From their website:

“Thanyamundra is a boutique, sustainable 5 star organic resort offering a sanctuary dedicated to the ultimate private rejuvenation of body, mind and soul in the most natural yet sophisticated personalised form.”

Thanymundra asked us to create a cinematic promotional video that captured a sense of “place.”

Of course, the sheer beauty of this part of the world meant this was not going to be a tough gig, despite the heat.

We filmed over several days to get the most of of early and late afternoon light.

Good times!

In December 2011 we had the good fortune of shooting the Laguna Phuket triathlon.

We were in Thailand shooting for Thanyapura sports club

It was a fun day. We felt inspired just watching the athletes-young and old.

Great day.

While in Phuket we also shot these TVC’s and promo videos:

Thanyapura is a large sports and education organization based in Phuket, Thailand.

The campus consists of multiple centers of learning and include an Olympic sized swimming pool, world-class tennis court facilities, full-sized running track and rugby pitch, a junior and middle school, and a retreat center providing mindfulness meditation training and a place for scientific research into the effects of mindfulness in education and sport.

Thanyapura has several other businesses attached to its core business of sports training and education. These include a five-star resturant located on the main campus and an organic resort an hour and a half drive from Phuket.

The organic resort doubles as a farm whereby the fruit and vegetables used in the restaurant as well as a place for visitors to unwind.

Twodog Productions was commissioned to produce a series of promotional videos that focus branding through narrative.

By leveraging Twodog’s expertise in film production Thanyapura were able to deconstruct their core brand and have this translated into a visual story.

Problem

Seeing the value and global reach that web-based promotional video provide Thanyapura wishes to create videos for marketing.
But do so with the quality that reflects the organization and without looking like amateur hour.

These would then be used to help promote the business to triathletes from around the world on websites such as Youtube.

Solution

Thanyapura, therefore, needed to create these in a way that stayed true to the style of the company and promotional material already being used. In short the videos needed to be cinematic.

We would provide the client with a series of cinematic promotional videos of roughly three minutes in duration that inspires prospective visitors to their facilities.

Thanyapura Sports and  Leisure Club

By deconstructing the core values and branding in direct consultation with the client we were able to distill the core narrative to one phase, “Sports training in Paradise.”

This was then used as the basis for all that was shot and particularly in the editing process.

Thanyamundra Organic Resort

Given the natural beauty of the location, for the organic resort it was simply a matter of capturing a sense of place. Thus giving a viewer the sense of “being there.”

The music and editing style of the Thanyamundra video reflects the relaxed, almost dream-like qualities of the resort.

Execution

For this we traveled to Phuket to shoot various events and location photography as it occurred in real time.

This approach was taken in order to capture the feeling of training at the campus while giving the viewer of the cinematic promotional videos a chance to see the facilities.

In other words, rather than simply capture the campus facilities we shot athletes using those facilities thus giving the viewer a real sense of being there.

Video: Ben Ingham
Music: Andy Carroll

The Dolomites, in northern Italy, are known locally as the Monti Pallidi, the Pale Mountains. The precise origin of the name varies. Legend attributes it to a magical creature, who spun a ball of moonbeams to give the mountain their characteristic white appearance. Others prefer the scientific theory; it was an 18th century geologist, Deodat de Dolomieu, who attributed the colour of the limestone massifs to their geological make-up and thus were they named in his honour. Whether inspired by fairy tale or fact, the riders that congregate here from around the world do so to test themselves on climbs both numerous and severe.

Against the spectacular backdrop of the Dolomites, a group of pro and elite Rapha riders set out to test Rapha’s new Autumn Winter range.

rapha.cc/​

The average time a user spends on your website when it is text based is 48 seconds. While a website with video is 5mins 9 secs.

Between 2006-2009:

Newspaper – 18.7%
TV – 10.1%
Radio – 11.7%
Magazines – 14.8%

While video has moved in the opposite direction…

Mobile based video + 18.1%
Internet based video + 9.2%

None of this is all that surprising, however, what is important to notice here (and the stats do not show this) is that viewers of online digital content have become far more sophisticated. Because of this they are demanding more engaging, and compelling content. No longer can you shoot a video without beautiful cinematography and a compelling story—viewers will simply click to another more exciting video.

This is where concept films come into their own. A concept film is a stylized short video that promotes a core value. It is stylized in the sense that the look and feel of the video, as well as the narrative, reflect the core value of a brand.

By bridging marketing and cinematic filmmaking in an affordable way concept films engage an audience in a manner that reinforces those values, adds trust, and deepens customer loyalty.

Last Sunday (20th March 2001) I went to Gyuto monastery to shoot a narrative film with two young monks. On my way home I stopped by Norbulingka Institute. Although the gardens at Norbulingka are quite beautiful, and worthy of their own piece, I ended up shooting just the main temple as I was short on time.

Cast: Geshe Lobsang Yonten and the children from Zanskar.
Music “Edge of my Soul” by Jami Sieber

Canon 60d and a 28mm f1.8 USM II lens.