OVERVIEW

Thanks for considering Hotbed to produce your BACI mirror branding film. While developing this treatment, we've kept a couple of things in mind. First, the budget is tight. Second, despite the budget, we want to make a branding film that has impact. This task is not new to Hotbed. Often, when these two factors are combined we need to think outside of the box to develop a production approach that will allow us to create a low-budget film with IMPACT.

BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS

Our treatment is based on the following budget-conscious recommendations.

Alter the concept so that it’s a visual story. No Dialogue. Remove all conversational dialogue from the film and use music as the audio bed. Keep the voice over. We’re confident that we can sell Ms. Adam’s story visually. Cost savings will be in VO talent and on-set audio mixer who will be capturing practical sound. We will also save time in audio post.

Do not film product shots during principal photography. Rely on pre-existing stock photos.

Reduce production scope to a small documentary style crew. Use a small, portable camera, mostly natural lighting. Quick set ups and freedom of movement will allow us to get our shots in a single day.

Below we outline two different production approaches that keep in mind our recommendations. Each production approach will be driven by our core creative approach to the BACI film. Overall, if we can get in a good looking location, find the right talent and then shoot the spot using a documentary style, we can achieve the concept and story with style on time and budget.

PROD APPROACH ONE: 16MM

Using a documentary style (minimal) crew we’ll capture the two perspective views of Ms. Adams in her hotel suite. We'll shoot on 16mm film. The thrust of our production dollars will be spent on talent, location and hair/make-up/wardrobe. We'll set the stage for high production value. The photography itself will be simple, yet stylish. The director, cameraman and talent will work together to play out the scenarios of the film. The scenarios will be well planned, but the shooting quick, in some cases handheld, intuitive and discovery oriented (the pov shots of the mirror will be locked off). We need to keep the shooting to one day therefore will not have time to shoot product shots. The product will be demonstrated during Ms. Adam’s interaction with the product.

We see the look of the film as being either black and white or de-saturated color. We’d like the film to have a grittiness to it. This will add to the classic feel of the piece. You’ll see this look in a camera test that we created.
Visual Inspiration:
Camera Test

PROD APPROACH TWO: STILLS

This is an approach Hotbed has employed in the past to create visually unique films on a tight budget. Using a still camera, we’ll capture the two perspective views of Ms. Adams in her hotel suite. The result will be a stop motion effect. Because we use a digital SLR still camera, we can rely on natural light, a lighter crew and quicker shooting to make our day. The images are hi-resolution giving the film a 35mm look. The files are imported into Final Cut Pro and edited into a stop motion sequence.

Again, the thrust of our production dollars will be spent on talent, location and hair/make-up/wardrobe to set the stage. As with the first approach, the second approach will rely on pre-existing product stills to represent the product.

Visual Inspiration:
Sony: Picture_Life

CREATIVE APPROACH

Regardless, of the production approach, our creative objective is the same.

Creative Goal
To connect with viewers (mostly male) by capitalizing on their inherently human interest in watching someone who doesn’t know they are being watched: Ms. Adams. Meanwhile, place BACI mirrors in a sophisticated and elegant light. BACI mirrors are high-end mirrors for people that appreciate beautiful, functional and well-crafted products. It could be said that the target audience consists of people that appreciate products with soul; products that are well designed with a clear and distinct vision; products that are crafted with passion. We would like to present the BACI mirror with the same level of commitment to the craft of filmmaking. I want to make a film that is very much what the BACI mirror is; well crafted and soulful.

Creative Inspiration
Federico Fellini Movies – Fresh photographic style
Spike Jonze's Lamp
Opening of Amgen Film - Epogen & You
Camera Test

Keywords
Fashion
Fashion Photography
Organic film processing
Handheld
Locked off
Rack focus
Nuances
Film grain
Provocative
Neo-realism – capturing reality
Verite


Crucial Elements
Story
Casting
Location
Wardrobe
Hair / Make-up

STORY

The groundwork for the story was laid out nicely in the storyboards. The next step will be to take the boards to the next level and realize the story by creating scenarios and actions that support the voiceover and story arc. These visual scenarios will help flesh out the story into a visual film and cohesive storyline that has an emotional arc. We will create nuances, character objectives and beats that give Ms. Adams authenticity and emotion. Its what will make us want to watch her and follow her story.

As an example, this is how we would realize the opening scenario:

We begin the film with static shots of nuances of the hotel room; the finer things that make this room comfortable, exquisite. Much like the opening of a film we did for Amgen. VIEW VIDEO

These shots will support the opening voice over, "what defines a luxury hotel?..."

