Explainin' Things
Is Your Business Stuck in the Dark Ages?
Second Nature wanted an engaging and funny explainer video production for their award winning Resident Benefits Package, aka, RBP By Second Nature. They wanted something unique, that would stand out in a broad landscape of blasé, expected content.
Basically, they didn’t want cheesy voice-over on top of even cheesier stock footage.
Creating Second Nature’s Resident Benefits Explainer Video
Writer and director Brent Edwards worked alongside the RBP and Second Nature creative teams to develop something that felt spot on for the brand, but wildly divergent from the market norms. As soon as the dots between medieval terminology like ‘tenant’ and ‘landlord’ connected, it was pretty clear what had to happen.
We needed to put a guy in a knight costume and make him the equivalent of a property manager in the Dark Ages. More specifically, we needed Lance, the Property Manager for King Arthur’s castle at Camelot.
Chloë Holzapfel, Lead Designer at Second Nature, drew these amazing storyboards based on our script. Whenever we get a chance to create boards, we take it - there’s no better way to make sure your idea is actually going to work.
With a tight script that wove in brand propositions and jokes about chainmail chaps, and an actual castle willing to let us film for 2 days, we were ready to bring this piece to life.
The art direction for the piece was silly: we wanted middle management meets medieval castle. Call it medieval management. With a talented art department, we built up a fun set full of Easter eggs.
We had a dungeon office, a grand hall conference room, and the outside of the castle for various exterior shots.
One of the coolest details was the castle parapet shot. We actually built a scaled version of a parapet wall to place in front of the camera to make it look like the talent was shouting a message from the top of a castle tower. It was carved from foam and spray painted to look like rocks, and it turned out incredibly well.
Of course, all credit to Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the shot composition. Steal like an artist, right?
A huge thanks to all the crew that helped make this project a success.
- Executive Producer - Chris Young
- Directors - Max Zampieri + Brent Edwards
- Producer - Drew Grimes
- Written By - Brent Edwards
- 1st AD - Ty Ussery
- 2nd AD - Melissa Douglas
- PA - Aviana Vickers
- PA - Evelyn Cox
- DP - Max Zampieri
- 1st AC - Jordan Gibson
- Camera Operator - Caleb Childers
- Art Director - Emily Mormann
- 1st Asst. Art. Dir. - Birdie Edevane
- Gaffer - Adam Pinnell
- Grips - Jim Mahorney + Los Crupi
- Teleprompter Op - Jeff Buckner
- Hair & Makeup - Sophie Wilson + Pamela Zwick
- Head Wardrobe - Christine McInnis
- Audio - Taylor Parris
- Editor - Brent Edwards
- Audio Post - Daniel Cook
