Hornbill - Video

The Brief

Each year Hornbill puts together a stand demonstrating its software and promoting itself for the Helpdesk & IT Support Show at Earls Court. As Hornbill’s sole digital supplier, we were invited to produce a video presentation for it.

The Solution

Hornbill provided us with a very loose brief and trusted us to deliver a high quality presentation lavished with the spit and polish that our clients are accustomed to. Its marketing department initially suggested high-tech design and visuals similar to those popularised in films such as Minority Report and The Matrix. With this in mind (but without an army of special effects artists and a multimillion pound budget) we set out to create an eye-popping, futuristic extravaganza that would raise the bar for the competition and reflect the innovative and sophisticated nature of Hornbill's brand and products.

The exhibition video predominantly consists of  talking-head interviews that Hornbill shot and supplied to us on Mini DV. The IT managers of major corporations talk about the vital role that the Hornbill software suite performs within their departments and across their companies. These testimonials were captured and edited in preparation for use with After Effects later on.

Hornbill supplied us with a narrative for the different sections of the video, which was recorded and mixed as a voice over at the Digital Marmalade studios. We selected an ambient drum and bass soundtrack containing several peaks and breaks that would help to punctuate the animation and signal transitions. Work then began on the overall look and feel. The video was to be projected onto translucent screens, so all of the visuals needed to be vivid and bold enough to maintain clarity. A looping graphic bed was designed in Hornbill colours for use in the background, over which all the main footage and action takes place. The finished video was rendered, encoded and compressed for delivery on a DVD.

Digital Marmalade attended the Helpdesk & IT Support Show 2005 and saw first hand Hornbill taking pride of place at the show's entrance. It  was a  formidable presence among the rest of the exhibitors.

The presentation has since been adapted and refined for subsequent exhibitions.