Marketplace Series 1: What's Your Story?
Film shoot #2 crew L-R: Cyar Hail (camera assist), Celine Richardson (photography), Scotty Taylor (location sound mix), David Stewart (director & camera), Hilary Janset (makeup artist)
Thinking outside of the cubicle
From the outside, the business marketplace can seem flat and impersonal. Often, creatives can feel stifled and uninspired by the numbers and nuts and bolts of corporate life. When I visit a new corporate client, however, I look for the story of the journey they are on. Where did it start and why? Who made it happen and how has their path evolved over time? It was with these questions in mind that DSM approached the making of a film for Alignvest. (Check them out HERE)
Alignvest is a leading international alternative investment management firm, with an impressive office in Toronto’s Financial District. Going in to Alignvest, I admittedly didn’t know a lot about investment market strategies. The language was new and that newness kept me on my toes.
Behind the scenes on production day #1
Every time I meet a new client, I have an opportunity to engage, learn something new, and then communicate that information and story, in a new and exciting way, to their audience. Alignvest was no different. Their story was an ambitious tale of expert investors who wanted to take their knowledge and skills and share them with their clients; so they built their business from the ground up with their own capitol.
Identify a problem and then solve it
The entire Alignvest Team was passionate about sharing their work and journey. Their vast experience in the field had allowed them to see problems with the typical investment portfolios clients were offered. They strategized ways to address these problems and built their business model accordingly.
I began to see parallels to my own journey with DSM. Typical marketplace promotion tended to be impersonal and static feeling. Many corporate videos had an unchanging look and feel. I saw the problems with classic corporate promotion and knew I wanted to do something different. I wanted to tell my clients’ stories with authenticity and humanity, while also creating something that was beautiful to the eye.
Making the marketplace beautiful
In practical terms, making aesthetically pleasing and authentic promotional work means spending a good deal of time listening to my clients’ stories and then organically exploring their spaces - whether it’s on hoverboard for the smoothest of motion shots, filming people in their occupational element, or taking time lapses of the outdoor environment around a corporate space. What I’ve been able to achieve with this approach to marketplace filming, is beautiful productions that tell a whole story - the stories of people who are using their talent and expertise to make the world better. We look forward to doing more of this exciting work in the future and hope you’ll follow along as we blog about DSM’s clients and the unique approach we’re taking to marketplace storytellig.
“David is fantastic to work with - he is professional, talented, friendly, courteous, creative and very flexible. David Stewart Media created a high quality corporate video for our firm and it was done quickly but with excellent attention to detail and was priced very fairly. David brought an excellent team on the day of the main shoot and each member of his crew was professional and clearly skilled. I recommend David without hesitation and plan to use his services again in the near future.”
Content director & contributor: Jennie Hoekstra
Photography: Celine Richardson