The film pushes in and lands on the mirror with a slow dolly. Here we establish the mirror as the hero. After pushing into the mirror, we cut to the mirror's POV. The hotel suite is empty until a door opens. We see Ms. Adams. We see a bellboy put her luggage down. She’s speaks to him and hands him a tip. The door closes. Ms. Adams walks into full view, sighs. She removes her coat and puts it on the bed. She walks toward camera. Noticing the mirror, she sighs and examines herself. It was a long flight and the airport was hectic. She fixes a stray hair and strokes her eyebrow. She's relaxed now. She smiles.

PHOTOGRAPHY

We will establish guidelines for shooting each perspective.

Mirror Point of View
This is what the mirror sees. These shots will be locked down unless the talent manipulates the mirror. We will select the proper lens that allows talent to come close to the mirror while staying in focus, but also a lens that is not so wide that it will distort the talents face or make it seem that the bedroom is too far away. I understand the desire to sell the idea of the mirror with image distortion but I don't want to do that at the expense of making the talent look strange. After all, this spot is about beauty. We don't have to rely on distorting the image to sell the mirror. By using simple cutting we can establish the mirror's point of view. You can see this in Spike Jonze's Lamp for Ikea. The lamp's POV is clearly established through simple cutting. Watch the spot.

You can also see in this spot that Spike Jonze gives the lamp its own sense of character. I'd want to do these same for the mirror. By dollying in on the mirror, I will give the mirror its own identity. Of course, our portrayal of the lamp won't be as dark as the portrayal of the lamp.

The boards indicate that the mirror shifts angles to view different sections of the hotel room. We'll achieve this change in view by having the talent shift the mirror with her hands. We’ll use a special camera rig with handles next to the lens.

In order to mimic the mirror's built-in lights, we'll employ ring-lights around the lens to achieve a soft glow on the talents face.

The beauty of these shots are going to be the way in which we frame them and how we see bits of Ms. Adams as she walks around in her bedroom. There will be a sense of voyeurism here; the silent and non-judgmental observer.

Third Point of View
The Third POV covers the opening detail shots of the hotel room, the over-the-shoulder shots of the talent working with the mirror and the shots of the talent moving through the room, sitting in a chair, etc. I imagine that we can be a bit more organic with these shots. Some might be handheld; some locked off, with rack focus and foreground elements. This will be a nice contrast to the locked down shots of the mirror POV and offer a distinct difference in POV. Please reference a vigentte of some film I shot to get a sense of what I mean by organic. Watch it here. While this clip isn't exactly on point, it gives you a sense of the hand-held camera work, the over-the-shoulder shooting, the interaction with the camera and the look and quality of film vs. video that I envision.

I specifically see the Objective POV playing well for the voice over found on slide 17 "Time and time again..." Here, we'd like to use the objective POV to cover Ms. Adams in a time elapse of her stay. She interacts with the mirror. She reads on her bed. She talks on the phone. She is comfortable in her room. She's made it her home.

Images for Inspiration:

PRODUCT SHOTS

We’ll limit filming the product on set to shots of Ms. Adam’s using the mirror and establishing shots of the mirror. We can take some time to capture close ups but we will rely on pre-existing Hi-res images of the product for product demonstration. But, we can cover most of the bullet points during principal photography. For instance, the "precision adjustability" bullet point can be covered with OTS footage of the model adjusting the mirror during her practical usage. Text bullet points can be designed around the shot in a graphically pleasing manner.

The pre-existing product stills will play an important part in demonstrating the product. We can use them in a very cool way. In order to make a smooth transition to the pre-existing product stills I imagine placing our footage inside one of the mirrors and using an After Effects camera to pull out and reveal a world of BACI mirrors against a white backdrop. While in this white space we can use the 3D camera to take us through different stills that highlight the framework of the mirror. In essence, the entire film is being watched as a reflection in a mirror.

LIGHTING

I imagine the lighting in the hotel to be very natural and bright. I'd like to find a suite with plenty of sunlight to minimize our set lighting. For the bathroom scenes we will match a big, soft source feeling so that we light the talent with beauty light. The lighting in the mirror will be a great way to shed beautiful light on the talent when she's looking into the mirror.

TALENT

I image that Ms. Adams to be beautiful, charming and sophisticated (sans makeup). At the same time there is something very "normal" about her. She's very approachable. Her wardrobe will tell us that she knows her fashion and she dresses to eclectically. She might mix an expensive sweater with pants from a thrift store. She is sophisticated in her taste. Much of what we see of Ms. Adams will be her movements through the hotel suite. We want to cast talent with grace of movement. She should work well in a close up, too.

LOCATION

While our photography will be reminiscent of the past, we'd like to place the story in a contemporary location. Below are images of hotels that fit my imagination. These are hotels located in San Francisco.

SUMMARY

At Hotbed, we believe we can make the BACI film unique and memorable through the approaches we’ve outlined above. We thrive in your confidence; allowing us to evolve your concept through our point of view. But, ultimately, we want to serve to serve your purpose. Thanks for considering Hotbed.