The client wanted us to create an informative corporate video to promote a new tool/service that allowed local independents to advertise on TagCity. When making a video, you often have to work out many more details than actually filming. TagCity and Studio Pixili have a long history together. TagCity is also a website developed by was Studio Pixili.
Indeed, in a video, the idea is often the key to success. The idea came from a shop where we saw this kind of candy. These are a kind of fruit salad, in the shape of oranges, lemons, watermelons and strawberries.
Very colourful, matching yet different shapes. Which makes everything easy to follow.
Fruit is also one of the products that is often bought locally. The target audience of this video were local traders. The fact that this product was sold by the local grocer from our video was a bonus. The main example would start with the orange sweets; TagCity’s signature colour.
We had only one day of shooting, because the company manager had a full schedule. As a narrator, the video relied hugely on him. There are four main elements that keep recurring in this video.
Use of animation
Sometimes it is difficult to clarify something visually with real video footage. For instance, a 30-kilometre radius with real-time footage is not impossible to say. But that requires drones that match the image quality of the main camera. Drones should also not be controlled lightly. So it takes someone trained to fly that drone. Once found, a licence is still required to fly the drone over certain areas. Of course, the weather has to be good too.All this is expensive and a lot of work for just one shot.
Creating an animation also takes some time, but this pales in comparison to all the other steps involved e.g. a drone shot. Especially with our approach, where most parts were already designed and we could give the mascot a skeleton to make it easier to animate.
We used this animation not only to better visualise concepts, but also to keep the video interesting so that the potential customer would not click away.
Subtle visual effects
It’s no secret that we at Studio Pixili are fans of motion tracking. Our videos were even shown alongside ‘The Amazing Spidermen’ in the showreel of Mocha, the software we use.
Motion tracking also came in handy here. The client was concerned that the user would not be able to follow an example. That was solved by adding a motion graphic label that showed exactly what candy in the video was currently a metaphor for.
Following the script but also daring to let go
Together with the CEO, we wrote a good script. This makes it clear before the shoot where certain animations or b-rolls will be placed.
We first wanted to use a teleprompter, but that proved too wooden. So we soon made the decision to have the company manager tell the story spontaneously. This was easy once we had the script. Even though we let loose word for word, It gave us a guideline for when animations or b-rolls were planned, so we could create invisible starting and stopping points and keep the storyline clear.
Because that way, the business manager could take a break and start again unnoticed.
