A human-centric corporate film project (part I)

Brief

In March 2019, I was working on a project for We-ef ANZ for their 25th anniversary. I was in partnership with Sydney-based photographer Jackie Chan. The brief was simple - we were asked to create a series of short films to celebrate this milestone and great achievement. This was part of their 25th anniversary marketing campaign and the clips were widely used on their social media platform and AILA International Festival of Landscape Architecture 2019. We have filmed 9 videos in total and each film heroes a key staff from the company.

Challenge

The biggest challenge was the tight time frame and the geographic barriers. We-ef ANZ is based in Melbourne so Jackie and I needed to travel there with our filming gears (i.e. cameras, lighting, audio recorders, etc) for filming. (Thank you we didn’t have a pandemic back then!) We only had 3 days to complete literally everything, from reece to meet-and-greet to produce to film. Apart from these, the execution of the concept is particularly challenging. We have 9 x individual storyboards for each staff, we need to make sure each one is unique and special but also maintaining the theme consistently and and cohesively throughout all the videos. 

Approach

We-ef is such a great client. We established a very collaborative relationship from the outset and trust was built soon after the project was started. When trust and collaboration go hand in hand, you know a great project is going to be born. From concept development to storyboarding to filming, timing was super tight but yet a smooth-sailing process. We took a very human centric approach to this project. When we filmed the staff, as much as we want to spend more time and get to know everyone better, we only had a ridiculously short limited time (Again, 3 days for 9x staff including travelling time!) for each person. There were sleepless nights at the airbnb places banging our heads against our wall to come up with the storyboards, framing, scheduling etc etc.  It really was challenging but I dare say this is also the most enjoyable project that I’ve worked at for a very long time.

Results

Each film brings out the emotions and true story of every staff, which honestly it’s quite rare and unexpected to be seen in a corporate film. And guys, that’s the true power of strong storytelling.

Livestream (wedding and events) service now available

In crazy times like this, it makes people think. We were taught with basic hygienes like keeping your hands clean and covering your mouth when coughing/sneezing since kindergarten. However, we seem to forget about the importance of simple things like these as we grow up. I wonder if this whole coronavirus thing would still turn into a pandemic if half of the population were exercising these rules diligently before it got out of control. 

Unlike most people who are working from home during the self-iso time or having zoom meeting one after the other, my job nature basically doesn’t quite allow me to work from home unless I’m editing. Luckily I still managed to get some real human interaction whilst still following the social distancing rule strictly by filming a couple of corporate videos for the real estate industry and some online lectures for Best Orthodontic Seminars and Sessions. Sadly as we already know by now most weddings were postponed involuntarily, which were really unfortunate by the way, imagine how disappointing this is for these husband-and-wife-to-be and also their dear families and friends. I’m a positive person and I always hope to bring joy to people therefore I was really devastated when this happened. 

Crazy time makes people think crazy - If people can’t attend the wedding because of a pandemic or for whatever reasons that they can’t be present at something important, how about we bring the event like a wedding or important days like this to you, LIVE! We are fully living in a digital world, now more than ever, Lady gaga can bring you a Together at Home concert, which is a brilliant idea by the way. We should be fully utilising the technology that we have nowadays and blend in into our daily lives, makes our life easier not harder. Therefore, we proudly present you our latest Livestream services. 

You can’t come to us? Not a problem at all! We’ll get to you. This service will be a great convenience to those inconvenience. We understand how gutted you feel when you can’t share some of your most important moments with your families and friends, sometimes somehow your guests just can’t attend your wedding, your parents or grand parents can’t make it to the graduation day, or clients can’t travel to your conference, our Livestream service will still allow you to stay close and share these memorable times with your loved ones.

Last but not least, I would like to share with you a recent project of filming the interview of Architect Koichi Takada.

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