Why did we make a Christmas ad with no client and no budget?

Either our actor in zombie makeup or our director after the shoot day has wrapped…

I always describe my production company’s services by saying that we make ‘Story-driven Branded Content’, but in the first few months since our inception, we hadn’t really had the chance to do that. Our initial projects were great fun - filming in locations like the Royal Albert Hall and up mountains in Snowdonia - but they hadn’t given us the chance to show off our storytelling skills.

Enter: the Christmas film. Having seen other companies do it, I had always liked the idea of making a festive film at the end of the year - no client, no agenda - just a sweet little video as a way to give back to our clients and friends and to wish everyone a happy holiday season.

Something to prove

I come from a writing background, as does Dave, our Creative Production Assistant, and we had always had the most fun writing genre pieces that played into the comedy of the situation. After flirting with the idea of a crime thriller, we ended up with a concept for a zombie film about a dead man being rudely awakened and forced to spend Christmas with his insufferably joyous son. I knew that this film needed to be a showcase for our storytelling style - quirky, funny and enforced with real emotion - and that it needed to leave the viewer with that heartwarming feeling all the best Christmas ads do. And yet, we had a problem:

The “B” Word

At multiple points during the production process, I was taken aback by how much it felt like being a student again, working with next-to-no budget and forced into creative thinking in order to bring to life what I envisioned for the film. We shot it primarily in my home, using actors cast from the internet, and we spent money in as targeted a manner as possible, such as by rummaging for costume options at local charity shops. I was determined not to let our low budget impact on the story we were aiming to tell.

The shoot day itself, though packed, was fantastic - every single cast and crew member came together to give their all for the film, and I ended the day immensely proud and grateful to my team. One last challenge awaited me though, and this was mine to undertake alone…

The film you plan vs the film you make

“A film is born three times. First in the writing of the script, once again in the shooting, and finally in the editing."

The film we planned was meant as a Christmas ad - 90 seconds at most. The film we shot was done in only a day. The film I found in the edit, however, was a different beast. It stretched to nearly four minutes, and though I cut a couple scenes where I could, I ultimately had a choice to make: between the plan we had to make an advert comparable to others of its ilk, or the short film that had emerged, simply told in the style of an ad.

Though it meant the film would turn out differently to how I had planned, it was clear to me that letting the story breathe was more vital to its success than its runtime. If we had a client backing it for whom it had a very specific purpose, that paradigm would likely have been different, but on this one, it was us deciding the film’s agenda, and for me it came down to one thing: storytelling.

It’s what we’ll always put first with everything we do. And when you bring us on board a project, we’ll tell you that if you get the storytelling right, all your other goals will benefit from it.