University of Sunderland: Brand Film
Deliverables:
1 x 90s brand film
20+ 5K screengrabs
Dead Pixel did:
Location Scouting
Lighting
Filming
Directing / producing
Editing
Grading
Quote of the Shoot:
“Is the 5am call time a mistake?"
Brief
Sheffield-based creative agency, Jaywing, approached us to collaborate on an edgy brand film for The University of Sunderland. Their creative strategy was to focus on your path after university, along with the careers and doors that open up because of the career-focused skills taught at Sunderland. The project is part of a wider marketing campaign to increase student enrolments and to highlight the university’s recent investment to bolster a number of faculties.
Jaywing shared a handful of reference films to gain an understanding of the style of edit that they had in the mind.
The rest was up to us.
Pre-Production
We drove up to Sunderland for a pre-production meeting and recce with the university brand team. We were able to get a feel for the facilities and people that were to be featured, allowing us to plan for each setup needed to achieve the concept.
We had 25 scenes to cover across 6 locations, plus everything in between so had to form a tight schedule and ensure that we had plenty of faces to feature throughout the brand piece. This was a big logistical piece but the organisation allowed for more creative time on set.
Production
We arrived in Sunderland the night before filming in order to be well rested for the week ahead. We had a small crew consisting of a Director/Producer, Director of Photography, Art Director, Account Manager and Runner.
We used our Red Gemini 5K in a low impact ‘run and gun’ setup, meaning we could move fast between locations using a lot of available light, LED strips and bounce boards.
Post-Production
Our in-house team took care of the edit, including grading, graphics and sound design. Due to the intended style of edit, the heavy sound design played a key part in soundtracking the film without the need for a main audio track.
We had a recording session with BBC’s Lauren Laverne who’s voice-over carries the pace and energy of the edit from start to finish. We used various visual metaphors that helped mix her dialogue with the picture and add intrigue to the edit.
Jane Oswald, Head of Marketing at the University of Sunderland said: “We loved the concept from day one and thought that it really focussed on why we’re here, which is to get our students there (wherever that may be for them).
She added: “Both Jaywing and Dead Pixel were brilliant to work with and managed to capture our city in a way that I’ve not seen before.”
You can read the full press release here.
Behind the scenes with Dead Pixel and Jaywing
