LATEST NEWS
[February 2007] A version of the film appeared on
the big screen at the 2007 Mountain Film Festival in Fort William
THE CONCEPT
In
March 2006 Ride
Sierra Nevada (henceforth referred to as RSN), a mountain biking holiday company based in Southern Spain
commissioned Visual Euphoria to produce a film that would highlight the riding
and scenery that their holidays offered. After we initially contacted them and
explained what we could do for them, Shaun & Csilla, the founders of RSN,
quickly
realised the potential that a promotional video could have on their bookings. We explained how getting a
high quality video to a large audience over the internet was now possible with
very little expenditure. Video
depicts the adrenalin and excitement of activities such as Mountain Biking far
better than a photo ever could.
PLANNING AND PRODUCTION
RSN came up with a story and we
worked with them to develop the idea, recruit a cast, choose locations and work out a filming
schedule. Many of the locations were accessible only by bike which meant a
gruelling ride in and out with the equipment. We shot the film over a period of
7 days - some of those days were characterised far more by riding than by
filming as the locations were far from the road. We produced summary sequences
of each days filming as we went along to make sure we were capturing the right
sort of material and to get some early feedback from RSN. We used professional
hand held DV cameras for trackside shots and bike and body-mounted camera equipment that would
give the viewer a feeling of participation. One of the aims of the film was to
appeal to as wide a section of the mountain biking community as possible -
ladies and gents, younger and older, adrenalin addicts to laid back cruisers -
without losing the storyline or peoples interest. That meant different riders,
skill levels,
terrain and speed.
MUSIC
We needed 2 different
tracks that would highlight the contrast between the riding scenes and the bar
scenes. We spoke to a number of record labels and musicians and were fortunate
to discover Yush2K who was able to provide 2 tunes whose ambience worked very
nicely with the film.
THE LAUNCH
Taking advantage of the latest
internet video
technologies the film was launched in September 2006 on one of the UK's leading
Mountain Bike websites -
BikeMagic, as well as the
Ride Sierra Nevada website and video archives such as
youtube. The
film is instantly viewable by anyone with a basic broadband connection anywhere in the world. In
addition, downloadable files for use on mobile phones, PDA's and IPODs have also
been provided to maximise the potential audience that the film attracts. For the
launch a viral advertising campaign was initiated with the sending of a 30
second email "trailer" to a mailing list targeting past and potential customers.
The trailer can be viewed in the showreels section
of this website or downloaded from
Ride
Sierra Nevada.
THE RESULTS
RSN customers past and present
have already been commenting on the persuasiveness of the film. It is too early
to quantify the effect that the film has had on the RSN business but this
article will be updated with viewing stats and reports of the improved
conversion rate of website visitors to booking customers. Shaun, who fetches his
clients from the airport, is already seeing some changes: He was surprised by
one group who arrived shortly after the film was launched. They headed straight
for him in arrivals having recognised him from the film and couldn't wait to
experience for real what they had seen on the internet. "Normally I just keep
looking out for the right sort of group and a few bike bags coming through
together but it looks like they'll be looking for me now!"
THE FUTURE
Adverts and articles about the
film are set to appear in magazines in coming months and a high
quality DVD mailshot could follow. If this campaign is successful RSN
intend to undertake a more ambitious project with us. This would involve a
co-operative of local businesses that could benefit and share the cost of a
larger production as well as a corporate sponsor (they received enquiries during
the production of this film). Watch this space.
©Visual Euphoria 2008