Case Study: SunGard Systems
Written by Hannah Cassell

Brief

SunGard wanted to create 5 films focussing on high profile customers who were to be keynote speakers at their Europa conference in Italy. Each film would be projected onto a 40 foot screen prior to the keynote speaker taking the stage. The films needed to be energetic, visually rich and creative.

Pre-Production

Matt Fretwell was selected to be the director on the shoot. The mixture of his creative direction and award winning editing skills were right for the job. Due to the budget and extensive travel we kept the crew small; Director, Camera op and Producer. The producer doubled up as a soundman to save cost. The camera was a Sony Z1, a small HDV camera that is easy to travel with, however is still a video camera. The D.O.P (Director of Photography), Daniel Trapp asked to add a Movie tube. This piece of kit allowed him to add Prime Lenses to give a more 'filmic' quality to the piece. 4 days were allowed for Pre-Production.

Shoot

Due to the diary constraints of the high profile client's time was limited. A few hours the day before in each location was permitted for a recce. This time is essential in order to find quiet, visually rich situations for the interview - sound is key at this point. The shoot was always the following day with the actual time spent with the client only an hour. Setting up and lighting had to be done quickly. The shoot was back to back over 15 days.

Post-Production

Time, as always, was against us. So using the client's expert knowledge of the subject we spent a couple of days going through the footage and choosing the right quotes from the interviews. The client gave a good free reign to the editor to create the films and choose the music. The whole process to edit all the films took 11 days.

Client: SunGard Systems

Title: Europa 2007

Producer: Hannah Cassell

Format: DVD, QuickTime & WMV web encodes

Length: 5 x 3 min films and 5 x 1 min cut downs

Location: Lake Como