In Concert
Illuminating Lightcast’s Symphony of Data
Lightcast may be a new name in the labor market data and analytics space, but it actually represents the merger of Emsi and Burning Glass, two storied companies with over two decades of experience in the industry. Part of the unveiling of this new brand involved making a video that would introduce the Lightcast name to the businesses, governments, and educational institutions that are their current and prospective customers.
Lightcast deals with a somewhat intangible product — labor data and insights — but this data helps real people find real jobs. The company had recently produced an explainer video that focused on what Lightcast does, but they wanted a complementary piece of content to share why they do what they do.
To hone in on the real-life impact of their work, Lightcast gave us a call.
That's the value of working with amazing creatives like Myriad. We hire you to do more than hire shooters and film a video. We hire you to be part of the creative process.
If you’re unfamiliar with labor market analytics, It can be difficult to close your eyes and picture exactly what Lightcast does. They supplied us with a helpful Venn diagram (below), which we used to focus our creative process. Two of our directors, Daniel Cook and Brent Edwards, got to work.
They came up with two separate approaches: one with an emphasis on practical lighting design, and the other leaning heavily on a custom music score. Following several rounds of iteration, Lightcast decided to move forward with the music-driven concept.
The video is emotive. It gives our employees a signpost and articulates clearly why Lightcast is helping build a labor market that works for everyone.
Lightcast's customers (educators, employers, and community leaders) are virtuosos in their respective fields. Solo, they can make beautiful music. But when you introduce a conductor to guide them as part of a larger group? Beautiful harmony. A “symphony of data,” if you will. Because when everyone works "In Concert," everything works better.
With this approach, it was important to have a modern, original score played by real musicians. For a future-focused data company, Lightcast didn’t want to be thought of in the same vein as a dusty concerto.
Director Daniel Cook and Musical Director Autumn Brand took that mission to heart. The story focuses around a cellist who is a single voice, isolated and frustrated. But, over time, she finds her people. Lighting is also used to tell this story visually.
The cellist starts in a dark, moody environment. As the music builds to a crescendo, the lighting design changes, and a violist and two violinists join her on stage. Director of Photography Max Zampieri works his magic to compose frames that capture both the isolation of the cellist and the collective harmony of the quartet.
This video was a unique opportunity to cultivate these skills together as a director and musician with Autumn.
The score is written to be performed live on stage while also being carefully crafted to work in editorial. It was a back and forth in the production of the score while editing the final cut. Director (and in this case editor) Daniel Cook made changes on the fly to seamlessly blend the music and video.
Gives people chills every time, no matter how often they watch it.
The video launched on YouTube (where it has over 70,000 views), Vimeo, LinkedIn and other social media accounts. It holds a prominent place on the front page of the company’s website and has been featured in nearly 50 conferences. Across all platforms, including Lightcast's website, the video has over 400,000 views with a 91% completion rate.
Lightcast's Sales and Customer Success teams are using it to engage prospects and existing clients in meetings. It kicks off their public webinars and internal all-hands gatherings. It will be the first piece of content hundreds of attendees see at their upcoming Lightcast Connect Conference (October 22-25, 2023). The coolest part? Lightcast has hired a string quartet to play at the event live!
As well, the video won a Marcom Platinum Marketing Award in the Corporate Image Category.
Across all platforms, including Lightcast's website, the video has over 400,000 views with a 91% completion rate.
“In Concert” lays the groundwork for the articulation of the Lightcast brand, across strategic internal alignment, projects that cross new audiences and future products in the Lightcast lineup.
Well, I guess we have our Super Bowl commercial.
Credits
- Director - Daniel Cook
- Producer - Casey Boone
- Writer - Brent Edwards
- Director of Photography - Max Zampieri
- 1st Assistant Camera - Ryan Shackleford
- Gaffer - Matt Hedt
- Grip - Holt Menzies
- Score - Daniel Cook + Autumn Brand
- Editor - Daniel Cook
- Hair + Makeup - Ashley Watts
- Hair + Makeup Assistant - Courtney Rice
- Production Assistant - Fess Rice
- BTS - Emily Mormann
- Cello - Brianna Tam
- Viola - Simon Istvan Ertz
- 1st Violin - Autumn Brand
- 2nd Violin - Emanuel Wynter
