demi
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NHS Wales
… Our brief was to convey each of the many ways to do this in 30 short seconds.
We worked with Cardiff-based marketing communications agency, Golley Slater, to produce a TV commercial that combined live action and CGI. We also drafted in Welsh-born London-based Director Ewan Jones Morris, who brought a decade worth of CGI, animation and live action knowledge to the team. Completing the dream-team was our go to (and self-proclaimed) CGI Nerd, Stephen Thomas.
The giant floating arrows in the video point our characters to all the different places they can access the NHS. As with all things animation & CGI, these needed to sit seamlessly in our frames or the concept would fall apart. So while we, Golley and Ewan sent storyboards and designs back and forth, Stephen worked on creating a test model of the arrow.
With six setups to be shot over two days, this shoot needed to run like a well-oiled machine: distances between locations had to be short. Luckily, being a Cardiff-based video production company allows us to tap into the Cardiff Council’s very helpful film team who assisted us in finding affordable and easily accessible locations.
Due to the nature of this particular project, post-production became a back and forth process between our editor and Stephen as the arrows were worked into place. This could have been a complicated and time consuming process, but Stephen was able to send files over that could be swiftly slotted into DaVinci Resolve, from where we applied the finishing touches to make the arrows sit seamlessly within the environment.
University of South Wales
The brief for the 2023 University of South Wales TV commercial centred around a handful of alumni sharing advice and stories from their time at university. The target audience, primarily Gen-Z, were identified as being more switched-on and savvy than ever, so the idea for this commercial was to convey a sense of honesty and authenticity.
As our video production company is made up of a majority of USW alumni, we could relate to what USW wanted to achieve and could see what positive impacts this campaign could have for the University, Cardiff and South Wales.
We wanted to make it clear that USW gives students the tools they need to break into their chosen industry, while at the same time not laying the sales pitch thick. We had to tread carefully to ensure we struck the right balance.
“On Par delivered an outstanding TV ad, it has had an overwhelmingly positive response. Their communication, attention to detail and management of the project meant the ad was delivered well within deadline, and to budget.” – Sophie Partridge, Campaign Planning and Brand Manager at USW
Building on the open and honest ideals of the brief, our proposal was to shoot the interviews from an almost behind-the-scenes perspective where microphones, lights and the edges of backdrops would all be in frame and the “inner workings” of the commercial itself would be on show, to add to the authenticity.
For this to feel real while still functioning as a TV commercial, we worked with the contributors to create a script of boiled down answers, rather than feeding them lines.
All of this combined enabled us to create a TV Commercial that answered the client’s brief and more. In addition to the 30 and 60 second commercials, we produced a number of longer web and social media films focused on each of the featured alumni. A series of photographs were also taken which, combined with quotes from the interviews, have been used in an Out Of Home bilingual campaign.
With On Par leading on all creative, production and delivery elements, this campaign became a great opportunity for us to run our first Carbon Neutral production, calculated through and certified by AdGreen – something we will be doing for all commercials moving forward.
We also felt strongly about involving current USW students in the commercial’s production, creating eleven trainee positions for students to shadow the crew members. Check out this BTS film, shot by the students, to see how they got on.
Clogau
This is what our producers were asking themselves after S3 Advertising asked us to create Clogau’s Valentine’s Day TV Commercial.
The film would feature the Clogau family, which included Welsh presenter Gethin Jones and the tree would play a vital role too with the campaign based around Clogau’s Tree of Life collection. It needed to be big and have character.
However, you tend to only have evergreens in the Cardiff and South Wales area during winter, which scream Christmas… not quite what our client, nor we as a video production company want for a Valentine’s Day TV Commercial!
Time was running out on finding the ideal location, and bringing in a tree seemed expensive and far too complicated, so we decided the strongest option would be to add a CGI Tree in Post. This allowed us to use any tree wanted, dialling in on the foliage, bark, size, with, branches – etc.
“Amazing work on the commercial, looks beautiful!” – S3 Advertising
After shooting tests and integrating a reference tree, we decided on an Oak tree to symbolise longevity, strength, stability and endurance amongst other positive things – all symbolic details that helped to bring our family even closer together. During the shoot, stands with tennis balls became our tree stand-in, the director explaining to the cast and crew about how this would look in the final stages.
Work began in earnest once we got to the edit. Working with self proclaimed CGI Nerd, Stephen Thomas, we fine tuned the tree’s design and the way it sat within the scene. It had to look real and seamless – anything else and the concept would fall in on itself. As you can imagine, our director had a few sleepless nights – but it all came together in the end.
A strong performance from the Clogau family, Stephen’s CGI abilities and a fitting colour grade came together to create an emotive film that both agency and client were very happy with.
Work Shy
We’ve been working with Work Shy since their incarnation. They’re one of Wales’ premiere sustainable fashion brands, and their jackets look awesome – our team have a wide collection between them!
“On Par has great taste, everything they produce looks so cool. They bring a warm and positive energy to every project. They will always be our go to video production company” – Work Shy
This shoot saw us work with them and photographer, Tom Farmer, to pull together a young and diverse cast for their launch of a bright multicloured jacket range. We also took advantage of Cardiff’s wealth of great looking locations.
Shot over the course of a sunny autumn day with a small crew, our energetic camera movement combined with a laid back cast created a promotional fashion film that really sums up what Work Shy is all about.
