Have a look at our article on the corporate video we did for the CSIR about their Cmore project.
We filmed this video over 2 days on the border of the Kruger National Park at GKEPF (The Greater Kruger Environmental Protection foundation) just outside the Orpen gate.
Overview
We have a proven track record with the CSIR in Pretoria as we have been their go to suppliers when it comes to corporate photography and corporate videography in Pretoria and all around South Africa.
The CSIR Pretoria approached us to help them with a marketing video for the Cmore system. The script was written by internal communications at the CSIR in Pretoria.
As with most projects these days, we had a very small and limited budget.
With only a script and 2 days booked at GKEPF we drove to the Low-veld. We where only a team of 4 people, 1 camera operator Pieter from Kaimara,the client Lesa and Estelle from the CSIR and Elise from stoprhinopoaching.com
On our arrival at GKEPF we where met by Otch, the main guy in charge at GKEPF, luckily we knew him very well and he was the person who was going to help us to get things done and organised, small things like rangers, a helicopter and some dogs, and of course some poachers (actors). This helped us a lot to keep costs down in the production of this video.
What is Cmore, click here to read more about it:
http://cmore.co.za/site/index.php/about
The Steps we took in making this video:
Planning, scripting and filming
The corporate video script was written by Lesa with inputs from the cmore team.
As with most things we started with the beginning, we walked into the GKEPF office and just started filming.
We did a quick setup and got some b-role of the people working in the office, I then mic'ed up each person and we recorded one line at a time until we got all the lines on the script.
We filmed all the interviews and office scenes on Day 1.
We also made sure that everything we needed for the b-role was organised before the end of day 1.
Day 2 started very early, and we made sure we started with the first available light.
We had 5 rangers ready to assist us with 1 dog. We turned 2 of the rangers into poachers.
I first went and shot all the scenes of the poachers on their own in the bush, then we filmed the rangers tracking them.
When the helicopter arrived we dropped everything and quickly filmed the helicopter and aerial video scenes, so that the helicopter can go back to doing real work.
We finished the day of filming the chase scene and the scene where the rangers finally captures the poachers.
I filmed the above scene, capturing of the poachers once with a GoPro with a Karma grip and then again hand held with the 5dmkiv, I mostly filmed each scene twice or at most 3 times with different cameras or techniques, as I was the only camera operator.
This gave me more options in editing.
Gear used
I knew we had a small budget, so I took the minimum video gear.
What was in my bag:
1 x Canon 5dMKIV - Great versatile camera with slow motion video, 4K video and great colour science, great for harsh environments and reliable.
1 x Canon 70D - Great as a second camera for interviews
1 x Canon 27-70mm F2.8 Mkii
1 x Canon 70-200mm F2.8 Mkii
1 x GoPro Hero 5 with a Karma grip - Easy to use gimbal, small and easy to fit into my camera bag.
1 x Rhino slider - Best slider in the world.
1 x Manfrotto tripod with video head - At least one proper video tripod
1 x 3 Legged thing - Albert - Great for second angle, small and great for travelling.
1 x H4 Zoom recorder - Good sound
1 x Sennheiser lapel mic - great little mic
1 x Sennheiser Earphones - Always listen to your sound when you record
2 x Variable ND filters
1 x Evoc camera bag to put all these stuff inside.
1 x Tripod bag for 2 tripods and the video slider.
Post Production
After 2 long days in the bush we went back to Pretoria.
When I arrived back, I backed up the video footage and dumped all the files.
Step 1 was to Pluraleyes (syncing audio and video files) all the interviews.
I then edited the interviews and chose all the nice lines.
Working with the script I edited all the lines together to get the story right.
When I was finally happy with the story I started with the intro and adding all the b-role footage.
I then graded the video to make it more difficult to tell the time of day as we did shoot some scenes out of sequence.
I edited this corporate video using Adobe's Premier Pro, 1 x 4TB USB-C LACIE hard drive and a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
Here is the final video:
