With the advent of camera and video technology, forward-looking brands have begun exploring the use of their products to create branded content to reach this highly demanding audience. More often than not, the manufacturers provide content creators with their products as tools to help them “capture their vision” and tell their stories. As such, there are no tangible restrictions placed on their work since the majority of their work appears in on-line venues or film festivals. The most pressing type of restrictions or governance comes by way of the manufacturers themselves, who want to ensure the content created does not in any way disparage or harm their brand.

FOR JUDGING PURPOSES ONLY, NOT TO BE PUBLISHED ANYWHERE

The idea behind this program was to shoot the entire Broken Night movie and all of the behind the scenes footage exclusively on the Nikon D800 and a large range of Nikkor lenses. We knew we wanted to document the complete filmmaking process and allow our target to follow us on the journey. Given the limited funds, we decided that Tumblr would be the best (and free) platform on which to house all of the content. We then dedicated $150K to online media in order to get the word out there and let the snowball effect take its course.

Partnering with the right talent was going to be tricky… and potentially very expensive. So we decided to use all of our agency’s connections to search for the best fit. After talking to several potential partners, we knew that in order to reach this niche audience, we had to go with the best. Between the agency’s relationships and the endless possibilities offered through this project, Director and Cinematographer showed interested in the project for what it was, and agreed to participate without asking for a fee – the opportunity to have creative freedom and try out all sorts of new gear was enticing enough. Having this caliber of talent on board helped attract other talent.

Last but not least was the production itself. We shot in the outskirts of L.A. for two days and two long nights. Including a car crash, a deer, a stunt woman, and close to 100 crew members, it is amazing that the production of the movie cost less than $700K.

All in all, Nikon made a compelling short with some of the best talent in Hollywood all for under $850K.

After placing media within major filmmaking sites, buzz around Broken Night began gaining momentum. Videos were shared, stories were published and filmmakers became intrigued with Nikon D800’s capabilities. Eventually, the movie became an Official Selection at Sundance and played in front of the hard-to-reach audience we needed to see it. With over 25 million PR impressions and almost 200,000 views of the movie online, Broken Night was successful in reaching the Hollywood community in the organic way they would pay attention to. So much so, that a handful of filmmakers have proactively reached out to Nikon in the hopes of solidifying a partnership that would make the D800 one of the filmmaking tools in their upcoming projects.