 When a leading global organisation approached thinktank video Manchester to commission their 2009 corporate video production, the thinktank team faced a tough challenge – to produce a documentary production style corporate video within three weeks.
Many seasoned documentary producers or corporate video production companies would have simply turned down the challenge, yet thinktank video’s yearning to strive to meet the deadline proved too strong to resist temptation.
In 2009, with corporate video budgets under scrutiny and the watchful eye of every discerning finance director, the task was to produce a multi-lingual video production that would appeal to a worldwide audience, yet in an information documentary style.
Given the almost impossible task, thinktank video Manchester set about the challenge of developing a story board which would have to be approved by the client management team in three countries, along with an engaging video script to match the ambitious schedule.
Because of thinktank’s extraordinary vision, the story started off in ancient Egypt, with the need to locate a stonemason, two actors, a camel, horse, tent and Coptic Egyptian translator within 24-hours. Thinktank video’s executive producer Stuart Murphy explained, “With only three days to source talent for the film, plus organise a remote desert location, there isn’t time to think.” He added, “You switch to autopilot when you’re faced with a challenge like this and believe in the ability of your team – this is critical to the success of short-leadtime productions or live events, when you’re working on a major live event video production.”
Whilst the camera crew were in flight, the producers were digitising the hieroglyphic translations for stonemasons to work on – the thinktank video production team worked throughout the days and nights to ensure that the client received an authentic documentary style corporate video production.
Head of the Manchester Editing team Tim enjoyed the challenge, “We started the edit prior to receiving the final script, voiceovers or even being in a position to visualise what the final documentary video production would be like – everything just worked like piecing a giant jigsaw together.” When asked about why he thought the final video production was successful Tim replied, “Because it’s based on years of professional trust and that’s the way it works when you’re up against a tight deadline. This project was one of the most exhilarating and rewarding video productions I have even been involved with.”
The bar was raised even higher when faced with a four-hour time slot to capture an authentic camp fire scene in the Egyptian desert, with pyramids as a backdrop. DoP Ian Livesey said, “We had a sandstorm which presented an enormous technical challenge in terms of lighting, sound and obviously the effects of adverse weather conditions on the equipment. As a consummate professional, you just get on with the job and do your best – the results were impressive.”
Ian was right, the initial scene was just what was needed to set the tone of the film production. In three weeks the documentary style film production filmed scenes in Egypt, Yorkshire, Manchester, Liverpool, Wigan and the North East – in total, four county locations in the UK and one location in Egypt.
Despite being extremely challenging in terms of corporate video or documentary production timescales, the script included what is possibly, “One of the biggest jump-cuts in history”, as one member of the crew wryly called it. One minute we’ve got a group of schoolchildren in a 19th Century classroom, the next you blink and the same group are in 2009, surrounded by futuristic classroom technology – it’s simply surreal, yet effective video production.
Delivered one day early to the client, the finished product was breathtaking, including voiceovers in Coptic Egyptian, Italian and Chinese – a true documentary style corporate video, filmed all in the same timeframes you’d expect to see in a live event production – that’s why the client called thinktank video productions Manchester team.
If you have a corporate video production you need filming, or an intriguing documentary and need it producing by a team who are the best in their field, call thinktank video productions London or Manchester team on +44 (0)207 808 7054 (London Westminster) or +44(0)161 234 0093 (Manchester) now. |
