Assistants: Mike Bajer, Nico Gomez
Music: Places by Niklas Aman
Starring: Vince Casademont, Joey Myers, Jeanne Tidwell, William Colon, Melia Morgan, Killian Suchocki, Chris Nichols’ Son
“They are our first choice and I highly recommend this team to anyone who demands working with top quality and the highest level of professionalism.”
-Anastasia, Director of Business Development, Nichols Wealth Partners
A Direct Response Video For The New Home Shows Campaign
The Home Shows hired us again to create a ;30 commercial for their newest campaign. Where as the last video was more of a brand statement, this commercial is a direct response made for specific television and internet advertising. As you can see, we used footage previously incorporated into another video and re-edited it into the new spot, re-purposed, to incorporate more intricate motion graphics, dates and times, celebrity speakers, and their famous one and only jingle.
Check out our packages
Incorporating the Home Shows Brand into a Corporate Event Video
With all of our corporate event videos, we love to think of creative ways that will spark a personal connection with our viewer while incorporating the client’s specific “brand.” When the Home Show hired us to make a fresh new video to showcase their brand in a modern and trendy way, they provided us a great opportunity to put the above idea to work.
The Home Show’s previous videos were centered around crowd centric themed videography (shots of people in the aisles). Because event-goers do not go to the Home Show for the crowds, we instead wanted to make the video about the products and services the event goers would be experiencing. What is great about the Home Shows is the ability to go to hundreds of vendors and experience their products or services under one very large roof. We knew if we covered the vendors that were the most interesting we would most likely capture the intimate little moments between families, couples, and friends, and get some interesting content.
We also needed to figure a way to incorporate these different little moments under the Home Show brand. Looking at their logo we noticed their icon is really hip and modern and we came up with the idea to “draw-on” the icon so we get a quick image of a house being built (or drawn) up. We incorporated this idea into the title sequence that happens throughout video to help push the idea that the Home Show is a place that helps build your home.
In our effort, we wanted to create a video that produced a stronger bond between the viewer and the brand by focusing on the elements that help make a home what it is; the family.
Check out our packages