Pre-Production

We work closely with the Stylus creative team to continually find new ways of approaching their promotional video content. The process typically starts with creative brainstorming during a conference call or meeting, in which all ideas are given a chance.

Once a conceit has been agreed, we develop and then storyboard the idea. Whether it's a Partridge Family tribute, a Life Aquatic pastiche or a gimbal shoot in which the camera never stops moving, the video is crafted to pique the curiosity and communicate the core findings of Stylus's research.

Filming

We crew each shoot with a Producer/ Director, a DoP (who manages both picture and sound) and an autocue operator.

Much of the filming for the Macro Trend and the Year Ahead videos has taken place at the Stylus office, in a large conference room which we clear and ‘black out' to create a studio space. The filming predominantly involves Pieces to Camera (PTCs) by Stylus editors using an autocue. The use of an autocue negates the need to memorise lines and creates efficiencies which allow us to film up to 9 contributors in a day. All the editors are comfortable in front of the camera and so our time is spent getting the right tone and nuance in the delivery for both the main 3-4 minute video and a specially scripted 60 second trailer video.

With input from Stylus we have moved away from filming against a plain white background, which has unwanted corporate undertones, and have explored different coloured backgrounds that compliment each speaker and are coloured-blocked against what they wear. To keep costs to a minimum in the Look Ahead videos we use a number of small coloured backgrounds (rather than a 2.72 metre roll on a background support system) and film the contributors on the end of a long lens in just one shot size. We have also filmed on green screen in the office studio space in order to comp in our own cartoon-style background in post production.

With some Macro Trends we have shot outside on location, including Hampstead Heath for a video about sustainability and against urban backdrops in London's Westbourne Grove for the Active Lives Macro Trend video. For the latter all PTCs were delivered on the move and captured using a gimbal with an A7S and hidden radio mics.

Post-Production

The PTCs we capture - whether indoors or on location - are edited together with relevant stock and brand imagery. The quality of the stills and video we include needs to be extremely high and often very specific given the nature of the Stylus reports. Stylus archive researchers source many images for us, and our editor supplements these as necessary.

Our 2D Graphics Artist creates an additional graphical layer for each video, the style of which varies depending on the subject. Our graphical approach is often informed by the look & feel of the promotional content devise by Stylus to promote each report (banners, report front pages etc). We have also created some video content that is entirely graphical with no interviews at all.

As ever, adding a choice music track makes all the difference along with a really good grade.

The data shows unequivocally that the snappy trailer videos engage Stylus members with the full videos and the detailed written reports. Moreover, the videos signal to members that this is a brand that not only reports on consumer desires and behaviours, but understands how its members want to consume information in a stylish and easily digested video format.