Brief
Keen to promote brand loyalty, particularly amongst younger audiences, Hever Castle commissioned a dramatic and humorous online film to appeal to younger, media-savvy visitors and increase related merchandise sales.
Filmed on location at Hever Castle throughout the summer, the mini-movie would showcase their popular jousting tournaments to audiences new and old, capitalising on the pomp and pageantry of the spectacle and comic rivalry between opposing teams.
As part of Hever Castle’s wider social marketing campaign, the dynamic promotional film would appear on the website, and a series of six amusing 30-second mini-trailers introducing the knights as engaging, individual personas would run on YouTube.
Method
With budgets tight, we nevertheless managed to bag a bird’s eye perspective on the medieval grandeur, taking to the skies one micro-lite, one HD Panasonic HVX 201, and one camera operative with nerves of steel… luckily all three made it back to earth unscathed, paying off in the final piece.
Back on the ground, we filmed on both our Panasonic and industry stalwart HDV Sony Z1 over four weekends to ensure a cross-section of audience and action, requiring added attention in the final colour grade to ensure a unified look.
Our fast-paced edit brought out the excitement and drama of the tournament, heightened by the music choice. Responding to our budget, we commissioned a cost-effective classical sound-alike heightening the humour with enhanced the sound effects of the knights’ clashes.
Outcome
The finished film accurately conveys the thrills, spills and excitement of the tournaments. It has been very well received by both client and the public, enhancing the website as intended, and is brought back every spring to announce the summer activities.
The Youtube friendly viral pieces are currently being used as part of a wider social media campaign as per the intention.
