February 25, 2016 at 11:11Corporate calendar shootings: how the story was created with EastBanc Technologies employees cast
The theme of the corporate calendar is the eternal source of holivars. Many do not understand why they are needed, but each time on New Year's Eve the topic is raised in the news and fierce battles erupt. And we took off and did not regret it! Although it was very hard.
EastBanc Technologies has been releasing corporate calendars since 2012. We immediately abandoned the idea of undressing female colleagues or hiring professional models and undressing them, and for the first couple of years we simply painted funny characters.
And then it occurred to us that shooting a calendar is important because it is an opportunity to self-identify in space through a game, to come up with images that reflect the essence of the company, to choose ideal “actors” for them among their colleagues ... In short, create a beautiful visual metaphor for EastBanc Technologies. And in 2014, we came up with 13 stories whose heroes were ours.
This is where the whole EastBanc is captured.
And this is QA-engineer Lyuba playing the runaway bride.
For the shootings I managed to find a real Chevrolet Camaro, a rarity “Victory” and a vintage wedding dress, climb on a secret repochka to academic musicians and try out the DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter and GoPro Hero4 camera Black
We made this first game calendar for 2015 ourselves. The main idea was to show how different we are - romantic, perky, funny guys. For 2016, it was decided to change the idea - to focus on working on the product and our processes. And to implement, hire a stylist and photographer from the side.
They came up with the idea themselves: a fantasy on the theme of the beginning of the 20th century, Saint-Exupery is still a little boy, a flight through the Atlantic ahead, a young aircraft designer dreams of building a plane and opening a new page in the history of aeronautics. The task of strictly adhering to historical realities was not confronting us, so no one bothered about anachronisms and inconsistencies - a fantasy, after all, not a documentary.
So, our hero is an aircraft designer in search of financing for an ambitious project. He dreams of raising a new model of the aircraft to the wing. He has to deal with aircraft tycoons, investors, lose and win with the support of friends and beloved.
Starring Taras, Sales Manager, EastBanc Technologies.
We decided that such a story was a good allegory of work at EastBanc Technologies and got down to business.
First of all, the stylist sent us a wonderful document with the poetic name moodboard - in fact, a set of pictures that convey the mood, atmosphere, style, in which the future calendar will be designed. It looked something like this:
Here, the images of the heroes were written down, their poses, how the light should fall, who with what facial expression, how the location looks, what accessories are on, what is on the table - all the details.
Because the stylist traveled across Europe while thinking through the images, she went around the crashes and flea markets in European towns, buying everything suitable for shooting: canes, glasses, boots, clothes, cigarette cases ... The
stylist and photographer collaborate with interior salons, know their assortment and think over what it may come in handy: in one place they found a library, in another they rented the designer’s office and equipped a place where competitors aircraft magnates were impressively located.
We ourselves agreed with the third location - a small airfield, after which a tight shooting schedule was drawn up. It was to be completed in 5 days.
First we went to shoot scenes at the airport. It was a terrible cold. Our girls-designers, whose tasks were to determine the composition of the frame, put on all the possible sweaters and jackets that were found in the cars. But the guys bravely acted in their overalls, so that it was believable.
Our design girls, the heroines of September, inspect the props. The
head of the infrastructure department, Dima, is getting used to the image.
These curiosities were to be retouched. Yes, they are not very similar to airplanes of the beginning of the last century, but do not forget, we have a fantasy on the topic, not reconstructive gatherings.
The second day was shot in truly royal interiors, a huge underground labyrinth in the center of Novosibirsk, stuffed with decorations for every taste.
An episode was shot here when the designer comes with drawings to the owners of aircraft plants. They are happy with their business and therefore reject our hero. The project managers played the magnates; their look was supposed to radiate success and complacency. Yura and Zhora coped with the task by five.
The stylist conjures over the details, Zhora rehearses snobbery in the look of
Jura, is included in the image of the magnate
Taras participated in all five shooting days. Towards the end of the week, they predicted the career of a great make-up artist and laughed a lot, imagining how he selects a brush for blushing with an experienced hand movement.
Interior salons are full of fragile, beating things. Dragging the props from place to place, we, of course, banged one - openwork porcelain chicken. I had to buy. Now the beakless chick lives in our company kitchen.
