ServiceNow's in-house creative team came to Tokyo to film a series of brand films for the Japanese market, bringing their own producer and director. We provided everything else: the crew, a fixer, location scouting and permits, transport, and a bilingual edit. This is production support in Japan the way visiting teams need it, so they can focus on the story.

The brief

The films follow people through their working and everyday lives in Tokyo, so the locations had to feel real and varied, and every one had to be secured in time.

How we produced it

Our fixer scouted each location, offered several options for every scene, and arranged permits for the client's choices. Over a week we filmed in a traditional garden in Koishikawa, in Ueno, Shibuya, Shoto and Harajuku, at ServiceNow's Tokyo office, at a playground and at a café. We supplied the crew from DOP to stylist and make-up artist, along with a producer, a photographer and an interpreter. Everyone travelled between locations by van, so the visiting team could relax and enjoy Tokyo between setups. For an overseas team, having one partner who handles all the Japanese-language conversations with venues and officials takes a lot of risk out of a shoot.

In post, our bilingual editor worked with ServiceNow's director to shape the interviews into the finished films, supplying transcripts and subtitled cuts for review. We cast Japanese voice artists and ran the voiceover session remotely: the studio opened a video link so the ServiceNow team could listen live and give direction from overseas.

What we delivered

We delivered three films, each cut at 60, 30 and 15 seconds, in Japanese with English subtitles, plus subtitle files and open-captioned versions. The team was very happy with the shoot and the edit.

See our production support and fixer services in Japan. For more of our support work, see the UFC 328 Countdown in Okinawa. For a full bilingual corporate production, see Asana × Fujitsu.

Client: ServiceNow (in-house producer and director)
Location: Tokyo, Japan: Koishikawa, Ueno, Shibuya, Shoto, Harajuku
Services: Crew, fixer, location scouting, permits, transport, interpreter, photography, bilingual editing, transcripts, subtitles, voice casting, remote voiceover session
Crew: Producer, DOP, stylist, make-up artist, photographer, interpreter, fixer, driver
Deliverables: Three films at 60, 30 and 15 seconds; Japanese with English subtitles; subtitle files and open-caption versions