We already wrote about the startup Koseca’s Barnyard on our website elsewhere. In the case study, we also mentioned making a video that would aim to present the brand to the public. Since everyone in our team enjoyed creating the video, we decided to dedicate a separate case study to tell the story of this short film.
So – what were the plans?
The video aimed to present the brand Koseca’s Barnyard and the philosophy behind breeding, meat and products preparation. We did not want to talk only about something of Slovak origin, honest, and high quality, but rather to show why we can label client’s meat with these attributes. We put quite some time into considering the locations for shooting. We wanted to show the nature of Koseca’s Podhradie, the people who help with the cattle, as well as the store and production facilities. During one day, we planned to record an interview with Peter Cíbik, the manager of the entire Agricultural co-op Koseca, and shoot all of the B-roll. Of course, we prepared the questionnaire for the manager to answer in front of the camera. So we waited for a combination of nice weather and the slaughter because we planned to show butchery, always done according to the store’s needs and sales.
Production
We decided to do the first shots and the whole conversation about the brand directly on the pasture. There were two young bulls in the herd that day, which turned out to be a little adrenaline experience for us. As well as the journey we had to take in our client’s off-road vehicle. So we quickly moved our equipment from one trunk to another and went to the hillside. Upon the pasture, we also captured the surroundings’ sounds, the cows’ booing, the chirping of birds, the sounds of insects and the tearing of grass, with which Mr Cíbik fed his animals.
Story
So, since the brand owner knows why he founded Koseca’s Barnyard and their product’s direction, it was not difficult to get this story. We talked about the added value of natural breeding and its benefits for the health of customers. We mentioned why they decided to go this route, what people should pay attention to when buying fresh meat, and what customers indeed won’t find in the composition of Koseca Barnyard’s products. The individual ideas were complemented by our video producer Martin’s B-roll shots of the meat slicing, placing it onto the shelf in the store, or the sausage making. Picturing the team doing their jobs worked well in the video. Butchers during the meat processing, the zootechnician checking the sheep, or the saleswoman. She wrapped the products in paper and thanked me for the purchase.
The sound for the movie
What was unique about this spot was that we pushed our scope of sound production. Most of the projects we’ve done so far did well with the clear sound of the interview and the background music. However, we decided to include the video sequences in which the manager comes into contact with the animals; we decided to incorporate their sounds into the clip. It was a novel challenge for us. Since these B-roll shots were not scripted, the environment’s noise contained unwanted sounds, or we did not record the sounds necessary.
Take cows as an example. During the conversation in the meadow, they produced a lot of noise that needed to be “surgically” removed. However, when we needed some nice “boo”, they were curious and completely silent. Laugh all you want; we admit that the only boo sound you hear, Mr Cíbik himself, imitated. The sound came from the off-camera joke he entertained us.
For the noises of the environment to be as natural as possible, we had to re-create a lot of: the sounds of insects and birds at the meadow; A distinct sound of sparrows in the backyard; Sounds of cows and sheep bells on the pasture; The sound of cold boxes in the store. The result is a mix of many sounds that look as if they were recorded directly during the scene’s shooting. However, each was recorded on a different occasion.
On top of that, humour and authenticity
Since the people from Koseca Barnyard are a cheerful bunch, we wanted to translate this emotion into the video as well. We succeeded thanks to the smile of Peter Cíbik, the calm animals, the cheerful music and the funny mishaps during the shooting. We decided to keep most of them in the video. For example, we were bothered by a fly during the interview. But hey, it’s the countryside, so the fly got into the final cut. We also left a slightly naive offer of a torn grass to a cow, which the client himself commented: “I offer her grass, and she has the whole pasture here”. If you want to laugh, we will also admit that our sound designer had to delete sounds of peeing and pooping cows intertwined throughout a two-hour interview at the meadow. The bonus is the sincere smile of our client in the last shot.
Autor of the case study Kristína Lišková
Interview questions for the interview, field recordings Kristína Lišková
Camera, lights Martin Faktor
Post-production a motion graphics Martin Faktor
Mysic by Deer Room
Agency Lemon Lion, SK