Pre Production

When the South Carolina Aquarium approached us to create a 30 second video for their new broadcast campaign, we were thrilled. As a group of nature enthusiasts ourselves, we’re always excited at the opportunity to capture nature in action. We’re also suckers for a good cause so, with the Aquarium being a non-profit that’s doing incredible work, this was a dream project.

As a turn-key production house, we’re ready to handle every step of a project from concepting to script writing, casting to editing. Lucky for us, we got to dip our toes into all of it for this one. After locking in our filming date, the next step was to begin working on a handful of scripted creative concepts to present to the team at the Aquarium. In total, we crafted up 4 different concepts that ranged in tone, filming approach, and scope. 

Ultimately, we landed on a sensory-led approach that was less talent focused and instead immersed the viewer in the Aquarium experience. While we did cast a few small roles (cute kids, of course!), we let the true talent be the beautiful and fascinating creatures that call the Aquarium home.

‍

Production

With our schedule fully fleshed out around the times each animal is most active as well as low traffic times for visitors, we were ready for our full day of production. We kept our crew pretty nimble: a director, producer, and an assistant who also picked up the camera here and there. 

As you might imagine, the Aquarium is full of glass, which makes lighting a scene rather difficult (re: reflections). Not to mention, we needed to keep our gear to a minimum to not spook any of the animals (Liberty, the resident bald eagle, is not a fan of tripods). Because of this, we embraced the natural environment with minimum extra lighting brought in by us. 

Our efficient crew and gear line up made for an equally efficient filming day. We captured everything we needed plus a little more to include in the b-roll compilation we planned to deliver on top of the 30 second broadcast spot. 

‍

Post Production

With the clear concept and script outlined in pre-production, we finalized our voiceover recording and our in-house editor began putting it all together. We took extra time to add in loads of sound effects which, along with the vibrant color grade and intentional music, resulted in a sensory filled viewing experience. 

In the end, we delivered a 30 second cut for broadcast, along with a 15 second cutdown for social, and a b-roll footage library their team will be able to pull for use in future marketing campaigns. 

We are super proud of the work we created with the South Carolina Aquarium and are excited to share the final cut! Watch the full edit on Vimeo.