ABOUT

Following the success of “A Slightly Life-Changing Story”, the vibe of this whole campaign is joyous and playful; a beautiful abstract daylight aesthetic with a distinctive colour palette. A sense of magic and whimsy that permeates each story, and a tone that is fun and heartwarming, filled with levity, without trying to be overtly comedic.

In the three unique films of this campaign, we’re actually showcasing three examples of a single story – the story of Meta’s Personalised Ads allowing small and midsize businesses to effortlessly and joyfully flourish.

We begin and end each story in an abstracted version of a brick and mortar business. The back wall was designed to split down the middle and magically fly apart as we tracked backwards. A floating ceiling added a sense of dimension to our vertical aspect ratio, but it also gave us a really heightened sense of magic when we literally blew the roof off. In tandem with the back wall, we rigged the initial set dressing to also roll left or right, leaving us with a clean, abstract space to move and dance through. As we move, we pass by repeating elements of the set dressing that give us a sense of space and a platform to inspire the choreography – i.e. barber shop chairs for BSC, or butcher block counters for OATSU. As the camera began to move, we saw both the floor and the background beyond the initial vignette of the business, revealing an infinite-feeling matte blue sky ‘metaverse’.

Between beginning and ending in the tactile feel of the business, our SMB floats through a beautiful joyous daylight minimalism that puts the focus on the people rather than the place.

During the project's planning stages, in an effort to be a greener production, we pitched the idea of a sustainable production to the client who were completely supportive of the methodology.

The industry is now starting to tackle the impact of transport and energy use, but studies show that scenery construction for a small tv commercial generates an average of 1 ton of waste and a large feature film up to 912 tons, Albert’s New Screen Deal states that the amount of plywood used in construction for a typical tentpole production equals the volume of 2.5 cargo planes. We proposed a novel method of using paper-based cardboard sets known as Vectar boards and teamed up with The Vectar Project, a UK-based production studio with impeccable sustainability credentials.*

We are committed to supporting productions and helping them find cost-effective sustainable solutions. We are convinced that by increasing green jobs and by making it easy to choose green solutions, we can promote a virtuous circle where increased sustainability awareness on sets improves all aspects of production.

The feedback from the production company is that the end client: Meta (Facebook) is now using our techniques to showcase how to have a more sustainable and eco-friendly production which is a monumental result! The ads themselves are pretty great too!

More than just clever material choices, our entire planning process, including the studio recce was done virtually through Teams and Zoom meetings, minimising travel. Using the Vectar sets also reduced studio time, enabled a rapid pre-light process, and saved resources associated with a longer prep schedule.

This choice is a new system, so one of the challenges is to let people know that paper-based sets are now a practical alternative in many cases. There is naturally a reluctance in a very traditional industry to experiment with new solutions and a fear of a new method not providing the same quality as traditional ways of working. We are convinced that recycled cardboard sets offer a viable solution, and have done extensive and on-going research to ensure that we can eliminate any of the difficulties we may come across on set. We believe that in many applications paper-based sets offer significant advantages compared to wooden ‘legacy sets’
Receiving this award would validate and encourage others to think outside of the box and make bold and novel choices when it comes to sustainability. Even when working with the biggest or most demanding clients, there is a viable way to evolve our industry and challenge the status quo, all while being conscientious and respecting the environment.


INFO ABOUT OUR OVERALL CARBON FOOTPRINT AND SUSTAINABILITY
All three locations used the same framing system: two Vectar board walls clamped to lighting trolleys. The rear walls for the three sets were then attached to the frame, with all furniture (drawers,kitchen cabinets, etc.) fixed to the fore walls. The lightweight Vectar board (1.5 kg per m2, compared to about 11 kilograms of MDF) and minimalistic construction ensured that sets were effortless to assemble and relocate. Despite the tight shooting schedule, we were able to produce sets in only a few days by converting the designs into cutting and printing files.
The floating ceiling, which had to fly upward during filming, (7x4m) was also made of Vectar board. It proved highly robust but also light enough for four people to move in and out repeatedly on command. The Vectar boards were easier to handle than a wooden piece which would have required extensive rigging and presented a significant number of safety challenges. By using Vectar boards, we were also able to save on hoisting equipment, human resources, and associated carbon costs. For two locations, instead of painting, we printed directly onto the materials, ensuring a speedy turnaround, quick build on set, and no dry time. Printing also made it possible to match the designs' patterns, colours, and textures, with no need to use RAL equivalents for Pantone shades. This method enabled us to use an exact amount of paint, minimising wastage and disposal. A pulp-based texture was applied to the third and salvaged end lots of paint mixed together strategically to create the specific grey colour.

For the three Meta sets, we used 164m2 of Vectar board. Based on the LCA of the board, this gives a total carbon impact of 82 kg CO2 eq. If we compare this to industry figures for the effects of MDF, using the same amount of MDF would have produced around 1971 kg CO2 eq.** The actual figures would be significantly higher when you consider the need for additional wooden bracing, metal fastenings, etc. Many pollutants are involved in manufacturing MDF, including formaldehyde and MDF dust, which pose significant health and environmental threats. Unlike paper-based boards, MDF is not easily recycled.

The workshop where we prepped everything is fitted with a solar panel array which generates 64 KW per day, and any extra energy is provided by certified green energy suppliers.

The above calculations are based on "cradle to gate" figures, i.e., the impact of manufacturing the materials. As noted, MDF weighs around 11.2kg per M2, whereas Vectar Board weighs about 2 kg per M2. It is substantially better in terms of transport impact and fuel usage. Vectar boards are produced from harvested timber waste in sustainably managed Swedish forests – no trees are cut down to make the pulp for the board; instead, it is made from the branches, bark, and waste wood from timber production. The forests are maintained in accordance with world-leading standards that go far beyond FSC, and the factory takes every step to reduce environmental impact during production.

RECYCLING AND REUSE
Many elements from the shoot, including furniture, were re-skinned and re-purposed for the next set-up to help save materials. The barber shop and kitchen sets are currently being displayed in a showroom and will likely be used in future productions. All further material was cleaned up and will be used for hand-building (some have already been turned into gothic arches for a Halloween event.) Both our production company and the supplier regularly repurpose sets. While it is possible to re-use wooden sets, many are still scrapped after only being used once: they are costly to store, rarely cost effective to strip, repaint or reskin and many will go to biomass (i.e. burned to produce energy). Modifying heavy wooden sets involves physical risks with metal nails and screws causing cuts and scratches, and damage to power tools. Any material that could not be reused was recycled into paper waste as out sets were fully recyclable. The high quality of the fibre used to make the boards means they can be recycled up to seven times. As we know, trees take in CO2 and carbon is stored in the wood. This carbon remains stored in paper fibres no matter how many times the paper is recycled.

All the props used on set were re-homed, either given to crew members through Facebook groups such as set-swap-cycle or kept in storage for future use.

COST IMPACT
We were also able to be very competitive on price, work to the available budget and make savings in terms of time on set and the number of crew involved. Our final budget was close to production’s financial forecast, however, utilising Vectar boards proved more expensive in material use and the planning process was more complicated. We prefabricated most of the sets and had the design not been pre-approved, we would not have been able to accommodate on the fly changes as quickly as we would on a classic construction route. Due to the ease of assembly, saved manpower and studio time, the use of Vectar boards had a similar bottom line as regular construction. An added benefit of the meticulous planning was that we eliminated the need for the usual secondary prop “options”, as all elements were signed off by the end client prior to us setting foot in the studio.