Five Stories in One Sketch
When Being Indian first approached us for the production of a sketch to promote the Kia Seltos, we were hooked. The challenge was clear: Mix 5 individual sequences, an internet sensation, add information about the car, and humour to create maximum impact. Considering, the video currently has over 3,100,000 views on Facebook, looks like the LMB treatment did the job!
The Goal
The aim was to produce, direct and edit the script into a completed film, ready for upload. When we got our hands on the script (aptly title ‘Making of Badass Content’) and we immediately knew that it was going to be a very interesting project. We jumped right in, working on a tight schedule for the whole project.
The script had 5 radically different scenarios:
- An office sequence (which we shot in our own awesome studio!)
- A rap music video
- A family advertisement
- A car chase
- A monologue
It read like a delicious mix of 5 short films AND it was an opportunity to work with one of the most celebrated social media stars in India – Be YouNick.
Thanks to our unique combined expertise in shooting automobiles, ads, fiction, comedy sketches, music videos & animation and VFX, we were ready to hit the ground running.
Our Approach
a. Pre-Production
A script can make or break a film so our first step was to run through multiple drafts and tighten it. At the same time, it allowed us to gauge the complexity of the shoot. We understood that we had concrete creative and logistical challenges we needed to solve in the minute time span of two weeks.
The script demanded a music video, but we only had some rough lyrics on the page. While culture machine worked with their writers guided by the vision of our resident director, we reached out to our amazingly talented friends at GraySpark Audio to figure out the music and the rapper for it. At the same time, our producer put together a stellar team for costume, art direction, line producing, stunts etc. to tick off the logistical challenges one by one. We were also hunting for perfect locations like warehouses, closed roads, offices, studios, and more, simultaneously. And of course, there was casting, we started auditioning actors for the four roles besides Be YouNick. Phew!
As the script was finalized the directorial team broke it down into a workable schedule around Be YouNick’s availability. The segments requiring VFX were identified and marked to remove any kind of uncertainty. Along with the cinematography team, each of the sequences was broken down into different visual treatments with a mood board created for each of them, inclusive of costumes and props.
At the end of two weeks, we were set for production with a confirmed cast, a complete rap song, locations blocked off, costumes and props ready, and the entire team raring to go.
b. Production
Four days of production for five distinct sequences can be challenging, but we are a team that believes in planning. Each of the four days went without a hitch. From recreating sunlight in the dead of night, having a stunt driver show us how capable the Kia Seltos can be on a blocked road, to seeing Be YouNick do his magic to making the car look– it was a memorable four days for all the right reasons.
Culture Machine was there with us throughout the production for some welcome moral support, and the end of it, we were an extremely tired but happy team.
c. Post-Production
We had simultaneous teams working on different parts of the process. One team was working on the visuals we shot in the studio while another was in the recording studio working on the dub the action sequences.
As far at the editing of each sequence goes, a different treatment was used for every scene. The car chase had dramatic wide shots and swift cuts to portray speed and urgency. The rap sequence was highly stylized with a focus on making the Kia Seltos look like the star of the show. The family scene was edited in a way reminiscent of old family vehicle commercials. Since the treatment of each scene was made crystal clear during preproduction, we could fast track post-production achieving the results we wanted within just a few rounds of feedback.
The edit was quickly locked for colour grading and sound and Voila! the film was good to go.
The Result
Once released, it quickly climbed up the number of views to reach 1.6M with engagement reaching to 12k likes on YouTube alone. On Facebook, it clocked 3.1M views with over 16k reactions.
We’re happy to say that the film was received well all around and the rap sequence did particularly well. So much so that Kia reached out to buy the rights of the song out completely. It was an incredible experience for us at LMB, purely because of the fact that it had us bringing different skillsets used in separate projects into a single one. And while challenging, thanks to our in-house disciplined process, we churned out a great product.
