Power Responsive is a programme facilitated by the National Energy System Operator to help businesses participate in Demand Side Flexibility. Its role is to encourage reduced energy consumption - shifting electricity use from peak times to off-peak - often enabled by smart technologies.
Working with a Creative Director and Producer, I was tasked with editing three films for NESO's 'Flexibility is our hidden power' campaign, aimed at large industrial and commercial energy users to encourage them to play a leading role in shaping a more stable, cost-effective and ultimately decarbonised energy future for Great Britain.
I structured each film to begin with an expansive location shot that leads into the narrative, taking the viewer through various energy-related scenarios, the end shots leading back out to the wider picture.
The VO was tweaked and refined as we developed each film, the spaces between sentences push-pulled to exacting measures for better impact, under which I added minimalist sound design elements throughout to add some sonic interest.
A film shoot for this project would've been prohibitively expensive so we turned to primarily using stock footage, along with a couple of clips from a previous promo shoot.
I undertook this time-consuming process, conferring on regular remote review sessions with the creative team to make sure we were illustrating the narrative in the best way possible. I kept an eye not only on finding just the right type of clips but also on retaining a high level of quality as stock footage can be variable.
With the client's involvement we identified where some clips were not appropriate - pylons and wind farms that had minor details that to the trained eye would place them outside of Great Britain had to be replaced.
The ultimate challenge was to make sure there was a consistency to the imagery so as not to feel like a series of random stock clips smashed together - this had to look and feel like a cohesive whole.
Variations of the end logo tagline were required for each film which I animated with adherence to the client's brand guidelines.
Three distinctive creative individuals putting our heads together to shape the script, visuals and sound, all working at a level of mutual respect and synergy was the real joy here.
The icing on the cake was the participation of the end client who only had minor industry-specific amends for us to action, and was otherwise overwhelmingly pleased with the end results, the films helping them communicate their goals and grow interest in their programme facilitating systemic-change.
