Our job would be to build this “walking tour” style video, making sure it emphasized three main points

Client: SRX (SpecialtyRx) via GCNY Marketing

Objective: Create a music video and a promotional video

Film locations: SRX headquarters in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey 

Project Deadline: August 2018

The Proposal

SpecialtyRx, a full-service pharmacy provider that supplies prescription drugs primarily to nursing homes, had engaged GCNY Marketing, who reached out to us about creating a video about SRX’s operation to send to prospective clients.

GCNY even had a concept in mind. They had seen and liked the American Airlines in-flight safety video featuring a flight attendant giving instructions in a fun and engaging manner, and they wanted us to take a similar approach.

Our job would be to build this “walking tour” style video, making sure it emphasized three main points; the core values of the company, their sheer scope and size, and their cutting-edge technology and capabilities. It was also important that we keep the video interesting as well as informative.

GCNY sent the first few lines of a script, which would basically be a tour of the facility, and gave it over to us from there, tasking us with taking their vision to the finish line.

Casting

We work with two basic categories of actors. The first is an extra or supporting role actor, usually selected for fitting a certain physical description, something like “long-haired male mid-twenties” when we wanted a hippie look for a busker playing guitar in the subway, or “Asian male middle-aged” when a company we were featuring wanted to emphasize their diversity.

The second category is when we look for a lead actor who will have multiple speaking lines, at times carrying the production.

In cases when we’re concerned simply with the actor’s appearance, we’ll scroll through pictures on casting websites to find the look we need and forward our picks to the client for their approval. But this project called for the second category — a lead actor who would carry the production — and as his role was central to the video, finding the right actor was very important.

We watched multiple clips on casting sites, and once we found a few promising actors, we asked them for samples reading the lines of our script. This way we could see if they had the personality and professionalism the part demanded.

We struck gold with an actor named Josh whom we had worked with previously. SRX agreed that he had the perfect blend of charisma and humor to be our entertaining tour guide.

Footage on the Fly

Rikki Blau, GCNY’s principal and chief account executive, called me with a powerful idea as a start to the video.

“How about having the actor begin from a helicopter? He’ll start his speech from the air, and then he’ll be dropped off in front of the SRX building to begin the facility tour — a grand entrance!”

It was an inspired idea, but since we wouldn’t be using a real helicopter (blame budget constraints and liability), we’d have to reach into our bag of tricks in the filming and editing stages.

We began by showing stock footage of a real helicopter to give what’s called an establishing shot, so the viewer subconsciously assumes the next shots will also be in and around a helicopter. Next, we placed drone footage we had taken of the actual plant, as if our cameraman were shooting an aerial view from the helicopter.

To really bring things to the next level, our executive VFX director Mordy Fisgus took stock footage with a POV, or point of view, of the window of a chopper. He then replaced the window with our own drone footage, so the view out of the helicopter window was now… of the SRX facility.

Pretty cool? Wait, we’re not done yet!

We also wanted that classic shot of our tour guide disembarking from the helicopter, complete with the deafening sound of rotating blades and the strong winds they create. Enter the humble leaf-blower. Pointed upward toward the actor’s head, the machine’s powerful gusts made our actor’s hair fly all over the place, and though he was mic-ed for sound — still shouting his lines over the noise of “the chopper” — the leaf-blower didn’t bother us, because the more noise, the better.

Josh was also wearing those iconic protective earphones worn by helicopter pilots and passengers. All of these tricks pulled together in a rapid opening sequence brought the scene as close to a chopper as we could get without running into the safety and budget concerns of the real deal.

Strive for Five

It was very important to SRX that the video highlight their core values, a list of five company standards (reliability, cost-containment, and so on). We used this to our advantage, helping break the lengthy (by promotional video standards) tour into segments. Josh held an iPad throughout, and at each section, he would click on it to display the next core value, segueing us to the part of the facility best representing it.

It’s difficult to properly film a display screen, so we just placed a purple background on the iPad when we filmed, and our VFX (special effects) department added the appropriate text and logo in post-production editing.

The Sound of Silence

One of the stops on Josh’s walk through the facility was a large conference room where pharmacists and administrators were holding a meeting. His job was to open the door, and in a stage whisper, explain what was going on inside — without “disturbing” the important meeting.

Can you spot the issue?

The tour guide was being recorded live, and if he entered a room where a meeting was being held, how could we hear his hushed speech over the other voices? The answer is as simple as it is clever. We asked the staff to simply move their lips and hands as if they were having animated discussions. Although the staff was real staff — SRX pharmacists and administrators — and no one had any acting training, they did a convincing job, and in the video it looks as if we magically turned the sound off everyone in the room aside from our guide.

Keeping it Fun

The product or company may be great, but if you want a viewer to watch a four-minute video all the way through, it’s important to keep it engaging. Josh really carried the video with his sheer personality, delivering even the driest of information in a quirky and dramatic way. His personality allowed us to give him some leeway to tweak the lines to his style, which helped the dialogue sound less “memorized” and more natural. Since he was walking throughout the shoot, leading us through the facility, a teleprompter would have been difficult to use, so not being stuck on exact wording made it easier all around.

We also wrote in several goofier scenes; the video actually ends with Josh being wheeled out of the facility in a shopping cart.

Playing All Angles

At one point, we placed our camera on the conveyor belt they use to transport the medicine. This gave a different POV, that of an SRX pill package.

One of the lighter moments called for a pharmacist to hand a blister pack of pills to the guide, showcasing SRX’s specialty packaging systems, and then for our actor to toss the package back as he continued his walk. After a number of takes, we came to the unfortunate conclusion that, though our actor was blessed with many talents, athleticism was not one of them. Throw after throw kept falling short or going too far, cutting into our filming schedule. Finally, we took a shot of Josh tossing the pack, followed by another shot of him practically handing it off to the pharmacist. We placed the two shots together in the editing stage so it looks like one fluid throw and catch.

Callback

We like to prepare as well as we can, and we come into a shoot with a full script written out, including dialogue and a list of shots. This script called for walking through the facility and highlighting the different departments. On the list were the account managers, but on filming day, all three of them were out!

Instead of trying to sneak past the empty chairs, though, we chose to highlight them, with our guide explaining that he “would love to introduce the managers, but they are out in the field, making visits to the facilities they service.” It turned out to be a great piece of the video, mixing up the standard dialogue and showcasing something positive.

There will always be last-minute surprises, so being able to roll with the punches is crucial in this business. When those surprises end up making the video better, well, that’s always a bonus.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 981)