ScrapYard
15 sec edits | Perfume Social Media Campaign
A treatment by Steven Phillips
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Contents
Introduction
The Idea
The Ecosystem
Our Approach
The Characters
Casting & Styling
Visuals
The Product
Cinematography
Art department
Audio
The Story
Storyboards
Post Production
Introduction
Hi there, I’m Steven. I’m stepping out from anonymously art directing in-house creative teams for the last 20 years to present some film ideas that I’ve had in mind for months, maybe years now.
This treatment is for a moody perfume social media campaign. While it will still have the production values of an advertising piece, I think it will be stronger if we can free it up from the need for specific product placement or casting for a specific demographic.
To achieve commercial quality on an independent’s budget, we’ll need to establish a clear creative framework. This treatment steps out the key requirements so a plan of attack can be structured with whomever comes on board.
The Idea
We’ll create a series of 15 sec clips that a modern and edgy brand would use for a perfume social media campaign.
The aspirations are a little less lofty here than some of my other treatments. The goal is to create some great memorable and unexpected shots that would help a brand cut through with their social media spend.
We use 3D scanned environments of junk yards, industrial sites, metal scrap yards and desolate abandoned lots.
The models stand in stoic strong poses among the ‘ruins’, their features indistinguishable due to masks, lighting or makeup. They wear striking neon outfits.
The junkyard scenes are somehow sprayed, splattered or flooded with neon paint. The soundtrack is abrasive and noisy.
The Mood
Our Approach
These films are a bit of an assemblage of existing content.
I will source 3D scans of desolate places from Sketchfab - ensuring they have the correct creative commons licensing.
The ‘models’ will just be 3D characters in unusual poses, clothed in Marvellous Designer.
The paint effects will be a mask that is applied to the 3D scan meshes to allow a second surface treatment to be applied. I will likely create custom splatter masks in real life with some paint and flat boards.
The soundtrack can be initially cut using someone like Cobrah, but I would also look to collaborate with a musician to get some custom clips.
Visuals
The backgrounds are washed out, grey, gloomy, foreboding.
We see fog and rain, there are puddles on the ground. It’s bleak.
The characters are bright and punchy, a sharp contrast to the scene.
The splashed paint is even more contrasty.
The final frames have the feeling of Pollock meets Robocop.
The Characters
For this film the characters are amorphous and anonymous.
We will use diverse body shapes, they will strike strong poses, we’ll render them enveloped in fabric with no discernible facial features.
The Product
The product might not be too prominent here, it’s more about creating a brand moment.
Often a brand will link in an iconic silhouette, so we might also do a few shots of handbags, shoes or glasses to create a full range concept.
Cinematography
Keeping us well into the ‘now’ the vibe of this should be vertical, handheld, and with the glitched aesthetic of a gritty well-used 90s VHS tape.
Stopping short of completely destroying the whole edit with retro video effects, we will add some poor tracking, flickers, interlacing etc. to make it suitably dirty.
As the paint hits for our hero shots we will ensure the final frames are vivid and eye catching.
Audio
This one is all about abrasive intense audio.
We get a super strong beat with a rumbling bassline, that’s about it. Maybe a sample from a movie or something that adds a layer of ‘disturbing’ to the end product.
Art Department
This one is all about abrasive intense audio.
We get a super strong beat with a rumbling bassline, that’s about it. Maybe a sample from a movie or something that adds a layer of ‘disturbing’ to the end product.