IMAGES THAT MOVE

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY LONDON

ESCALATOR CAMPAIGN

For this project we have to choose a non-profit organisation and plan and shoot a campaign for them. I am working with Alex from my class. We chose the zoological society London.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats.  It was founded in 1826.They have two Zoos -  London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo.

We visited both of them, in order to be able to capture as much footage as possible we stayed there from opening till closing on both occasions.

Below are just some of the ways in which ZSL is helping Wildlife.

Our original idea was to have close-ups of animals doing a simple actions on half of the panels and on the other half have distinctive animal patterns shot from really close. Distinctive such as a giraffe's or a zebra's pattern.

*After our first visit to the London Zoo it became clear that the pattern idea would be nearly impossible. Apparently wild animals don't stand still for you to record a video.. who new?!

OPTIMAL ANIMAL LIST - London Zoo

Portrait animals
Lion, Penguin, Gorillas, Bear/Panda, Lemur/Meerkat, Llama, Sloth, Owl/Vulture, Crocodile  

Pattern animals
Snake, Zebra, Tiger/Leopard, Colourful bird, Flamingo

Our initial idea was to attract customers who can become patrons to ZSL's causes. As a patron you contribute a somewhat larger sum every year / month, but you can free access to their zoos, unique events just for patrons and occasional 'meet' events with some of the animals.

The target for this would be young professionals on the tube during rush hour every day and business owners / companies who wish to support a cause.

We later changed our purpose and target for these ads to Amazon Smile. Basically every time you shop on amazon you use ZSL's link and after you pay for something, Amazon.. not you, gives 0.5% of the sum to them for Wildlife Conservation. This appears to a much larger audience as you don't even have to give money from you pocket, you can help with your usual shopping. (*Especially useful these days, when people have to buy toilet paper from Amazon, because there's none in the supermarkets.)

Our competitors include Sea Life, Marine Conservation Society, Monkey Sanctuary, London Wildlife Trust etc. Although in all fairness I believe ZSL to be the most popular amongst these, so perhaps competitors could be just charities in general, people deciding which one is more important for them, which again goes back to amazon smile and how you can contribute without any financial obligation.

Inspiration for this project include:

WWF Parallax video, which we say earlier this term.

A funny dentastix ad ( dog portraits)

Cadbury's Gorilla Advert

Animal Ad Campaign called "The Uncomfortable Truth"

Photographer's inspiration include:

In the Mist by Dan Lior

Wildlife of Madagascar by Ben Simon Rehn.

Empty Forests by David Terrazzas

Daivd Yarrow, who I have become a fan of recently.

STORYBOARD

 Black background or Environmental backgrounds such as blue sky, water, trees, 
concrete etc. 

GROUP ROLES

 We’re both doing everything

SHOT LIST

 Portrait shots, pattern shots, Simple movements, ex:breathing, eating etc. , Shot-Reverse Shot

EQ. LIST

 - Tripod
- Fig rig
- Sony A7riii - 24-105mm
- Canon 5D MKiii -  180mm  macro

Also I found the exact dimensions of the escalator panels and I made the project the  same as them.

Extra media: maps, videos, behind the scenes photos etc.

Final video preview in real life.

Poster at the end of the video:

Other video campaign I've seen on the tube:

Analysis:

What went well?

We checked the weather, so we can choose the right dates, because we're working with natural light. The Zoos weren't too busy with people, so we could take our time shooting. We were able to get the cameras inside the enclosures on several occasions without disturbing the animals. We picked the right equipment (can make sight adjustments next time).  The editing wasn't too complicated, so we managed to be quite efficient with that. We distributed the work load evenly.
What didn't go as planned?

Despite shooting with a fig rig, sometimes the footage was too shaky. A tripod would be ideal, although not as comfortable. We were shooting from opening until closing, however, to get a perfect shot of each animal you really need to spend quite a lot of time in waiting for the right moment. 
What else can we do next time?

Simply, shoot more, although that takes time and money.