Video proposal by Sam & Ike Walker
Thank you for inviting us 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 film projects within the Peak District and Derbyshire (see previous work below). As a result we already have footage from several areas included in or near to the Boundary Walk route - meaning we can depict a broader range of the trail than time or budget would usually allow if we had to film it all from scratch.
We have footage from all different seasons, which will help to convey the message that that trail is great all year round! The areas we have coverage of already include:
~ Chatsworth House/Estate (Spring)
~ Stanton area and Stanton Lees (Winter/early Spring)
~ Hoe Grange Holidays (to depict accommodation options on the route)
~ Buxton Opera House, Old Hall Hotel (Summer)
~ Tissington Trail (Spring)
~ Wincle Woods Bluebells (Spring)
~ Baslow Edge flowering Heather (late Summer)
~ Higgor Tor flowering Heather (late Summer)
~ Earl Sterndale (Winter/Early Spring)
We love the Peak District and being able to work to celebrate this spectacular area and champion the importance of our first National Park is very important to us.
Film Aims and Style
Key Messages
~ Raise awareness of the Peak District's outstanding natural beauty.
~ Encourage people to cherish and protect the area.
Stylised use of camera footage will be assembled with a variety of editing techniques, using dynamic shots of people out on the trail, 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 Peak District and encourage those who visit to cherish and protect this wonderful area.
We will convey the experience of walking the Boundary Walk by filming 'real' models who are walking and outdoor enthusiasts in the 45 - 65 age group, 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, keen hikers on a short walking holiday and the long distance trekker looking a challenge.
The film(s) will include route highlights, links to your website, as well as your logo and maps of the route.
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 trail starts and ends, the different stages and where it will lead them along the way. Maps will help the audience decide which section they would like to explore and see how the trail links up with areas they already know well.
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 cycle guide.
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 Friends of The Peak District Maps and Animations
The map will be in keeping with your branding by utilising the same fonts and colour palette as your logo
We have the option of using your existing map design to create the animations, alternatively we can work with you to create something new, similar to the examples above.
It would be nice to highlight the different stages of the Boundary Walk on the map - perhaps with markers or with different coloured lines for each stage.
If there are sections that are well established as separate walks, it would be nice to identify these with the name and a colour. If these don't already exist, it might be worth considering specifying separate sections that could appeal to your secondary market of people looking to do short breaks of 2 - 3 days on the trail. We could include information that may be of use to the secondary market, such as the length, altitude gain, difficulty and local amenities of each section. The same information would also be useful to the long distance trekker.
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 Boundary Walk, giving lesser known and unusual facts about the Peak District and areas the walk passes through.
Social Edits
We create a whole host of social media content for a variety of clients and our experience creating content for social platforms means we can advise on the best way to deliver the content and are perfectly placed to guide you through the process.
Using the latest editing techniques and styles, we create edits optimised for social media use.
Below is a great example of a social edit created for local skincare company Peak Skincare. The video makes use of the company colours to deliver the key messages of the video on-screen. This is important because it ensures that the message is delivered and clearly understandable, no matter how or where the video is consumed and it is delivered in an eye-catching, memorable way.
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.
Our Approach to Social Content for you
We would create a variety of social edit cuts from the Boundary 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.
A few versions of each would be created to give you more content to put out over a longer period of time. Results show that putting out a sustained level of content over a longer period of time is more effective, having a great impact on your audience, drawing higher levels of engagement from them and increasing video views, when compared to releasing a one off video.
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.
Suggestions for Film Promotion
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.
A Youtube channel will be set up to house the videos and be a base from which to share embed the videos across the web. We recommend using 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.
Utilising other Peak District companies would also be a good way to promote the trail. Businesses and accommodation providers along the Boundary Walk would have an extra incentive to share the video as a way to potentially increase business for themselves.
Organisations promoting the local area, like Marketing Peak District and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust may also be open to sharing the videos. Getting bigger organisations on board would be a great way to amplify awareness of the Boundary Walk as they have large social media followings.
We have a few more ideas too which we're happy to discuss at a later date should you be interested.
Previous 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.
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 Peak District Boundary Walk 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.
Many of the locations featured in the videos overlap with locations along the Boundary Walk so we have the option of re-purposing some of the footage, which will allow us to increase our coverage of locations in the video.
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
Working with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust over the past year, we have created a variety of content for them, promoting events and their cause. We care about protecting our natural environment and wildlife and are passionate about working with organisations who are working to achieve that.
Practical Aspects
We have a good network of local people who are great models, both amateur and professional, who we've worked with on a number of film projects in the Peak District over the last few years. These include young families, older couples and people with disabilities, meaning we can represent a wide demographic base in the film.
We've got lots of experience working on projects with complex logistics and planning - organising people, locations, permissions and release forms. We're also based locally, so are completely flexible to work with the weather.