SNAPPED SERIES 2: HOW WE GAVE TRUE CRIME IT'S TRUE EDGE FOR SONY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION

Snapped was a series that was rocking American viewers that we really wanted to push to the channel's dedicated viewers, having already given the first season a fantastic debut. The brief was to incorporate the branding visuals of True Crime with a compelling image depicting true crime stories that centred around real-life femme fatales. At the same time we wanted to appeal to the channel's demographic of older women and didn't want anything too bloody or edgy. We started with the channel identity key visual of broken glass and hunted around for inspiration that could feed off this

true-crime-glass-smash-adam-rowley-creative-1

We looked for great reference images that would echo this look and give a noir feel, and loved this image of Mads Mikkelsen from Hannibal.

We decided to combine the authenticity of a real smashed mirror, slightly defocussed to create a sense of a barrier between our femme fatale and the 'normal' world of the viewer. Despite the risk of seven years' bad luck, we hired a convenient (and cheap) space for our destructive activities.

In our first mock-up of the artwork, we experimented with a haunting image that played with the idea that the crack in the mirror centred in on the eye of our protagonist, almost as if she had been shot. An edgy and dynamic image that ultimately was too edgy and haunting.

Finally we settled on this lovely key visual that lets the lighting and the model's harder and more ambiguous expression inform the viewers of her potential deadly intention, whilst the subtle defocussed cracks in the mirror still nicely represent the barrier between her and the world of people who have not 'cracked'. Or snapped.

And below, one of the series of promos we produced for the channel. Noirish, dramatic, simple yet effective

adam rowleyApril 5, 2019Comment

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.

SNAPPED SERIES 2: HOW WE GAVE TRUE CRIME IT'S TRUE EDGE FOR SONY ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION

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