The making of our cottages4you TV Ad
by Julian Gratton
I love it when a plan comes together
It was that great leader of men Hannibal Smith who once said… “I love it when a plan comes together”. And that sums up perfectly how I feel about our TV advert for the holiday cottages brand cottages4you. It took a large number of talented people to create the 40 seconds of film that is embedded within this posting… and to give you an insight into how we ended up with the advert we did… I thought I’d tell you the story of the commercial’s creation.
From the original client briefing to some insights into the creative process and the ideas we presented you’ll hopefully see what went in to creating the final concept that went before the cameras. I’ll then look at the filming process as well as the work that went into the post-production and resulted in the final commercial… which is hopefully enticing people up and down the country to book a break with cottages4you.
The brief
The 'You make the rules' concept that was a close front runner
It’s not very often as a Creative that you get a wide open brief to explore a number of creative executions… this was one of those occasions though. Our client at Holiday Cottages Group had run a TV advert before that essentially took the viewer through what they might experience on a cottage holiday. There was nothing wrong with the advert… it had great production values and looked lovely… it’s just that it kind of washed over you and did not make you think; or stay with you after you had seen it… so we were tasked with creating something that would be remembered, or make people think, or simply just stay with people after they had seen it.
The only thing we had to make sure we communicated in our advert was that there are a wide range of experiences to be had on a cottages4you break and that there are properties available to stay in from coast to countryside. So quite an open brief really… every Creative’s dream brief in fact!
The concepts
The concepting process took about a week and in that time we explored a number of routes that started with a ‘fairy step’ away from the original commercial… this first step was entitled ‘Guest Book’ and had a voiceover that recounted experiences they had had on a holiday… what you realised at the end of the commercial as a hand wrote ‘thank you’ in a guest book, is that you were hearing what had just been written before the people left the cottage for home.
One of the other routes (we actually explored five) that we created was all about how on a Cottages4you holiday you can actually ‘make the rules’ as you’re not tied to having to have breakfast before 10am or paying extra for a room with a view. This idea really sold the difference that choosing a Cottage holiday had over the competition and was a close second to the idea that eventually went forward to be filmed.
The deleted kitchen scene that was replaced with the woman on the treadmill
These ideas were then fully scripted and story-boarded to present to the client. From that initial presentation there were two clear favourites… with one of these slightly edging the other. The front-runner was then explored further with some new scenes written… one original draft of the script had a huge Aga cooker in a small bedsit, but this was eventually replaced by the woman on a treadmill in her living room… this original Aga scene is still present in the animatic that was produced before we went into production.
Filming
By the time the animatic and final script had been signed off we had already decided on the chosen director of the commercial and the Production Company that would handle the filming for us. Phil Taylor was the chosen Director and he was represented by the very hard-working team at Velvet Films.
From here the team at Velvet & North West Locations began scouting locations and we also began a lengthy casting process. Three days of filming were required for the commercial… Day one of filming was down in the New Forrest to film the cottage that appears at the end of the commercial and the buildings that the cottage sits within were filmed in Southampton on the same day.
Day two of filming was in a studio in Manchester. The morning of this day we filmed the treadmill scene before spinning the camera around and filming the apartment scene at the other end of the studio. The apartment scene was shot with a blue screen outside the window and the painting on the glass was actually hand painted on the day… and it has to be noted that Fen, the dog in the living room scene, has to be the cutest and most well-behaved dog on the planet.
Director Phil taylor and Creative Director Julian Gratton outside the garage that was converted into a pub
Day three of filming was the beach and pub scene. The previous day a garden in Didsbury, Manchester had 4 tonnes of sand poured onto it and been decorated with fresh Lancashire seaweed and a mini ice cream van. The original plan was to build a tank and have the sea effect done ‘in-camera’, but due to not being able to dig into the garden this was done in post-production. The afternoon and evening of day three was spent filming the pub scene.
A house in Cheadle, Manchester, had it’s garage converted over the course of a day into ‘The New Inn’… complete with pub sign, Hops round the door and a welcoming ‘real ale’ bar and friendly patrons. We even had nuts and pork scratchings on offer at the bar as well as a regular with some tall stories to tell!
Needless to say, by the time we called ‘Wrap!’ we were all in need of a good night’s sleep after three incredibly long days of filming.
Post production by 422
Filming the apartment scene, notice the painting on the glass and blue screen in the background
As the commercial was shot on 35mm the film had to be sent to London after the shoot to be processed… from there Phil Taylor did a rough cut before we went through and created our Offline Edit. This was then approved by the client before being sent to Rushes in London for Grading.
Once completed we then progressed with enhancing the painting in the apartment scene by layering over the image that the painting was taken from as well as placing in the city that you can view through the window. The pub scene had extra lights added around the house and the beach scene had extra stripes put on the grass as well as waves crashing in on the shore.
The biggest and most time-consuming work, though, was on the end scene as we had to place the cottage in-between the Georgian terraces that we had filmed in Southampton and create the city in the background. This end scene, whilst only about 7 seconds of the commercial, actually took about two weeks to complete… but in the end the effect is well worth it as it really does create a striking and memorable end to the advert.
Sound effects were also created at this time and we also recorded the Voice Over which was provided by the very talented Melissa Lloyd from Calypso Voices.
The finished advert
As you can see, a lot of work went into creating this commercial and I’d like to extend my thanks to Cinematographer, Trevor Forrest, Eddie and all the Crew, Paul Kondrass and his Art Department team as well as the very talented Phil Taylor plus Sharon and Angela at Velvet… as well as everyone at 422 and the band Urusen who provide the music.
Also thanks to Emma at Red C for being a patient Account Director and everyone involved at Holiday Cottages Group who are a fabulous bunch of people to work with.
Hope everyone enjoys the making-of, that our very own Keith Pleasant has put together, and is proud of the commercial we produced… I know I am.
Tags: 422, Advertising Agency, Award-Winning Advertising Agency, Calypso Voices, Cottages4you, Cottages4you Advertising Agency, Design Agency Manchester, Direct Response Advertising Agency, DRTV Advertising, Making a TV Ad, Manchester Advertising Agency, Phil Taylor, Rushes, Trevor Forrest, TV Advert, TV Advertising Agency, TV Production, Urusen, Velvet Films Manchester
