Video proposal by Walker Creative Ltd
Thank you for the opportunity to pitch for this project.
Below is an outline of our previous experience and ideas for the project.
We have included examples of how the videos we create could be used within an advertising campaign.
Our proposal is hosted online to best display our previous work. A PDF version is available upon request.
How we would approach the brief
We have worked on numerous hiking/outdoor film projects across a broad range of England's National Parks (you can see more of our work over on the Walker Creative website). As a result we are well connected with land owners such as English Heritage and National Trust. We are also experienced in sourcing local models and working on projects with complex logistics which take place across various rural locations.
Key Messages
~ Raise awareness of Exmoor's outstanding natural beauty, informing and inspiring visitors.
~ Inspiring people to explore the newly established trails
~ Informing visitors of the likely terrain and experiences they can look forward to on each route.
Alongside the the pieces to camera from the presenter, stylised use of camera footage will be assembled with a variety of editing techniques, using dynamic shots of people out on the trails, highlighting locations and the landscape. Using a variety of the latest camera technology, such as gimbals for stabilised shots, slow motion footage and drones, we will create videos that are engaging, informative and beautifully crafted, that show off the beautiful natural landscape of the National Park and encourage those who visit to cherish and protect this wonderful area.
We will convey the experience of walking the trails by filming 'real' models who are enjoying the trail. The footage will look natural, as if we've tagged along on a walk with our cameras, instead of looking staged and corporate. Our England's Great Walking Trails videos (see below) are a great example of this natural style, that really conveys a sense of feeling and place. We can also use a variety of 'types' of walker to cover the target audiences - casual walkers and families out for the day, to keen hikers on a short walking holiday.
The films will include route highlights, links to your website or digital guides, as well as your logo and maps of the routes.
Aims and Style
Maps
Maps will play an important part in the video project - alongside showcasing the inspiring landscape, it's important that the audience knows where the trails start and end, the different sections and where it will lead them along the way. Maps will help the audience decide which trail they would like to explore and see how the trail links up with areas they may already know.
We have extensive experience in creating animated maps for projects like this, we have previously created a series of bespoke animated maps showcasing seven of England's long distance National Walking Trails, which included key locations along the route and national and international transport links. The maps formed part of a large nationwide video and photography campaign we undertook for Marketing Peak District and Derbyshire, working as a part of the Discover England Fund (see previous experience below).
We also created bespoke animated maps for our work with the Pedal Peak District project. We were commissioned to create a series of videos to promote newly established cycling routes around the Peak District (see previous experience below).
In both cases, we created animations that were considerate of the client's style and branding, ensuring that we created something consistent with their brand and identity.
Below are some examples of the animations we created:
Pedal Peak District Maps
Here are two of the four animated maps we created to showcase Pedal Peak District's newly established cycling routes.
We used GPX files to trace the routes and each animation contained 5 separate routes, as well as the cover image of the accompanying cycle guide leaflet.
We styled the animations to match the colours and fonts used in the cycling guides, ensuring that the videos fit in with the branding and campaign materials.
England's Great Walking Trails Maps
Two of seven map animations we created to showcase a selection of National Trails around the country.
The animations were included in our videos for National Trails (see below). We created the animations in the official colours of each trail and included the names of key towns, villages and land marks along the way.
The client also wanted to show transport links on the maps to demonstrate the accessibility of each trail.
Ideas for Exmoor Explorer Maps and Animations
The map will be in keeping with your branding and could feature the same fonts and colour palette as your logo.
We can either use your existing map designs or work with you to incorporate your new branding into the animated assets we produce - we are experienced at converting still graphics into animations suitable for video.
It would be nice to highlight the different short walks on a single map - perhaps with markers or with different coloured lines for each route - the map could then zoom into the relevant trail for the video (similar to the Pedal Peak District maps above).
We could include information that may be of use to potential visitors, such as the length, altitude gain, difficulty and local amenities of each section.
Captions can be animated to show key route information and facts. For the Discover England's Great Walking Trails videos (see previous work), captions were created giving quirky, interesting and human facts on each trail. The idea was to create a friendly and informal tone, that highlighted the individual personality and character of each trail and gave information that wasn't straight out of a guide book. It would be great to create similar captions for the Explorer walks, giving lesser known and unusual facts about the areas the walks pass through - fortifying verbal information delivered by the presenter.
Presenters
We have created a whole host of presenter-led and interview based content for a variety of clients, meaning we are very capable of directing talent and getting the most out of their performance, as well as capturing great audio and eye-catching compositions. Below are a few examples of our presenter-led and interview based productions.
At the start of lockdown we filmed a chap in Southampton named Gareth run a marathon in his back garden for charity - 1066 laps to be precise! This project involved interviewing Gareth at various stages before, during and after his run with no time for retakes - it was important to move quickly and get him to address the key points without being too distracting or invasive. This project was also carried out in full PPE whilst adhering to social distancing/hygiene measures, so we have these procedures in place for filming, should we be appointed.
