VISION PROFILES TEAM UP WITH SHADOWPLAY MEDIA
One very exciting new venture for our Marketing department will be our new Vision film
Notice we aren’t referring to this as a ‘corporate video’ – it’s far more than that. We’ve teamed up with the hugely successful Shadowplay Media to create something unique, something very different.
Within the manufacturing industry, it’s not easy to translate our processes into an exciting film, but Lauren Grady, our Marketing & Communications manager had a very clear Vision (pun intended) from the outset:
“For me, its really important in today’s constantly evolving and modernising market, to keep everything fresh,exciting, and new. The aluminium sector isn’t necessarily easy to sell, its incredibly industrial, and typically with that kind of sector, particularly where a lot of manufacturing is envolved, comes quite busy, and sometimes ‘‘messy” environments. But not Vision Profiles, and certainly not Cortizo, so I figured we needed to show that off, in all its it immaculate glory.
I went to our MD with an idea to find a really creative and modern film maker, to help make my vision a reality. I didn’t want a ‘corporate video’, I wanted something much more unique than that.”
Lauren then made it her mission to find the right company to work with, and it was Phil James, Owner and Creative Director of Shadowplay Media that secured the big task of capturing the intricacies and processes of Vision Profiles and Cortizo - on film.
With several brainstorm meetings, story boards slaved over, and a recce over to both Cortizo HQ in Padron, and on site to Vision profiles in Gloucester - the format was finalised and filming could begin. We also made the decision to have Shadowily photograph every department,as well film - hence the incredible catalogue of images we now have. These feature through out our website, and now with a bank of over 2000 images, we’ll never be short of imagery.
“We decided to shoot Cortizo first, as this would naturally feature in the first half of the film.” Lauren details.
“To start with, our flight was delayed by 5 hours, meaning we didn’t touch base at the hotel in Santiago until 4am! Not the best start to a 2 day intensive film shoot. But Phil and his team wouldn’t be defeated, and we woke up 3 hours later and embarked on the testing task of filming specific dies, and key profiles during the natural production processes in a factory that works 24 hours a day, and doesn’t stop … for anyone! A key piece of equipment for the film was a drone, to really maximise and demonstrate the scale of both sites, particularly Cortizo which boasts an incredible square footage.
A fact any current client of ours will know about Northern Spain? It rains, ALL the time! And our shoot was no exception. Continual torrential rain for 2 days meant that no drone footage could take place outside, heart breaking to tell you the truth. So Phil had to get really creative to capture the shots we needed … see if you can spot where we had to think outside the box to get ‘external’ footage!”
Wet but undeterred, Lauren and Shadowplay arrived back in the UK, where Shadowplay spent a few weeks editing the Cortizo footage before arriving at Vision Profiles HQ in Gloucester to film the second part of the film.
“Alicja, our Operations manager, had spent days preparing for Shadowplays arrival, everything from planning what was being machined that day, to organising all staff were available to feature in the relevant departments … its all the little details that take a lot of organisation.” Lauren recalls.
“ We had to follow the ‘story’ on from Cortizo, and make sure it was seamless, and clear. We wanted the Elumatec SBZ 151 to feature dominantly, so we came up with the idea to attach a go pro camera to the end of a profile being machined… What Phil and his team didn’t realise was that the saw blade would be millimetres away from the camera as it was programmed to cut the jig marks off the ends of the profile. Safe to say Phil thought his camera had been sawn off, hilarious moment!! (maybe you had to be there)”.
We filmed everything from unloading the lorry, through to picking the packs from stock, loading onto the CNC, handling through packing and back out onto he Vision Profiles lorry. We wanted to capture every service we provide, without seeming rigid, and keeping it interesting.
“I couldn’t be happier with the finished product. Its been a year in the making, and getting to work so closely with a director with such intuitive and creative flare has been really exciting. `the attention to detail is what I truly feel sets this film aside from a typical, generic corporate video. Its holds it’s own in a very corporate and industrial market, and i think it sets us apart from our competitors.”