Towards the end of my project, as my final pieces were coming together, I reached out to some film students whom I had recently met from my exhibition with TAP. We came up with a plan to make this short film which showcases what my piece is about
Inspirations
Blanked Studios was a big inspiration for making this video. They have been one of my favourite product designers for a while—not necessarily because of their products, but more so for the video marketing, they create for these products. Over the past year or two, they have gained a lot of traction on their social media pages due to their high-quality videos, which demonstrate their products in context.
They also create 3D animations that make their processes look as simple and seamless as the style of their products. Everything Blanked Studios produces is of consistently high quality and meets the professional standards people expect in branding. Every video narration uses the same AI voice-over, which gives the products a futuristic feel. The way they showcase each product is so desirable that viewers often find themselves wanting something they didn’t even realize they needed.
Each product has a reason behind its design decisions. For example, they recently created minimalist clothes hangers that add a level of detail to the consumer’s wardrobe. These hangers feature asymmetric holes along the wide frame. This hole pattern matches one of their complementary products: wall or door pegs designed for hanging coats. Not only does this spark interest in the hangers themselves, but the meticulous attention to detail and design symmetry makes you want both products so that everything matches perfectly. This thoughtful integration makes the products seamlessly fit into your home.
I've realised that they also create collections of these household items, which makes the viewers want the whole matching selection of items. you can also see here the array of desk essentials which help you organise and style the space you work in.
Writing the Script
Once speaking with Ed (a film student I met at the TAP exhibition), he suggested I have a script ready before the day of filming just so we could be efficient on the day of filming and not waste any time. As a lot of my inspiration was very minimal and futuristic, I got AI to write a script for this film. It seemed fitting as we were getting AI to also narrate the film using a text-to-speech AI website.
This was my original prompt. It took a few alterations to get what I was finally happy with, and it was in the powerful, robotic tone of voice I was looking for. Alongside the actual narration, it also gave different types of shots and angles, suggesting what lighting to use and what the voiceover should sound like. This really surprised me, as all I was looking for was a simple script.
FIMLING
We shot on Wednesday, 11th of December. I met Ed at around 10:30 and headed to the studio he had previously booked, in the SODA building. I hadn't been to the studios in SODA before this, so it was nice to see all the facilities they had further across the university.
We first set up one of my cabinets, which I had pre-built before filming, to save time. I had both pieces ready in preparation, but one of them I kept as a separate components to get videos and images of assembly.
This studio was a very surreal atmosphere to be in, as I had never had my work in the spotlight like this. It was nice having people taking the photos and videos in a more professional manner, as their camera skills surpassed mine by a mile.
As I had previously written a script, it gave Ed and Kia an idea of the shots I wanted. This preparation really helped the speed of this part of the shoot to get all the perfect videos of the product out of its context. I wanted enough shots here for the main film and then to get some extra shots of it in different locations.
As my cabinets come as a pair and my project has been based around the connections of components, I wanted some shots of me putting the second one together. We started filming me bringing each component into the shot, but I had a lot of trouble with the assembly of this second cabinet. I put it down to the bends being slightly out. I managed to get it together in the end, but we stopped filming as we collectively agreed that me wrestling the pieces together wasn't going to look the best for the ideas of the film. Ed said it wasn't an issue as he already had lots of close-up shots, which explained the connections well enough, and with the narration over the top, it wouldn't be an issue that we didn't get these shots of the assembly.
The Studio Shoot
Once we had all the necessary shots in the studio, we moved to our next location. Initially, Ed suggested we take it into the Salutations kitchen, as restaurant-style kitchens all follow the same brushed metal finish and aesthetic. I liked the idea but needed to get photos and videos of it in its intended context of a living space. As these were intended to function as side tables, I needed to find a sofa to put the cabinets on either side. I wish I had planned these locations a bit more, as we wasted some time and daylight looking around the campus for the perfect location. We first went into the Grovseners East building as I knew they had lots of cold concrete walls, and the original intention was to get a coffee in the cafe to get shots in a cafe scenario.
I had a clear vision, but as I hadn't done enough planning, we couldn't execute these shots. We didn't give up there, as we still needed some photos and videos of my work in context. We made a quick plan for the 3 of us to split; Kia and I went around the university to find the best location. I explored the fine art areas of the Grovensner building, and Kia went up the vertical gallery in the Lowry building, as we knew we had seen sofas around there before. We got Ed to hang tight with the equipment as it was expensive and he had already been running around to get everything together.
We ended up finding these funky sofas on the 2nd floor in the Lowry vertical gallery. Despite these not being traditional-shaped sofas, they worked well for what we needed.
Living Room Concept Shoot
Despite this not being an actual living room, it displays the idea well enough through the camera lens. If I could've changed this set-up and added more to make this location feel more like a home, I would have asked for some prints or paints to be hung up against the wall so it wasn't a large blank wall. I would've also added a rug and a coffee table, as that was my original vision. In an ideal world, I would've had a more put-together location, but I think with the time I had and the facilities around us, I don't think this was the worst possible outcome.
FINAL EDIT
The final film will be out within the coming weeks. You will be able to watch this on my Instagram, @georgepotterdesigns. We didn't want to rush this as it would externally represent me and Ed in the way we desired. I've added some of the clips here so you can see some of the shots we got and the style of film I wanted it to be. I've also been in talks with Ed about shooting a short documentary about me as a designer. I suggested that we did this more so for him as he likes to shoot documentary-type films and it might be good for his and my portfolios in the future.
