For the past 150 years, Brown-Forman has been a strong purveyor in fine quality beverage alcohol brands. Since establishment, they have focused on the goal of enriching lives and this has been reflected, not only in the quality of their products, but also in every aspect of their distinguished organisation.
This article is contributed by the Producer of this project, Faris Kamis.
Note: Some content in this article may be enhanced or paraphrased by using AI writer software.
The Vivid Snaps Team
Our team consists of media professional with expertise in video production from pre to post. Consisting of videographers, video editors, director, project coordinators and graphic designer. Our portfolio is focused on corporate clients. And our works ranges from internal communication videos, brand story videos, virtual & hybrid events and corporate photography.
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For more reference photos of our green screen studio, please visit our Green Screen Studio Singapore blog post.
The Brief
Brown-Forman has approached us with the intention of putting together a series of videos for their employee resource group. The videos are intended to be resource videos for their employees to further understand the organisation and how they can navigate certain personal and professional issues while working at Brown-Forman.
All the videos are tied together through one theme – responsibility. Brown-Forman wants to empower each and everyone of their 5600 strong employees but wants to also ensure that they practice professional and personal responsibility.
With that the client wants the video to be a 2D animation video, where we follow in the journey of a Brown-Forman employee, as they encounter their challenges while working at Brown-Forman and what they can do to navigate those challenges.
The Challenge
The key challenge is the treatment of the videos. In an animation, we are only limited by our imagination. How we transition between scenes and introduce characters are no longer limited to camera operations. Locations have little to no limits in appearance as we are now able to create and influence each detail in a location.
However, this enhanced freedom came with challenges as well as we needed to ensure that the essence and theme behind each video is not lost within our creativity. We needed to control our imagination – like a wild horse that needs to be tamed.
There was also a need to ensure that every character appears as racially neutral as possible. Due to Brown-Forman’s willingness to hire the right person, regardless of their background, we need to ensure that every employee can relate to these videos.
Our Concept
The videos are mini-stories following a member of the Brown-Forman family as they tackle an issue either related to work or practicing and understanding what responsibility means in Brown-Forman. The stories are via voiceover from a 3rd person perspective. This voice guides the story as the 2D animations bring to life the characters.
The design of the main characters is aimed to be as neutral as possible, hence, we avoided skin tones that would specifically indicate a certain racial profile. The animation process was kept to a simple, minimalist style that allowed for quick turnovers yet not compromising on the visual appeal.
Voiceover was provided by the client through the use of an AI voice. This approach was once again decided to enforce on the neutrality of the characters. The relatively monotonous delivery of an AI voice allowed us to avoid accents and intonations that would go against the neutrality objective.
From Design to Animation
A full animation takes a different approach in executing to that of a live action video. The most obvious would be the absence of a filming phase, which is often replaced by rigging and animating the characters. However, before we can begin to animate the characters, we need to design the characters.
We begin the process by putting together the characters and locations. These still images are then sent to the client for approval before we proceed with rigging. The animator would work with the different layers of each character (head, eyes, mouth, arms) to create the movements for each character.
Editing
A phase that is often overlooked in an animation video is the editing stage. Many have mixed the idea that animation is a stage of editing, but in fact, animation is akin to the production phase. An editing stage is still required to input the voices, music and other sound effects. The editor also controls the pace of the video and ensures that each transition is smoothly done.
The Final Product
The process throughout the production of this project was relatively smooth. The designs were done well and the animation style helped to bring energy and life into the characters and locations.
The story was coherent as well with a strong message in each of the videos, that highlights the importance for Brown-Forman to be able to provide emotional and mental support in many different forms to each and every employee.
Vivid Media Production Team
We hope this article has provided quick insights in media production. Our team is ready to work with you. Leverage on our combined expertise for your media production. Our core expertise are in the following fields:
- Corporate video production
- Live streaming for virtual & hybrid events
- Corporate photography
- Event photography & videography
For a profile of our team, visit About us to learn more.
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Some projects are straight-forward while others can be complex, drop us a message with your project requirements. Our project coordinator will get in touch with you to provide a price quotation.
