Retail AI, a Japanese retail-technology company, is taking the checkout out of supermarket shopping and needed to explain it to an international audience. Tokyo branding agency RISKYBRAND brought us in, and we produced the brand film from start to finish, shot overnight in a working supermarket. This was bilingual brand film production in Japan for a Japanese company telling its story to the world.
The brief
The agency involved us early, in the meetings with the client, so we could advise on the brand message as well as the film. We are a film, video and photography production company, but we always try to add value to the communication itself. Because we are bilingual, we can help Japanese companies tell their story internationally, and help international companies speak to Japan. On this project, some of the phrasing and keywords we developed for the film ended up across Retail AI's own website.
How we produced it
So as not to disrupt shoppers, we filmed through the night, from 10 pm to 8 am. It was a tough schedule, and the crew pulled together to deliver. A production designer and art team came in to stock the shelves, put up signage and install prototypes of the technology in the store. We combined the live action with graphics to explain how it works, and shot photography for Retail AI's website on the same night.
For the English voiceover we cast a US-based voice artist and recorded the session online, with the client and the agency listening live.
What we delivered
We delivered a 3-minute film and a 30-second version in English and Japanese, plus website photography. The client was happy with the film and adopted some of our language in its own brand messaging.
More work with RISKYBRAND: NTT DATA Luweave and Butterfly. See our corporate video production in Tokyo.
Client: Retail AI
Agency: RISKYBRAND
Location: Supermarket, Japan
Services: Brand messaging consultancy, scriptwriting, production, production design, overnight filming, motion graphics, voiceover, editing, photography
Crew: Director/DOP Andrew Goldie, producer, production designer and art team, crew
Deliverables: 3-minute film; 30-second film; English and Japanese versions; website photography