We spent the day following Russell around Sheffield on bicycles as he explains the work he does to maintain the city's public bike pumps. This shoot required us to be light and mobile as we moved between locations quickly with little time to set up shots and place microphones.
PQ Academy offer opportunities to young actors and TV professionals. For this film we were working with two young first-time presenters talking straight to camera from a script, as well as interviews with young actors, so it was important to be clear and precise in terms of direction to ensure we got good takes for each scene.
Drones
We've been lucky enough to fly our drones in beautiful locations all over the UK and work with some fantastic drone pilots. Our drone pilots have worked with top UK Aerial videography companies and have top of the range gear. Below is our latest drone reel with some of our most recent footage
Our Previous Tourism Work.
Discover England's Great Walking Trails
We were commissioned by Marketing Peak District and Derbyshire to create a series of seven videos, showcasing various National Trails ranging from Hadrian's Wall, to The South West Coast path. Alongside the videos we provided a suite of images from each trail for use in print and online promotions.
The project involved detailed planning and research of each area, ensuring we captured the highlights and gave a true depiction of the variety that each trail has to offer. We worked with local trail officers and National Park representatives to establish the crucial areas to capture and the key messages that would appear in the video as on-screen text.
We also sourced local 'models' to appear in each video; real people from each area that represented the demographic for the campaign - 35 - 55 year old outdoor enthusiasts from mainland Europe.
"They totally understood our brief and every step of the production went as smooth as it could. They arranged the filming days, the models and the locations, taking a big weight off our shoulders. The finished product was exactly what we needed and put our vision into moving images perfectly." - Danielle Sorsby, Marketing Campaigns Manager, Marketing Peak District & Derbyshire
Each video has a bespoke map and a suite of images that you can view at greatenglishtrails.com.
The videos can be viewed below.
Find out more about this project here
wlkr-creative.co.uk/discover-englands-great-walking-trails
The images below show how the videos and photos we created were used to promote the walking trails. Our videos went on tour with the Visit Peak District team as they went to various trade shows around Europe. They also ran as social media adverts, are hosted on Youtube and were used to furnish a new itinerary building website, greatenglishtrails.com, where visitors can learn about each area, plan and book their trips.
Thinking more broadly, these are some potential ideas for how you could use the assets we create to promote the Explorer Walks and the National Park in general.
Pedal Peak District
We created a range of videos as part of the Pedal Peak District programme, to promote the fantastic cycling on offer and the newly created cycle routes around the Peak District.
The videos use a combination of video footage and animations.
These videos were also designed to 'Inspire and Inform'. Featuring beautiful scenery from each route as well as information such as where the routes start and end, and little facts about what you can expect to see along the way.
Suggestions for Film Promotion/Extra Value
Social Edits
Social media content is largely consumed via phones and devices with smaller screens, so the square format videos stand out and engage audiences because they fill up the space on screen. The traditional 1920 x 1080 landscape videos appear smaller on screen and therefore don't grab the attention as much. The square format is great for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
We would create one social edit cut from each Explorer Walk video, making use of square format and 'Instagram story' format portrait videos. The videos would be tailored to fit the optimum length for each platform, which is 45 seconds for Instagram (Instagram videos can be up to 1 minute) and 15 seconds for the Instagram story feature. Facebook and Twitter videos can be longer, although we recommend keeping them short and snappy to engage and hold viewer's attention.
See the videos below some examples of social media videos we created for Pedal Peak District, as well as some for examples of insta story format videos.
We have experience of running targeted promotional campaigns for clients, to get our films seen by their intended audience. For a small budget we could run a targeted campaign on Facebook and Instagram to raise awareness of the trail with its target demographic.
Facebook's advertising platform allows you target an audience based on age, location, gender and so on, so we can identify the right group of people to screen the video in front of. We would also suggest encouraging people to share the post and to share their images and experiences of the trail - perhaps through the creation of a hashtag that people can use.
We recommend hosting the videos on Youtube over Vimeo, as it's more widely known and used by the general public, whereas Vimeo is a platform that's mostly used by the creative industry and video creators. Both are well integrated with the web and social platforms, however Youtube videos are more likely to appear higher in search engine results as it is more widely used and owned by Google.
We have a few more ideas too which we're happy to discuss at a later date should you be interested.
References
Carol Parsons
Cycling and Walking Networks Project Officer at Derbyshire County Council
Phone: 07890 274 676
Email: carol.parsons@derbyshire.gov.uk
Danielle Sorsby
Marketing Campaigns Manager at Marketing Peak District and Derbyshire
Email: danielle.sorsby@marketingpdd.com