Case Study: Frozen Valley

Shooting a TVC with Frozen Valley

by Clare Cassidy

The best marketing teams understand that a bad video is worse than nothing at all, but budget constraints don’t have to hold you back. A great example is the team at Frozen Valley. They approached us with a brief to create a TVC for their frozen snacks brand. Their initial idea for a storyboard was solid, but it didn’t match their budget.

The idea was to start on two kids getting home from school and heading off into their own rooms. Followed by dad, who flops in front of the TV. Mum has an idea to lure them out of their rooms and starts cooking. The smell of the baking Frozen Valley products brings each family member to the table, and they enjoy a hearty meal together.

While this was a solid idea, when we broke it down visually it added up to a large-scale shoot. We would need a scene depicting the kids walking through the door in their uniforms. Followed by a scene with dad walking through the door. Then we would need to see them settling into their own rooms. We would need to cut to mom greeting them but not getting another word in before they ran upstairs. Dad would then need to flop in front of the TV. That’s just the opening scenes. That’s five locations, five lighting set-ups, and five rooms to dress. Instead, we came up with an idea that involved the kitchen alone. The kids looking bored as mom places yet another casserole in front of them. She has an idea and quickly wizzes up a batch of chicken pieces from their frozen range. The mood transforms as everyone tucks in. It was a simpler script but communicated the same USPS (tasty and quick to make) and saved on a heap of time and set-ups.

Once the script was signed off, we set to work finding the perfect family. Handy hint- if you are working with kids, cast the whole family. Many agencies have families on their books, which is a godsend when you are on a busy set and mum and dad are nearby to keep their kids occupied during boring set ups. Also, nobody can get a performance out if their children quite like mum! We then worked closely with the marketing team to source a free location, which allowed us to spend a little more budget on lighting and set design. The bottom line is this kind of shoot doesn’t have to blow the bank if you box smart and work closely with your production team.

We will always be striving for a professional, visually appealing product, no matter the budget. So, we know where we can save money, and where a few extra pennies will be worth it in the end. At Curious Crab Productions no idea is too big, it might just need a little tweaking, but we will get it to the screen for you on time and within budget.