From Great Idea to Golden Reality

One thing I love about working on a creative team is that it doesn’t matter where a great idea comes from. Sometimes it’s someone on our team who comes up with something amazing, but other times it’s our clients who introduce a super cool idea.  Whether we think of it, or our clients do, our creative team will take the idea and run with it!

Recently one of our clients wanted to create a unique, high energy video to introduce the executive who was acting as the host for their event. She said, “I don’t want a boring corporate intro video for the event. This needs to grab everyone’s attention right away and communicate that this event is going to be different than past years.”  Her idea: Mission Impossible.

Not only was this super timely with the new Mission Impossible movie coming out at the end of May, but it was filled with fun. She wrote a video brief with her ideas and trusted us to make it come to life.

We started with a brainstorming session with our producers and writers. Could the CEO give the host his impossible mission? Could the host parachute out of a helicopter? How would we capture that? Could we hire a stunt team to bring this action “film” to life? Would he accomplish the mission alone, or would he have support from Mission Control? The ideas kept coming and we created a first script draft.

Our client reviewed the script and we went through a few iterations before they presented it to the host of the event, who would be our main talent for the video. This is where we held our breath. What if he wasn’t down for the playful, spy-themed video?

But he was SO in! He was ready to make time for a video shoot at his office, and some filming onsite at the event venue, despite his busy schedule. He fully committed to the project.

Production moved into full swing. Travel booked for a shoot at the client’s office? Check. Crew scheduled? Check. Shot list created? Check. Costumes ordered for talent and stunt man? Check. Insurance provided to the hotel that covers our stunt team? Definitely check.

Booking a stunt team? This task was a bit harder to check off than the others. While we’d worked with some amazing entertainment groups before on our live events, including Cirque du Soleil, acrobats, and extreme sports, we didn’t have a go-to video stunt team.  Through some research, and reaching out to our network, we got connected with a stunt coordinator in Clearwater, FL.  The stunt coordinator found a stuntman who was the same height and weight as the host of the event. We worked together to plan a shoot at their gym in Clearwater where they could complete even bigger stunts that required rigging.  The stunt coordinator brought so much creativity not only to the stunts, but to how the stunts would help tell the story.  He was a huge help guiding us through the process of having the right insurance, planning for the shoot day, and keeping everyone safe — stunt team and video crew alike.  We stayed in constant communication throughout the month leading up to the live event as we completed video shoots and began editing.

The magic really happened during the filming days and within the edit suite.  We had 3 successful days in 3 different locations.

1. A video shoot in the client’s office filming the first section of the video, with the agent receiving his mission and preparing for it with a fun suiting-up sequence.
2. A video shoot in Florida at the stunt team’s gym to capture a gravity-defying barrel leap.
3. An onsite video shoot at the hotel for the final leg of the agent’s journey to the event, which would culminate in a cut to a live camera shot as the host burst into the room.

Each filming day and location brought unique challenges and opportunities for creativity. In our client’s office, we wanted the opening sequence to feel like an average corporate video, but then, as soon as the main character gets a call from the CEO giving him his mission, all the lighting shifts to “spy mode” in his office as he presses a panic button.  Our director of photography had a clear vision on how to execute this, and created two completely unique looks within the same office space using lighting and camera angles.

At the stunt gym, we had the stunt man fly over a stack of barrels over 10 feet high. This shoot required patience from the entire crew, as getting the stunt exactly right took several takes. It required the crew to hit their marks perfectly as well. The stunt team and the video crew collaborated effectively and the final shot created a one-of-a-kind “wow” moment in the video.

The final video shoot happened onsite at the hotel and included both the host and the stunt double. Without having a site visit before we arrived at the hotel, we had pretty loose plans on what exactly we’d want to capture. But, sometimes not having a super concrete plan opens the door for even more creativity! The team filmed all throughout the hotel space, thanks to the very accommodating hotel staff (and proof of insurance). We captured an amazing flip off the lobby bar, a Texas switch when the stunt man falls out of frame and the host pops up, and a classic 007 martini moment.

And then, editing brought it all together with sound effects, spy music, and visual effects. We removed the rigging ropes that helped the stunt person complete the barrel jump, we filled blank monitors in “mission control” with CCTV footage, and we added moody color grading to bring it altogether.

And the best part? The crowd loved it! The attendees knew our host as their colleague and director of acquisitions, but they loved seeing him in full action movie glory!  There was laughter, surprise, and applause throughout the video and especially during his big entrance into the room. All of that hard work and coordination paid off!

As a creative team, we come up with a lot of great ideas, and we get to work with super creative clients who also come up with some amazing content that challenges us to continually think of something new.  At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where the idea started; what matters is how we built it out and brought it to life.

Now, on to the next one — fueled by espresso. Shaken, not stirred, of course!