Work on the set amazed everyone: makeup, the selection of parts that fall into the frame, poses, facial expressions - all this was filmed scrupulously, in the amount of several tens of frames. Each was tracked right there on the computer screen and the model received another recommendation on how to move the finger and which facial muscle to pull. Our guys seem to understand why professional models get paid: the work is hellish, many hours, exhausting and monotonous. But the result! It became clear that the casting was carried out as it should: all the actors fit perfectly into the roles. The most difficult thing for the guys was to find the right intonation for the perfect shot.
The end result after retouching. The dog, by the way, belongs to our colleague. She was the most charming and obedient actor on the set.
Further on the plot, the designer goes to investors, who were played by our directors and chief analyst. This has already happened in another interior salon. They put
light on investors.
The image of investors suggested that briolin hair, clean shaven and mandatory ties.
It was the most difficult to shoot this story: when so many serious men gather in one office, the air begins to burst from electricity.
And the result!
The plot with the girls, of course, is the most long-awaited in this story :)
And it could not do without a love story. The most difficult thing was to make two colleagues happily married / married to other people look believable in this story. The guys were embarrassed, but they completed the task.
How the character of the Muse of the hero was created: everything in the image is aimed at confusing the viewer regarding historical time - vintage clothes + tattoos
Experienced filmmakers say that it is very difficult to work with children, but if you find an approach to them, the tape will become a cash register. So we experienced it on ourselves. The young hero of the December sheet first tried to tear down the interior, but the huge fan for special effects mesmerized the actor and the shots turned out to be the best in the whole photo shoot.
Five days of filming turned out to be hectic and eventful. I must admit that for none of our colleagues it was not entertainment, I had to work too much. Nevertheless, everyone was very pleased to get such an experience - they shot almost like a real movie!
Then everything turned out a little more tragic: the first option from the retoucher was unanimously wrapped up - there was too much syur and art in it to our taste. It seemed that the project was a failure, we won’t succeed ... In the end, we insisted on a more “documentary”, realistic approach, and the result suited us. It sounds like no big deal, but in fact kilometers of nerves have been spent.
We printed the circulation exactly to send it to friends and customers, everyone who is truly friendly with EastBanc Technologies, trusts our professionalism and appreciates our experience. We tried so that the calendar did not fall into the hands of random people. So hardly at least one went to gather dust in a distant box.
Will we shoot such a complex plot calendar again? Not excluded! Of course, repeating is not the same, there will be a new creative challenge. The concept is already being written.
EastBanc Technologies has been releasing corporate calendars since 2012. We immediately abandoned the idea of undressing female colleagues or hiring professional models and undressing them, and for the first couple of years we simply painted funny characters.
And then it occurred to us that shooting a calendar is important because it is an opportunity to self-identify in space through a game, to come up with images that reflect the essence of the company, to choose ideal “actors” for them among their colleagues ... In short, create a beautiful visual metaphor for EastBanc Technologies. And in 2014, we came up with 13 stories whose heroes were ours.
This is where the whole EastBanc is captured.
And this is QA-engineer Lyuba playing the runaway bride.
For the shootings I managed to find a real Chevrolet Camaro, a rarity “Victory” and a vintage wedding dress, climb on a secret repochka to academic musicians and try out the DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter and GoPro Hero4 camera Black
We made this first game calendar for 2015 ourselves. The main idea was to show how different we are - romantic, perky, funny guys. For 2016, it was decided to change the idea - to focus on working on the product and our processes. And to implement, hire a stylist and photographer from the side.
They came up with the idea themselves: a fantasy on the theme of the beginning of the 20th century, Saint-Exupery is still a little boy, a flight through the Atlantic ahead, a young aircraft designer dreams of building a plane and opening a new page in the history of aeronautics. The task of strictly adhering to historical realities was not confronting us, so no one bothered about anachronisms and inconsistencies - a fantasy, after all, not a documentary.
So, our hero is an aircraft designer in search of financing for an ambitious project. He dreams of raising a new model of the aircraft to the wing. He has to deal with aircraft tycoons, investors, lose and win with the support of friends and beloved.
Starring Taras, Sales Manager, EastBanc Technologies.
We decided that such a story was a good allegory of work at EastBanc Technologies and got down to business.
First of all, the stylist sent us a wonderful document with the poetic name moodboard - in fact, a set of pictures that convey the mood, atmosphere, style, in which the future calendar will be designed. It looked something like this:
Here, the images of the heroes were written down, their poses, how the light should fall, who with what facial expression, how the location looks, what accessories are on, what is on the table - all the details.
