THE SETUP

Mahalo Digital is an excellent digital agency based out of Norther California who services Cisco on a regular basis. When they approached me to deliver a series of four training videos for Cisco called “Selling with Trust”, I was excited at the opportunity because Mahalo is all about telling stories in the most engaging way possible and this perfectly aligns with my mission as a storyteller. This would be a large production too, with me primarily handling motion design & VFX in coordination with a full team consisting of a Lead Producer, Creative Director, Art Director, Graphic Designer and Copy Writer.

THE CHALLENGE

Cisco needed to transcend their historic role of IT vendor to trusted business partner and they identified they needed to do this through their sales team. As a large company with many departments, it was unfeasible for them to conduct a meeting or most likely a series of meetings on this complex subject. In general, our challenge was to show how Cisco’s unique security, data protection and privacy strategy can empower their sales team to increase customer engagement, differentiate Cisco from their competition, deepen and broaden customer relationships and demonstrate Cisco’s long-term value as a trusted partner. And specifically we needed to do this across four unique films with a total run time of approximately 15min.

THE PROCESS

The salient concept was to show how Cisco’s technology is behind, underneath and surrounding many typical IT interactions. When I came onto the project Mahalo had already produced the initial creative which consisted of a well formed script and graphic design. Each film would have it’s own unique theme that was only suggested in the initial style frames, so my first task consisted of ingesting this creative and then interpreting it into visual mechanisms that could scale across roughly 15 min of narrative.

“Security and Trust as a Business Enabler” describes how new cybersecurity threats and the complexity of the digital world have both created a new level of interdependence between Cisco and it’s customers. I chose a padlock for this concept to evoke a sense of unmontitored protection from the point of view of a typical Cisco customer.

“Customer Innovation and Growth” describes how businesses must be able to quickly respond to new cybersecurity risks in a rapidly changing digital environment. I chose a life preserver for this concept to evoke a sense of rapid security deployment that is tangible, systematic and verifiable.

“Customer Resilience and Continuity” describes how Cisco’s culture of transparency regarding its own operations and processes can lead to the emulation of these practices by its customers. I chose a shield for this concept to evoke a sense of active protection and reliance.

“Customer Brand Protection and End User Trust” describes how Cisco’s approach to incident response is a key differentiator that frees their customers to pursue their goals with confidence. I chose an umbrella for this concept to evoke a sense of constant protection from consistent, multiple events.

Once the hero icons had been chosen the next process involved making stock footage and music selects as well as laying down a scratch VO for each film. Because I would be handling editorial and VFX I was able to judiciously select shots that would work well as backplates for the hero icons that would be composited into each shot. This can be a tricky process in that while a shot might work great to support the narrative it might not work so great as a backplate for any graphics that needed to overlay it.

Selecting music was a more thoughtful process than usual because not only were their 4 pieces of music to select but all of the selected music needed just the right tone that would keep a viewer engaged and at the same time not be overly distracting or exciting. I went with calm, throught provoking, honest and authentic.

I look at recording my own scratch VO as an opportunity to pre-direct the eventual VO talent. Oration is not merely the process of saying words, as much as, a form of music in and of itself. Rhythm, intonation and emphasis can inform what’s important in a story, and I keep this in mind when I record.

After recording scratch and selecting footage and music, I proceeded to rough edits of each film and slugged in any associated hero graphics so the client could start to get a sense of how the creative approach would play out in each final piece. This is always an interesting stage in production because how it goes is largely determined by how film & video savvy a client is that’s watching and responding to it. Ultimately I look at this stage as an opportunity to let the client start owning the work, collaborate on critiquing and to ensure their expectations are being met.

Once the “content cuts” were understood and approved I moved on to VFX and executed 3D camera tracking, 2D object tracking and rotoscoping for the shots that needed it. This is an organic process, in that, in some shots it’s pretty obvious what needs to be tracked, roto’ed, etc. and in others a more concentrated and holistic approach is needed to execute the shot final. To do this efficiently, I typically grade all VFX shots based on how quickly I can execute them and then work on the easier shots first until all shots are at v1 status.

From their I executed final composite on all VFX shots, then final edit for each film and then v1 delivery for each film. Finally because the pre-production was strong for this project, each film only went through a single revision cycle that addressed small final touches.

THE RESULTS

Through these films Mahalo Digital and I directly addressed Cisco’s need to reposition itself in the dual markets of IT and business. The result is an investment in the education of their employees which will only increase Cisco’s value in the before mentioned market places as the concepts discussed in the films are embodied and practiced.

NOW WHAT?

Do you have an idea or concept you need to bring to life but don’t know where to start? Are you short on time but still need to deliver something compelling and impactful? Schedule a meeting and let's do this!