A Branding Video for Property Identity: The Creation Process
The process of creating a branding video for Property Identity was not an easy one. It was challenging to come up with the best way to portray the company's vision and values in an edited two-minute video. As a creative director at Xpression Video Productions, I knew that it wouldn't be possible without collaborating closely with my client and marketing director, Christine Yu. So we discussed and bounced various ideas back and forth until we agreed upon what would work best for her. I also had to come up with an original concept which is something that most people don't do on their own, but fortunately, I'm pretty good at coming up with new ideas!
The Vision
After discussing the ideas and reviewing other sampled videos, the team finally came up with an idea that would work. It was important that we put the emphasis on my client's objectives from her point of view. The idea was to tell a story about a brand from a first-person narrative, while showcasing some of the work they do.
One of the main objectives that I had to keep in mind was making sure that we kept a consistent tone and mood throughout the video, so it would be easy for people to follow along with what we were trying to convey. Our goal was also to make this promo as "watchable" as possible by keeping up an entertaining pace while still being informative and creative at the same time!
The client wanted their story told through their eyes; basically using a voice narration to explain how Property Identity came into existence, who is behind it and why they're doing things differently than other companies out there. We decided that having a voiceover from our client's perspective would work best.
The reason why this worked so well is because Christine wanted to portray Property Identity as an innovative brand that can create unique style and design concepts for rental and vacation properties in Toronto and the rest of Ontario.
The Pre-Production
The next step involved pre-production. I worked with the client to collect background material that would be used in this video. I gathered photos and information about how they operate, their business model, etc. It was essential that I put a treatment and a video storyboard together, in order to provide Christine with a vision and direction of what the video would look like. Furthermore, we decided on a script for the voiceover narration so we could move forward with our next step which was securing the In The Moment property where we could film all of the footage needed for this video. I must say, putting together a storyboard isn't my best trait, but I felt like I had to step up and learn this new skill.
The next step was to gather all of the materials we would need for shooting: cameras, tripods, lenses, etc. I was fortunate enough to have my colleague and partner Eugene Lo, a Toronto videographer, available to help film onset. We wanted three different angles in order to make sure that we could capture a variety of actions and perspectives throughout production. Christine even coordinated with other talents, such as the yoga instructor, Jenn Steele, on the day of filming so she could help act out the yoga scenes on the script. It sure was a treat working alongside her. It's always nice collaborating with people who have similar interests and intentions.
The Filming
The filming was a success. Eugene and I were able to knock this one out of the ballpark in less than 9 hours. After arriving at In The Moment we were all set up and ready to go by 10 am. We wanted to make sure that we had enough time in order to capture everything before having an hour's break for lunch around 2 pm. We ended up finding an awesome pizzeria down the street from our film site. A special shout out to the chef and staff at San Vitos for the amazing pizza in town! If you are ever in Crystal Beach, go give them a visit. Trust me, it's worth it! After our break, we continued filming up until about six in the evening when it was beginning to get dark outside. We intentionally wanted the sunset so we can capture the beautiful table display by the beach shore and the warm orange skies in the background while our talent walked the final scenes of the script.
The Video Editing
Finally, it was time to edit this masterpiece. The idea was to create two versions of the video. One for Property Identity and the other for In The Moment. Basically two branding videos. We made sure the video was scripted and laid out in such a way to make my life easier for the edit. After the initial cut, we had about 50% of the edit done. It was time to take it up a notch and make this video better than ever. I worked on refining the voice-overs and the titles with more emphatic punctuation for dramatic timing in between lines of text.
It was my job and duty to make sure both my clients Christine Yu and Darlene Jiwani were up to speed with the process and satisfied with the structure of the video edit. After several revisions and feedback from the clients, we were finally done with editing and ready to get this baby up on their social media outlets.
A New Learning Experience
I truly learned so much from this experience. Although it wasn't my first crack at it, it certainly was different than previous projects I've worked on. There were some major differences that made this project a learning experience and definitely more time-consuming than any other branding video we have produced in the past for other clients. It was fun! Christine and Darlene made this project worthwhile. Property Identity gave us the opportunity to expand our creative skills in the corporate video realm. There were no restrictions on what we could do for them, which was refreshing compared to other branding videos we have worked on in the past. My journey up the QEW to Lake Erie was all worth the anticipation.
If you are ever at Crystal Beach, Ontario, be sure to stay at In The Moment. You will not be disappointed. Check out Property Identity's website for your next property innovation. For creative branding storytelling videos, be sure to contact us.
