I thought that this post might give our future clients a better idea of the amount of work that goes in to our creative process. We picked on a new Handcrafted video and followed it through the stages from chatting to the client to delivering the video. The promo is for http://rippedcutbuff.com. Edward Khoo, the client, was awesome. It’s so rare to get a client that allows us creative freedom. It’s such a great mix when a client says “we want a video for this product” and just allows us to come up with ideas and then execute them without restraint.
Day 1
Developing a concept…we’re a tad old-school when it comes to the early part of a project. We tend to lean towards a pen and paper. The initial part of the process is simply to read over the clients notes, view their website and/or press release or as is the case with this particular job, we read and then re-read Edward Khoo’s script – letting it sink in. Then came a brief brainstorming session – just a pen and paper. Edward had asked for a basic ‘Handcrafted’ web promo. Our Handcrafted videos tend to lean on humour and explanation as their strong-suits but the script was far from humorous and is written in the first person by Edward detailing his journey from picked on schoolboy to a lean, mean, ripped and muscular young man. It’s more of an inspirational and meaningful read than a funny one. So I stepped away from the project for a day and let the ideas form in my mind.
Day 2
I printed the script, read it over again, this time imagining how I think it should play out. In my mind it had pastel colours, a vignette effect and a more arty feel to it. The paper should appear crumpled and more earthy, at least throughout the early part of the story. It should have a little humour but only within the images.
I scribbled down a paragraph by paragraph account of what I had envisioned and then started to storyboard some of the ideas on a whiteboard in the office (again, we prefer to write and draw rather than using scripting and storyboarding software).
Day 3 & 4
Onto the artwork. This can take a while….there’s always way more scenes and characters to illustrate than you’d think so endurance and pacing is the key here. It took about 9 solid hours to work through the scenes.
We sent Edward the mock-up of the crumpled paper style and decided we’d produce the plain white version and then use post-production effects for the crumpled brown paper so we’d have the choice to use either style.
Day 5
Filming is often the most difficult, warm (due to lighting and equipment) and yet fun part of the job. It took 1 hour and 21 minutes to shoot (time-lapse is below).
Day 6
All that was left to do was edit. It took around 6 hours to fully edit in After Effects and Premiere and to render out the files. We uploaded the finished video to youtube for Edward to review and he loved it and so do we! We both much preferred the plain white version as the images are crisper and the whole thing is easier on the eyes.
Final results
This is the version we decided to go with:
…and here’s the version with added post-production:
If you’re interested in having a Handcrafted or motion Graphics video produced for your website or presentation - click here - and fill out the email form.
If you’d like to know more about Edward’s Ripped, Cut and Buff product, visit his website www.rippedcutbuff.com.
