Collaborative working is at the heart of a lot of the work we do. Be that with clients, colleagues or Agencies. They all have their benefits and challenges, ultimately boiling down to creative differences. But every now and then you work on one where things roll out smoothly, too smoothly in fact.

Food, Steak, Brocoli, Chef, Kitchen, Restaurant

We have worked with Nexus PR for a number of years and enjoy the creative challenges and creative freedom we’re often granted. Our main contact there presented us with a brief for some fresh brand video content. The brief was to show how Woods Foodservice supply high quality locally sourced food produce to a range of clients. The video should be no more than 90 seconds, should include a range of food types and show the speed at which food reaches the fork from the field.

Drone, Field, Farm, Farming, Tractor, Countryside, Field, Corn

A natural starting point was to show the finished dish, and quickly flash back through the steps the ingredients had taken to get there. In the first few seconds you should be able to tell the key message of the video. Tick. We spent two days across multiple sites capturing the key shots from the storyboard, occasionally bagging some nice incidental shots along the way. We do this because it gives us options in the edit and can sometimes look better than the intended storyboard shot. It also gives the client additional media for social content. We used a mixture of the Panasonic GH6 and Panasonic S1H both shooting in 4K 200Mbps. Our lenses comprised of Sigma’s Prime Art range; 24mm and 50mm. Leica’s Prime range 18mm – 85mm and a mixture of lights from the Aputure 300C to our FalconEyes RX-36TDX, amongst other peripherals.

Baker, Bread, Dough, Baking, Sourdough, Industrial

Due to the pace of the edit, we opted to shoot most shots hand-held. This was done on the S1H, which gave the footage a sense of urgency and realism, allowing us to move quickly between locations. We had the GH6 on DJI’s Ronin RS3 Pro, paired with a distortionless wide angle lens from Laowa. We always shoot in LOG colour space, especially when we’re dealing with indoor and outdoor mixtures. The Dynamic range it offers, makes for a more neutral and natural aesthetic. Not to mention, the flexibility when colour grading.

Tomato, Heritage, Premium, Quality, Red, Taste, English

When it comes to editing something like this, the foundation is usually a mixture of three things; Music, key storyboard shots and great incidental shots. We Start by creating an edit reel with a blanket colour correction filter. Pick out our favourite shots and place them in the correct order. We apply a track that suites the overall mood of the video and begin cutting, until we reach a “Directors V1”. This is then shared with Nexus PR, who give feedback and make sure we haven’t deviated too far from the brief. They we’re really happy with V1 and only had minor amendments. The final cut, V2, was delivered and signed off by the end client, Woods Foodservice.

Office, Food, Woods Foodservice, Premium, supply chain

The reason this project ran smoothly was for a number of reasons, but most importantly; Solid planning from Nexus PR – They knew what the client wanted and were able to clearly communicate with us what was needed. Aligning creatively with Nexus PR – Moodboards, music options and references edits are very helpful during the pre-production phase. and finally Sticking to the plan and the schedule – It’s very easy to obsess over a particular shot and want to “get it perfect”. But you have to look at the bigger picture and make sure that you have a “take” that you’re happy with and not take too much time from the day.

Chef, Delivery, Food, Van, Happy, Service

Hopefully the end result speaks for itself. Total time taken; two days filming on location and three days of post production. All delivered on time and in budget. It feels like we know what we’re doing.