ALEXANDER'S LOST WORLD - HOW THE VIASAT HISTORY CAMPAIGN MEANT CREATING A WAR ZONE IN W1

This fantastic show from photojournalist David Adams played a crucial role in the ongoing transforming the Viasat Factual Channel identities. A key acquisition for Viasat History, it marked the turning point where the channel began to be more adventurous and entertaining, whilst retaining it's serious and authentic values.

Having worked with Research Agencies to pin down our audience and what they were looking for, we found our channel's 'comfortable place' slap bang between the usual suspects of History Channel and Discovery. As such we wanted to lead the channel revamp with Alexander's Lost World with some drama, with a key visual that drew in viewers piquing their curiosity with drama and mystery.

The big pull/USP of David’s series was that he travelled across warzones, across countries like Afghanistan that were as dangerous now as they were 2000 years ago. What if we could make this story as dramatic, as contemporary, as powerful as the gritty thriller-realism ofHurt Locker Zero Dark Thirty. And from that simple question evolved the idea of amodern day bomb disposal operative unearthing not an IUD, but an ancient helmet.

We shot the key visual and the commercial in a day at VFX studio in Goodge Street, producing a spot that would run on TV in both commercial and promo air time, as well as running on Facebook

We set up a dedicated Facebook page, linking in with David Adams and his fanbase

We had posters in high visibility sites in Moscow, St Petesburg, Warsaw and Krakow

And video bilboards showing the moment the endboard reveal from the commercial as sand blows away to reveal the helmet.

At the same time, we were rebooting the Viasat History Idents working with VFX specialists Golden Sq and production arm Disqo. With the strapline ‘Bringing History to Life,’ the idents feature different figures from famous paintings morphing into live action actors in modern day scenarios, linking the past and the present, and making the past relevant for our audience.

As with our promos moving into more shoot-based projects, so with the rebrand as a whole, we were moving away from the purely graphical and clip-based approach , to a warmer, more human, live action and authentic feel. We wanted both our promos and our idents to feel that we were bringing history to life.

adam rowleyApril 13, 2020Comment

Mar 21, 2023

HOW MUCH DOES A CORPORATE VIDEO COST?

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY AND HOW YOU WANT TO SAY IT, BUT WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET?

How much will my film cost? Is inevitably our first question. The unhelpful answer is of course, how long is a piece of string? You may want a simple one-day, one-man shoot with a quick one-day edit, and you can probably get that for under a grand if you’re not too fussy and it really is just a one-day edit. Or you might want an ambitious creative concept, with lots of pre-production followed by a complex week-long shoot, filming on a RED camera, and lots of complicated compositing and animated graphics. And that could be £20 - £30 000. Or more.

Mar 20, 2023

WHY YOU HIRE A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER

So here’s the cruel irony. Even though I know I possess the kind of staggering youthful good looks that make people catch their breath and drop their falafel when they meet me in real life, on camera I look like a laboratory experiment where the mad scientist has injected the DNA of Brendan Gleason and Charles Manson into a old potato

And being self-conscious - oh my crooked smile, oh my seventy-eight chins - means I forget that my delicious eyes are like limpid emerald pools you could drown in, and I project discomfort - In short, I don’t pose well. Maybe you do. Millions of others dont. And some of them work for you.

Mar 16, 2023

TESTIMONIAL VIDEOS, WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?

WHY THE BEST WAY TO SELL YOUR PEOPLE IS TO USE YOUR PEOPLE

Back in the mists of time, every corporate video had an ambitious narrative, like a storyboarded long-form commercial, a piece of expensive, styled, authored creative in its own right. These films do still get made and they are great. I make them myself, though more usually I work in short form. Is this always how you want to disseminate your information, your brand, your company? Sometimes yes. Just as sometimes you want to Ronseal it, to say it like it is. But do you want to be that blunt? Again probably not.

WHY SPEND MONEY ON A PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHER?

WHAT VALUE DOES A PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHER ACTUALLY BRING TO THE PARTY?

Sure so this is where you get sold all the corporate and advertising cliches about brand identity and adding value to your message and blah blah blah. And you may not be thinking in those terms, but rather about just demonstrating something seemingly quite simple.

CAN ONE PERSON SHOOT PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEOGRAPHY AT AN EVENT?

YOU NEED A PHOTOGRAPHER , AND YOU ALSO WANT A CORPORATE VIDEOGRAPHER, BUT YOUR BUDGET PAYS FOR ONLY ONE OF THEM - WHAT DO YOU DO?

The short answer is of course some people can do both. The challenge is finding someone who is genuinely good at both, which is not as easy as it sounds. There are plenty of great photographers out there who can’t really shoot video. There are some good videographers out there, though they are no nearly so easy to find, and some of them are competent photographers too.

Mar 5, 2023

WHY EITHER EVERYONE OR NO ONE NEEDS TO WORRY ABOUT AI

With the announcement that China-based NetDragon Websoft says it is the first company in the world to appoint an AI as its CEO only to see stocks soar, naturally it isn’t just struggling bloggers and graphic designers who are worried about the implication of AI

This is where I’d like to reassure you that climate change ravaging the planet and making the lives of those few who survive the catastrophic flooding, wild fires and raging hurricanes that are predicted absolute hell.

ALEXANDER'S LOST WORLD - HOW THE VIASAT HISTORY CAMPAIGN MEANT CREATING A WAR ZONE IN W1

SHOWREEL

NEWS, TIPS, HACKS, ADVICE