Instagram film production
One of my recent commissions as a London-based Instagram filmmaker was for the boutique London florist All for Love. This florist specialises in event and wedding flowers, horticultural sculptures, public art installations and large-scale statement pieces. On this occasion, they had been contracted to provide the floristry for a wedding at London’s Natural History Museum. They saw this as an opportunity for the production of a series of films for their Instagram account. These would demonstrate their processes of supply and delivery of special floral installations. In this case study, I share an overview of what was involved when All for Love commissioned me to work with them on this project as an Instagram filmmaker.
Film concept
After discussing this project with my client, it was agreed that I would deliver 3 x 60-second films suitable for uploading to the All for Love Instagram channel. Each film would feature a different stage of the process. The first film to show the pre-wedding preparations; the second film to show the delivery of the floral arrangements to the Natural History Museum; the third film to show the All for Love crew assembling the installation of the wedding flowers.
Filmmaking skills
As these short films were also to be used to help promote my client’s services, they needed to be interesting and engaging to watch. To create a theme running through this series of three short, engaging stories, I planned to film an interview with Ruth Davis, an award-winning florist and the founder of All for Love. Along with the selection of a suitable music track, this interview would form the basis of the audio bed over which I could edit images of the flower displays and installation. In effect, I would be editing three short inter-linking films so would need a variety of my filmmaking skills for their production.
Filming day
The advance design and creation of the flower arrangements and bouquets were being carried out at the All for Love studio in South London. On the day of delivery, I filmed the team assembled for this project and their final preparations there. Later in the afternoon, while the flowers and designs were being loaded into trucks by her team, I filmed an interview with Ruth Davis. Following this, I joined the team on their journey to the Natural History Museum in London. After arriving early, the team then had only a short 2-hour window to unload the trucks and install all the elements of the display. I filmed the team working through the whole process and their delight at the impact of their completed installation.
Filmmakers assistant
Goldsmiths university film student Silvio Ugarelli Lima joined me as my filmmakers assistant for this shoot. I’ve been offering Silvio some practical on the job training throughout the summer. For this project, he also filmed some additional shots with a second camera. I used some of Silvio’s great shots in the final films. It’s been great to have Silvio’s helpful and friendly personality assist me with many of my recent filming projects, and I look forward to watching him develop his career as a filmmaker.
Filmmaking equipment
Working as an Instagram filmmaker, I own and use a wide range of professional equipment to deliver my film projects. On this occasion, I used a Miller fluid head tripod along with a Manfrotto fig-rig to support my camera. To light the interviews, I used a Felloni LED panel light and a Dedo LED spotlight. The interview sound was recorded on a Tascam DR-701D digital audio recorder. The interior part of the Natural History Museum being used for the wedding installation was very dark so for this project I also needed to use my highly sensitive Lumix GH5S. camera.
Film editing
Once the filming was completed, I then edited down the filmed footage into three concise short Instagram films. To help link them together, I requested my client’s logo, font details and branding guidelines to create this themed series of films. A suitable music track was sourced, agreed and licenced. After a few detailed changes, the films were signed-off and delivered to Ruth as Instagram suitable .mp4 files.
Each of these finely-edited short films tells a different part of the story of this installation, and each works either as stand-alone or also as part of a short series.
Instagram filmmaker
Each of the three films can be viewed on my Instagram Channel and in the highest quality ProRes442 files on my Vimeo channel via the following links:
All for Love Natural History Museum Flowers
All for Love Natural History Museum Installation
All for Love Natural History Museum Finished Installation
I enjoyed working as an Instagram filmmaker for Ruth and the All for Love team capturing the artistic beauty of their work and this amazing installation.
Instagram films more examples
A number of projects where I have delivered short films and have also edited versions specifically for Instagram include: Zoran personal trainer; unit-e (a meditation group) and Natural Moves (a West London Osteopath). If you would like any help with your film production or post-production, please get in touch and I will be pleased to offer creative advice.
