YOU AND YOUR CITY
Support your city and local traditional businesses
We create and produce advertising spots for your city and your commune. We advertise locations such as retail businesses, gastronomy or theaters that define the charm and particular atmosphere of your city or commune. Then, we bind those spots together to form a mini-series: Episodes of a city.
The respective advertising spots aren’t going to be perceived as such due to their artistic and cinematic making. They are entertaining, informative and, first and foremost, charming episodes about your city. It is their unique style that distinguishes them from usual adverts.
We offer you a full service package that includes everything from the first concept to the finished series. And if you wish, we can also support you in publishing and marketing.
This spot about a flower shop tells the story of an actor who shoots an advert for – a flower shop. Only in the end we reveal that he actually was only working on set and that the spot that seemed to be a commercial was nothing more than observing the actor at work. A fake documentary.
THE PLOT
Keep it real and simple. And entertaining.
We are following a person and observe him/her visiting businesses and shops in your town. In each location, a little story enfolds. It can be funny or weird, serious or romantic, but it’s always going to be eye-catching and, in a way, representative for the respective location. Every episode works for itself, but they also tell a story when watched in context with other episodes – forming a series that conveys the specific atmosphere of your town.
As main actor we employ an actor or celebrity from your city. That main actor is going to appear in each and every episode, which, when watched as a series, show a typical day, the manifold possibilities and offers and, simply, life in your city.
The respective plots are being developed in close collaboration with you to be tailored to fit the businesses we have decided to show. Thus, we create a series of spots that work separately and as a series and present a city and its businesses – without coming across as classical adverts.
A classic spot to advertise shoes. This episode and its style is inspired by a scene from a well known film in Italy featuring Adriano Celentano.
THE Style
Have yourself a piece of cinema. Featuring you
The format of the series enables us to use different styles, known from movies and series and to mix and match different ways of storytelling – or to break with classical styles of storytelling.
We could, for example, show objects in one spot that had been acquired by the main actor in another, previous spot, assigning them a specific role in the plot. Or, we could interrupt the story just when it gets exciting in order to continue the story in the following episode. Or, we could quote movies everybody knows.
Imagine a scene from a movie you like: the colors, the atmosphere, the plot. We adapt those and transform them into one of the episodes. In the next episode, we can continue quoting yet another style – always using the same actor, binding it all together.
Finances
How do we get there?
The series may be sponsored by suitable umbrella organizations, i.e. the city, the commune or by direct sponsoring by the businesses we present. The different possibilities make for different options regarding general outlay and realization.
We can offer you different types of playout, always accompanied by a a suitable campaign: the final series can be implemented on online platforms or may be shown on TV or in cinema theaters, regionally or nation wide, depending on your wishes and needs.
FAQ
What are „Episodes of a city“?
Episodes of a city is a portrayal of a city, composed of short, cinematic spots featuring those businesses that are responsible for the particular atmosphere in your city. The spots form a mini series that advertises each and every of those businesses but, when watched in context, tells a story and delivers a likable portrayal of your town and its businesses. In the best case a series contains about 3 to 10 separate episodes/spots.
How is the finished product going to look like?
The finished series contains about several episodes. These episodes work separately, also without having the context of the other episodes. The series is going to have a cinematic quality which will set it apart from the usual run-of-the-mill adverts.
What’s so special?
The series tells its story by recruiting stylistic elements known from movies and series which can hardly be used in singular spots, i.e. cliffhanger, running gags, cameos and so on. From a purely visual point of view, the series is going to look like a well made Netflix-series or a motion picture, so that the viewer does not immediately think about „advertisement“. In spite of, or rather therefore, this type of advertisement works especially well.
What do I get?
We find the businesses we (or you) deem suitable and write a plot that fits them. Then, we produce the episodes with our team, from the shoot until the finished series. We take care of the music, the soundtrack, the actors and extras and so on. In a few words: we take care of everything.
How does the collaboration work?
Firstly, we pool our ideas. How do you want to present yourself, which businesses would you like to include? Would you like a specific actor or a celebrity? Then we find the best possible solution – and provide you with suggestions and, possibly, even a draft of a concept that fits you and your budget. When everybody is pleased, we develop the script and plan the shooting and the postproduction. And we always keep you updated. Read more about our workflow here.
How do we get from the idea to the finished product?
Ideas are often diffuse and hard to put into words. That’s what we are here for. We listen and write everything down as precisely as possible so that everybody involved understands what you and we want: we condense your idea into a script. The script then becomes a screenplay. The screenplay is then visualized with drawings – the result is the so called storyboard: it’s like a comic book that shows every important moment of your idea with simplified drawings and text. When necessary, we animate storyboards, using the drawings to produce an animatic, a cartoon that visualizes the length of the future spot. Then, we plan every single camera angle to put it all into one overview: the so called shotlist. This list is the blueprint for the shoot. It is the original diffuse idea, broken down into each and every shot.