Dream Engine were recently asked to make a video for Thermo King that would be presented at a trade show in Brisbane. Trade shows present a unique challenge, they tend to be very noisy so people may not hear a video. Audience’s also don’t necessarily stop and spend much time at every stand. With that in mind, an effective trade show video needs tell a story quickly and without the use of a voiceover or interviews. Their purpose is also less about selling and more about capturing attention and promoting the brand. So being visually engaging is a must.
In this post, I’ll show you our process to ensure our video would be successful.
Background
Thermo King manufacture transport temperature control systems (air conditioners) for mobile applications (trucks, busses, trains). For this trade show, our video would be about the air conditioning on busses. We also needed show that Thermo King is a high quality brand with facilities all across Australia.
Pre Production
Creating an eye catching video that tells a story without dialogue required planning at every stage of the production. Unlike a corporate documentary, where our process can be more improvised, this video called for strict shot planning and choreography. This was because each sequence of shots needed to move the story to the next sequence while also giving the audience more information. Without any dialogue, this all needed to be done visually.
Showing the journey of a driver bringing in his bus for a service and then seeing the bus go through the service was our solution to tell a visual story while demonstrating each component of the Thermo King facility.
Production
With our story planned out, we could then begin the shoot itself. To grab peoples attention at the the trade show, we needed to come away with beautiful looking footage that would tell the story we had mapped out in pre production.
We used a drone, slider, dolly, scissor lift and gimbal to add cinematic movement wherever possible. We also found an opportunity to mount a camera under a moving bus. All this equipment involves time and planning but are totally worth it for the results we needed for this video. We also shot the entire video in 4k to get the best image possible.
Post Production
The editing stage of the video was where we needed to tie together everything we’d shot. We edited the video in a way that worked to minimise the cut between each sequence. The idea here is that viewers would be likely to watch more of the video if it just flowed. Think if it like reading. It’s easier to stop at the end of a sentence rather than halfway through, so we tried to make our video one long sentence. You can see what I mean when our bus driver walks out of the bus and into reception. Notice how his jacket covers the camera as he comes off the bus and then suddenly he’s at reception.
There was another important aspect to the post production. Animated motion graphics. We wanted to avoid a dull powerpoint style of feature and benefit titles but we still needed to add some text. The solution would be subtle motion tracked titles that are made to look like they exist within the video.
Making a video like this is a lot of work but they’re some of the most fun to work on because the results are always really pleasing. The video was used at the Thermo King stand at a trade show in Brisbane and was a key part of their demonstration. It will also be used as a promotional tool online.
Ryan Spanger is one of Melbourne’s most respected and sought-after video production professionals. Ryan founded Dream Engine in 2002, and specialises in helping medium to large corporates, government departments, and the non-profit sector to connect with their audience more effectively by using video.
