TENMILE DISTILLERY
Would you buy whisky you've never tasted?
Creative Approach
Whisky Tasting Series
Identify the goals of the video | Educate about the tasting notes of each whisky and promote the release weekend. |
Research style | They had a specific idea of other videos that distilleries have done - a mix of an interview with the distillery and to capture their facilities/process. I also had to educate myself on whisky. |
Locations/Interview Format | Each location in the distillery was picked to relate to that whisky. Then questions were generated to talk about the specific whisky but also cover other aspects of the distillery so it would not be the same interview over and over. |
Film the interviews | We had one day to get all four videos. We filmed in four locations and I tried to get as much b-roll as I could. |
Rough Edit | Each video had to fit into the one minute video format. We had lots of great information but little time. |
Send for Notes | To make sure I included the most important points. |
Extra B-Roll | Luckily I had access to gather extra shots if I felt like there was something missing. |
Final Edit | Clean up audio and image as much as I could. Add in any extra shots. This footage was harder to work with because they wanted to handle most of the filming of the interviews, and we had limited equipment, so there was a lot of work to be done in the edit on a short time frame. |
Plan Extra Content | I had lots of left over clips and videos that could come in handy later if they need an extra post. |
Label Animation
List out goals for the animation | Part of the fall release, but also general animations that could be used for content any time. |
Research/Understand the visual brand | Though they did not have a specific idea of how they wanted the animations, I was given a very strong brand to work with. Each label has detailed illustrations that represent their business's history. |
Animation Tests | This is for me to try different creative experiments but also to give them an idea of the possibilities and limitations of the animations. |
Break Animation Down | After deciding on a direction, I broke the design down into different assets that could be animated individually. This way the separate animations could be used for more content in the future. |
Piece together and fix timing | Once each asset is animated separately, then I put it together to create the entire label. I fix the timing and send it for notes. |
Final Animation | After notes, I make any changes, add music, and prep it for a social media platform. |
Challenges with Creating a Successful Campaign
What happens when a campaign is pushed back and you suddenly need more content?
The release was pushed back a month so we needed more content to not only fill those weeks. We also needed to effectively promote the new release date.
This is where planning extra videos with the interviews came in handy.
From my work on Severance I was used to many last minute schedule changes. I managed the art department calendar so I became well versed in piecing together a new schedule.
When do you follow the clients vision and when do you step in to offer your expertise?
This was the first time I was managing multiple types of content for a promotional campaign. When it came to the tasting videos I took a step back with the production because they had made some videos before and had a very specific vision for it.
My work with Messkit, we had very specific standards for each video, down to the amount of frames for a scene transition. Once I was able to determine those standards with Tenmile, the project went smoother.
What do you do when the clients do not have a specific vision?
When it came to animation, they had less of an idea of what they wanted to them to acheive. I had a lot more creative freedom but I have come from work places that have not allowed that before.
I had to balance time with providing enough animation tests or examples so they new the possibilities and limitations of animation.
Both with MessKit and Severance, I was used to providing many iterations and revisions. I was prepared to do that this time but time was against us so I had to follow the little direction I was given.
How would I approach these projects differently?
Get more than I needed!
I new I needed a lot of b-roll but I would have tried to schedule more time with the distillers to capture some of their work. This allows for a buffer if any technical issues arise or if there are scheduling changes.
Develop a more thorough pitch deck for any animation work.
Animation is a broad term, in this case it was all 2-D motion graphics which I have a lot of experience in. From the start I would try to help a client understand what that work entails with more previous work examples or explain the process more thoroughly.