Event Video Case Study

The brief

Ultimate Recreation is an events company specializing in activities such as lazer tag, airsoft and escape rooms. They also host a Halloween-special event annually in the name ‘Apocalypse Events’. Ultimate Recreation approached Digital Pie wanting an event highlight video for their social media. We were to film the event ‘Carnivale: The Dark and Damned’, and it was to be held on the evening of Halloween in a war bunker; Bunker 51, which was owned by them.

The event consisted of two scare mazes, a firebreather, DJ’s and dancefloor, popcorn stands and various games.

How did we deliver?

As Ultimate recreation wanted a highlight video of the night, so we had to make sure that we filmed every section of the event. We had to make sure we were in the right place at the right time. Timings were incredibly important on the night as we had to make sure nothing was missed out. For example, the firebreather was performing on a schedule so it was apparent we had to be around to film her before she finished her act.

The event started at 9pm, however we arrived an hour before so we could be taken on a complete tour of the premises. This was vital as it gave us insight on what equipment and lenses to use. One of the mazes required us to crawl on our hands and knees to get through some areas, which meant shoulder rigs and tripods were ruled out. Instead, we decided on handheld cameras, which worked out better as it gave the footage a raw and realistic feel. Due to filming late and the majority of the video was to be in a dim-lit space, we also used a larger aperture lens in order to get a brighter shot – we couldn’t use extra lighting for this event as it was to ruin the experience for customers.

As the night had a lot going on, we split up and filmed different sections in order to cover more ground. We had spoken to the actors before had to not be put off by us and to ‘show up’ to the camera. One crew member did a first run of maze one with lighting before customers went around, as did the other crew member with maze two. It was important to at least one run with lighting as a lot of work had been put into the event – actors’ makeup and costumes were too good to miss out on. We then both went around the maze each a second time, without the lighting, following customers in a group to get reactions from people who had seen the maze for the first time. The third time we went into the maze, we found a hiding place to set up and film reactions from customers from a different angle.

On a few occasions, we made customers jump as we came out of our hiding place!

Once we were happy with the footage we had taken in the mazes, we went on to film other aspects of the event, such as the fortune teller, firebreather, DJ’s and dancers. We also captured more shots of the customers having a good time and their outfits they had put together.

Post-production

We wanted to create the classic Halloween horror-film style trailer; however, we had the idea to split the video into two halves to mix it up. The first half of the video was to be the ‘horror trailer’, the second half was to transition into an upbeat club to showcase the live DJ’s, performers and dancefloor better - we needed to make sure there was a balance of both the scare mazes and the rest of the activities around the event.

We created the first half of the video with heavy sound effects which were relevant to the video. We use Epidemic sound for extra sound effects, these were mixed in with the audio from the original footage to enhance the viewer experience. For example, the chainsaw chase footage was good to enhance the audio, with the extra use of stock chainsaw sounds and drums to create ambience and build up towards the climax of the song – this made it easier to transition to the next upbeat club song. The video heavily relied on the usage of small sound bites to sell the event to future customers, so to get this right was vital. Too much and the video would become overwhelming, too little and the video would not be engaging enough for viewers. To build suspense, we also cut each clip to black to create a ‘flickering’ effect to imitate that of generic horror films. This also aided in building up suspense for the transition.

We also used Storyblocks – another stock site, for added visual effects throughout the video such as thunder when filming the entrance.

The second transition was a lot easier due to adding in an "under water" style fade effect to blend the natural sound of the air compensator which covered the song cutting off. This then went into shots of the DJs, closeups of the mixing desks and people dancing. This part of this video also focused on other customers outfits and makeup which they had put effort in for the event.

After we had completed editing the sequence, we sent the video to Ultimate Recreation for feedback, who were super happy with the first draft and only wanted a logo change! After this small change was made, the video was sent back to Ultimate Recreation for them to publish on their social media pages.

Visit their website for more details on the event.

Client Comment

Thanks for sending over I absolutely love it! Great choice of music too. You've done a great job! The horse shot is incredible.

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