Transforming Lives with EQUAL
We had a successful collaboration with Mullenlowe Salt Singapore on the Citigold, True Worthists series, despite the tight deadlines and challenging locations.
Mullenlowe then approached us with an interesting request. It was to produce a Narrative Brand Film for a non-profit organisation EQUAL.
They are an animal-assisted learning centre that helps people in need develop better socio-emotional skills and a sense of purpose and identity.
The synopsis is that we follow 3 main characters from varying backgrounds whose lives have been transformed by these services. These main roles interact with animals such as dogs and horses. Similarly, we had a short time frame for pre-production.
Having to source for about 9 talents and 4 locations, with the concept and script produced by Mullenlowe.
It was a worthwhile challenge for a positive cause, and we are grateful for EQUAL’s understanding that a minimum budget was needed to cover the necessary expenses such as equipment, crew, and talents.
For casting, we went through the usual channels such as Facebook’s Casting Call Singapore, OnlineCasting.sg, and StarNow.
We were fortunate enough to have a new local talent agency “Dimensions Talents and Models Management” reach out to us as they had a family of actors who fit the bulk of the roles we were looking for.
We are also very appreciative of Mullenlowe for aiding us with the locations and wardrobe for the talents.
Camera Rental Centre has always been the trusted rental house for additional equipment, and they were kind enough to give us a major discount for this project.
In return, we featured their equipment in our Behind-The-Scenes photos and video.
The pre-production process was smooth, with Pretty Much Films being all hands on deck for this project, we were able to finalise the casting, locations, script and crew in just under 1 month.
Once again, we selected crew members we were familiar with as we had relatively lesser time for the shoot days. With detailed planning and a great workflow, we eventually managed to pull through.
It was also our first time working with animals, albeit with trained therapy animals. We learnt that it’s best to have any kind of animals familiarise themselves with the people they will be interacting with in the video beforehand.
This helps to eliminate any unwanted surprises such as unnatural interactions or the animals rejecting certain props they are supposed to be working with.
We were even fortunate enough to be invited to the “Installation of 89th President & Board for the Rotary Club of Singapore”. It was a lively black-tie event that highlighted the importance of the charitable work they do to help the less fortunate.
This was definitely a new experience for us to be working within a tight budget and timeline for a worthwhile cause.
Check out the final video here:
