Making the Bright Video

2021 has been a huge year from Bright, and one of the highlights of our year was the launch of our new website and branding! At the heart of our launch, we created a film to convey what it meant to be part of the Bright family; how our artists and authors work, create and make their mark on the world.

Like most things at Bright, we wanted to approach this project differently - instead of commissioning a typical, corporate film, CEO Vicki Willden-Lebrecht decided to reach out to wedding videographer Philip White to make the Bright video. In this blog, we caught up with Vicki and Philip to find out how this unconventional and unlikely creative match was made.

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Vicki:

I first came across Philip’s work when I saw an elopement film of my friends’ wedding; it really moved me - two ordinary people looking extraordinary and beautiful. The film Philip had created was exquisite, capturing their soul and personality in the most beautiful of ways. I see a lot of talent in the world - as an agent you can see flair in most things and you can spot when something has potential, and I knew then that I wanted to work with him.

My fiancé Shaun and I were due to get married last year but it was delayed due to COVID and children. So much of our story had already been told, and our marriage had started before our wedding; so to speak, so we knew we wanted something truly astounding to show our love for each other.

Vicki Willden-Lebrecht outside the Bright Agency office

Philip:

I’m a lover of doing things differently, trying new and creative ideas; telling stories in unconventional ways. When Vicki suggested a ‘story so far…’ film for her wedding, I was hooked. Mainly because I’d reached a point in my career where I was ready to change my style. I was keen to work more ‘raw documentary’ and less ‘cinematic movie’.

My filming style began as something unique but as I run an online education platform, my style has now been duplicated worldwide by thousands of other filmmakers. The timing of Vicki’s first contact felt like more than a coincidence.

Philip White

Vicki:

Ultimately, due to various reasons, we didn’t go ahead with the film for my wedding, but I still wanted to work with Philip. While planning my wedding, I was also in the middle of rebranding the Bright Agency and launching our new website. We needed our brand to grow up with us and reflect what we do. I was also looking for a way to to show what it means to represent artists. I truly value and respect our artists; our passion and pride for what they do is ever there as much as it was originally and I wanted to ensure this love wasn’t lost in the new branding we were doing.

A standard ‘About Us’ video wouldn’t work for Bright. That nugget of desire to work with Philip was still there, and he knew how to film sentiment, feeling, and capture the beauty in something. This is what I wanted; I wanted to capture the beauty in what we do and the love and connection we have in our work.

I called Philip hoping in some way he might be up for something different a little different!

Philip:

I think we chatted for over an hour; I knew that I wanted to work on this project.

I remember saying to Vicki, that we need to forget the conventional way of making a corporate film. I often find that it’s almost ingrained in businesses to think that films should be made in a certain way, for example an interview or voiceover with the team with lots of behind the scenes; “pretty” shots overlaid throughout.

I wanted us to completely scrap that way of thinking. Vicki spoke about representing creatives and visionaries. I simply said that we need to make a film in the same mould.

I came away from the call with Vicki feeling so inspired and ready to go - I actually created a mock up for her within the following few hours!

Still from the finished film

Vicki:

We couldn’t shoot anything new because of the pandemic, so we used old footage and it made us be a lot more creative - out of the biggest problems come your genius moments. I think the unfinished imperfection is a great reflection on agenting and how we find raw talent and take it forward.

Philip:

My vision was to create something incredibly simple that was incredibly powerful. I wanted the film to almost work like a book, utilising lots of white negative space and incorporating a split screen effect that echoed pages turning.

I wanted to use non-professional (rough and ready) photos and videoclips for each illustrator as this made them seem more authentic. Editing these clips in black and white also helped to bring everyone together as one family and helped to elevate the more vibrant illustrations and animation to life opposite.

From the start I knew that we’d need to use a diverse group of voiceover talents. Bright’s artists cover the entire world but it was hard to represent this through the visuals alone. Once we had to our script, I carefully selected a group of artists to voice the story.

) Still from the finished film

Vicki:

For the voiceover script, we did a lot of research with our artists and agents on what it meant to be part of Bright, and what it means to be an artist. We wanted to represent the talent we house in their rawest and truest form. We wanted to give our artists the power: they are the visionaries, the magic makers, and they do come from all over the world, and their stories must be told.

I am so thrilled with the final film - its one of the things I’m most proud of, and I loved how it has such a story in itself.

Still from the finished film

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See more of Philip’s work on his website here. See the Bright video on the website homepage here.