Client: Berlin University Alliance
1 × 2 min | Germany | 2024 | 16:9 | UHD
The Berlin University Alliance (BUA) – an association of the three leading Berlin universities Freie Universität, Humboldt-Universität, Technische Universität and Charité – would like to establish the "innovate! Centre" in Berlin. The centre will support state-of-the-art, digitally networked laboratories and a unique culture of cooperation, enabling leading researchers to work together with industry to turn their outstanding findings into practical, sustainable applications.
An approximately two-minute promotional film was to form the emotional conclusion to a 20-minute presentation given to members of a jury who would decide on the allocation of funding. The film was to show Berlin as the ideal location for the transfer centre, with its large start-up scene, open mindset, diversity and the BUA as a cooperation platform - emotional, but not kitschy. The challenge was to produce a captivating advertising clip with a small budget within one month.
The storyline presents the various academic locations in Berlin within one day. The promotional film was intended to convey the spirit of Berlin as a traditional university city and cultural metropolis, which opens up a wide range of opportunities thanks to its diversity and flat hierarchies.
3D renderings make it possible to visually experience the future laboratory in the film. New and archive footage also illustrate the diverse character of the capital, which is attractive to international researchers and companies alike due to its openness, infrastructure and strong start-up culture.
The shoot took place over one and a half days in mid-May, with our team of director, camera operator and camera assistant filming at various locations across Berlin. Working as a small and agile team, we covered several locations within a short period of time: on the first day of filming, we captured footage in two laboratories with BUA staff, in and outside an art gallery, and conducted four interviews with representatives from industry and politics. On the second day, we filmed at various locations across Berlin to capture the life and lifestyle of the capital.
For the interviews and additional footage, we used a professional 12K cinema camera with cine lenses. A second 4K camera mounted on a gimbal was used for dynamic moving shots. We used LED lighting to illuminate the scenes.
We transported the film equipment and crew in a compact VW ID.4 Pro electric vehicle. Our Green Film Consultant accompanied the production and calculated the resulting CO₂ emissions. At the end of the project, a carbon footprint assessment was prepared for the film production.
Our editor Jonathan quickly created an entertaining advertising clip with royalty-free electronic music. The colour grading, which defines the design of the film with colours and contrasts, was carried out by our colourist Marcus in a professional colour grading studio. Here, the externally incorporated film material was also visually adapted to the newly shot images. On the audio level, concise interview statements alternated with the music in the foreground. Our sound engineer Alex created an atmospheric sound design for the advertising film with natural soundscapes of city scenes and interiors.
During the editing process, everyone involved in the Berlin University Alliance could easily check out and comment on the latest version of the promo film digitally via our feedback platform.
