Insight to Idea

BNS collaborated with VCCP to create White Claw's brand experience at Sundance. Our task was to develop a strategic and visual framework that could be applied to all touchpoints and ultimately produce a film that would serve as the centerpiece of the branded experience. A more practical goal was to create a cohesive visual identity from which partner agencies could draw when creating digital and physical experiences. This included designing a branded event space called the White Claw Shore Club on Sundance's main stretch.

The Sundance Film Festival has always been a platform for independent filmmakers to make an impact. Inspired by their iconic Wave logo and the notion of White Claw as the underdog, we developed a concept called "Make Waves". This phrase became the creative messaging we used for this brand experience.

The Film Before the Film

At the core of the experience is a :30 trailer shown before every film premiere at the festival. Knowing that people would see it multiple times, we aimed to create something that would prime the audience and lend itself to repeated viewing without stepping on the narrative toes of the featured film. What if we could engage the audience and encourage them to discover new meanings with each viewing?

The film concept we landed on was an abstract visual poem to waves. It’s a story about connection. Soundwaves, frequencies, patterns, and one’s movement cause another sound and someone else's movement. They are visible, audible, sensory, and visceral. Inspired by Carl Sagan’s narration style, we discovered a rare, grainy archival audio recording from a scientist discussing the power of waves, which became the voice of the visual poem.

Everybody Dance Now

Then, it was time for BNS Director Nico Cassavechia to join the project, infusing his distinctive style into the film. To create a more human connection, Nico introduced the concept of an abstract choreography between two individuals. Working closely with acclaimed choreographer Denna Thomsen, Nico drew a parallel between the dance, the sound, and the abstract visuals to create a unique, non-narrative viewing experience. Additionally, we connected the mountains to the brand's ocean roots using glacial mountainscapes of Sundance's Park City, Utah, with liquid 'wave' experiments that used the White Claw seltzer.

BrandNewTechnique

With limited resources akin to an independent production, we were inspired to look at innovative ways to create this story. We had been looking for an opportunity to use Unreal in a commercial application.

Our internal CG team began experimenting with bringing the Unreal Gaming Engine into a commercial production pipeline. In record time, they could craft a workflow that fused the choreography footage with hyperreal landscapes from Unreal.

Iteration. Iteration. Iteration.

After constructing the scene, we utilized the Unreal Engine to observe the dynamic lighting effects and variations in focus in real-time. Instead of waiting for renders and compositing, we could swiftly export nearly flawless clips to our editor. This made the creative process feel more open and enjoyable, which is not a common experience in CG, mainly when working on a highly technical project.