An Emotive Christmas Commercial by Rowe Films

COMMERCIAL VIDEO PRODUCTION

AN EMOTIVE CHRISTMAS COMMERCIAL

CIRCLE, TOPSHAM DEVON

We all love an emotive Christmas ad to give us the feels, right? Well this year I had the opportunity to produce my own little spin on the warm and fuzzy xmas commercial, thanks to my good friend David and his wife, Fay.

Myself and Dave have been good friends for a very long time now, having been to school together and also members of the same covers band for almost as long.

A few years ago, he and his wife, Faye opened up a little shop together in the picturesque Devon town of Topsham, called Circle. They’ve built a beautiful business with amazing local produce and the best coffee in town (trust me!), but most importantly of all (from a video production perspective), they’ve managed to create a real sense of community. Really quite amazing considering they’ve not been there very long at all in the scheme of things!

A few weeks ago David asked me if I would produce a video for the shop. At the time I was quite busy wrapping up commercial projects and summer vibes seemed like the best option for a business based in Devon, however as Christmas was fast approaching, I suggested that we bust our guts and make it a festive thing. I know how important the community side of things is to them both, and Christmas is very much a time for that, so I pitched my idea for a little narrative and thankfully, they both loved it.

With no time to waste, we got straight to work planning and booking in a couple of days to shoot. The idea and narrative focuses around a few of their regular customers, and an ‘out of towner’ too. So very Westcountry, I know! I decided that using the classic ‘Auld Lang Syne’ would be a good option for the musical accompaniment. Not only is it a long standing tradition for communities to get together to sing at the end of the year, but the “cup of kindness” lyrics are perfect too. I managed to find a couple of tracks that fitted the piece perfectly, so this was one of those rare occasions whereby the music had actually already been chosen before a single frame had been photographed. Finally, I decided to shoot the piece in cinemascope format with anamorphic lenses, to give it that nostalgic movie feel that we all recognise.

This kind of ‘cinematic’ or ‘film-like’ brand storytelling in the commercial video space is very much up my street and something I am looking to expand upon in the coming months. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process from start to finish; from coming up with the initial concept and idea, to executing, producing and delivering. I think this is because it combines so many of the aspects of filmmaking and video production that I love the most, and the bits of it that I consider myself strongest at. Genuine storytelling, playing with emotion, a focus on people rather than ‘things’, and combining it all with pretty cinematography.

In a very short space of time, we managed to put this little piece together just in time for Circle to use it as their Christmas Promo Film. I’m pleased to say that the feedback has been fantastic.

Oh, and watch this space, because we may well follow up on this little story in the summer, for a Circle Ad Part 2! That would be fun.

So here is the slightly tweaked ‘Director’s Cut’, with a slightly different ending and closing catchphrase. We had so many options on the table for how to end it, and we liked them all, so I went with a slightly different one to the one David and Faye chose for themselves. If you want to check out their version, head over to their website and see which one you prefer.

Finally if you’re in need of devon video production services yourself, get in touch with us today.

Enjoy!