Because the stylist traveled across Europe while thinking through the images, she went around the crashes and flea markets in European towns, buying everything suitable for shooting: canes, glasses, boots, clothes, cigarette cases ... The
stylist and photographer collaborate with interior salons, know their assortment and think over what it may come in handy: in one place they found a library, in another they rented the designer’s office and equipped a place where competitors aircraft magnates were impressively located.
We ourselves agreed with the third location - a small airfield, after which a tight shooting schedule was drawn up. It was to be completed in 5 days.
First we went to shoot scenes at the airport. It was a terrible cold. Our girls-designers, whose tasks were to determine the composition of the frame, put on all the possible sweaters and jackets that were found in the cars. But the guys bravely acted in their overalls, so that it was believable.
Our design girls, the heroines of September, inspect the props. The
head of the infrastructure department, Dima, is getting used to the image.
These curiosities were to be retouched. Yes, they are not very similar to airplanes of the beginning of the last century, but do not forget, we have a fantasy on the topic, not reconstructive gatherings.
The second day was shot in truly royal interiors, a huge underground labyrinth in the center of Novosibirsk, stuffed with decorations for every taste.
An episode was shot here when the designer comes with drawings to the owners of aircraft plants. They are happy with their business and therefore reject our hero. The project managers played the magnates; their look was supposed to radiate success and complacency. Yura and Zhora coped with the task by five.
The stylist conjures over the details, Zhora rehearses snobbery in the look of
Jura, is included in the image of the magnate
Taras participated in all five shooting days. Towards the end of the week, they predicted the career of a great make-up artist and laughed a lot, imagining how he selects a brush for blushing with an experienced hand movement.
Interior salons are full of fragile, beating things. Dragging the props from place to place, we, of course, banged one - openwork porcelain chicken. I had to buy. Now the beakless chick lives in our company kitchen.
Work on the set amazed everyone: makeup, the selection of parts that fall into the frame, poses, facial expressions - all this was filmed scrupulously, in the amount of several tens of frames. Each was tracked right there on the computer screen and the model received another recommendation on how to move the finger and which facial muscle to pull. Our guys seem to understand why professional models get paid: the work is hellish, many hours, exhausting and monotonous. But the result! It became clear that the casting was carried out as it should: all the actors fit perfectly into the roles. The most difficult thing for the guys was to find the right intonation for the perfect shot.
The end result after retouching. The dog, by the way, belongs to our colleague. She was the most charming and obedient actor on the set.
Further on the plot, the designer goes to investors, who were played by our directors and chief analyst. This has already happened in another interior salon. They put
light on investors.
The image of investors suggested that briolin hair, clean shaven and mandatory ties.
It was the most difficult to shoot this story: when so many serious men gather in one office, the air begins to burst from electricity.
And the result!
The plot with the girls, of course, is the most long-awaited in this story :)
And it could not do without a love story. The most difficult thing was to make two colleagues happily married / married to other people look believable in this story. The guys were embarrassed, but they completed the task.
How the character of the Muse of the hero was created: everything in the image is aimed at confusing the viewer regarding historical time - vintage clothes + tattoos
Experienced filmmakers say that it is very difficult to work with children, but if you find an approach to them, the tape will become a cash register. So we experienced it on ourselves. The young hero of the December sheet first tried to tear down the interior, but the huge fan for special effects mesmerized the actor and the shots turned out to be the best in the whole photo shoot.
Five days of filming turned out to be hectic and eventful. I must admit that for none of our colleagues it was not entertainment, I had to work too much. Nevertheless, everyone was very pleased to get such an experience - they shot almost like a real movie!
Then everything turned out a little more tragic: the first option from the retoucher was unanimously wrapped up - there was too much syur and art in it to our taste. It seemed that the project was a failure, we won’t succeed ... In the end, we insisted on a more “documentary”, realistic approach, and the result suited us. It sounds like no big deal, but in fact kilometers of nerves have been spent.
We printed the circulation exactly to send it to friends and customers, everyone who is truly friendly with EastBanc Technologies, trusts our professionalism and appreciates our experience. We tried so that the calendar did not fall into the hands of random people. So hardly at least one went to gather dust in a distant box.
Will we shoot such a complex plot calendar again? Not excluded! Of course, repeating is not the same, there will be a new creative challenge. The concept is already being written.