Making a good first impression is important, and as such, it’s sometimes appropriate to “take one for the team”, smash expectations and blow your client’s socks off.
Although we’d been buddies with the Focusrite//Novation team for a while, working together on smaller-scale, short-term projects, this promo was a step up for the first product from their app-making spin-off company, Ampify.
Eager to prove ourselves as capable of dealing with higher-profile, higher-budget projects, we gracefully accepted the challenge of creating the main brand film that would be used to launch Ampify’s new app, Blocs Wave
Ampify used their industry influence to source an artist on which we could base our film—the chilled and talented Sri-Lankan born Londoner, Suren Seneviratne aka My Panda Shall Fly. Top chap.
Hungry to impress, we made a decision to stretch what we could do on the budget to its absolute limits, hiring in an Alexa Mini and Leica lenses. However, gear isn’t everything. We knew that we had to pack a creative punch, too, so we worked on a concept that would thematically marry up the app’s unique features with the film’s visuals and flow. We opted to shoot the majority of the film on a gimbal, which allowed us to utilise a smooth, fluid style while injecting some impactful transition effects.
Blocs Wave as an app allows music makers to record new music quickly, and make real-time loops in any location, and this was the key message that we really wanted to get across: that inspiration can strike you from anywhere. Covering several London locations in one day, we moved between large open parks, record stores, home studios and cafes, lighting quickly where needed, achieving an ambitious sense of scope for a one-day shoot.
Edited in-house and coloured using Kodak emulation LUTs, the project was delivered to a warm reception by our friends at Ampify.
