draftLine ‘Touches the Earth’ in New Vatgerijpt Campaign for Hertog Jan
Hertog Jan, a well-loved Dutch beer brand, renowned for its dedication to beer-making craft, introduced Vatgerijpt (that’s Dutch for ‘barrel aged’) to their range seven years ago. The brand takes its ‘Grand Prestige’ beer and ages it for 12 months in casks used for the production of different spirits. The end product is a complex limited-edition beer.
Though the barrel aged beer has been in production for seven years this is the first time that the brand and ageing process has ventured outside of Europe, to Latin America to be precise, to capture the process of making mezcal, reposado, rum, and cachaca. Christopher Reed, draftLine’s executive producer, and his team were tasked with producing a range of content including films and photography for social, the packaging and the exclusive Vatgerijpt magazine. As the labour and craft that goes into each of these limited-edition beers is so important, the team focussed on capturing unscripted moments and the real people behind growing, harvesting, and processing the agave and sugarcane.
The production on this campaign was strategically decoupled with draftLine, AB InBev’s in-house creative agency, managing the production and Dutch agency The Valley managing the creative. Shooting documentary style, under the direction of Fight Gravity’s director Cameron Thurman, gave the team the agility needed to get everything from the shot list as well as moments that caught their eye while on location. The teams worked across time zones with draftLine based in the UK, the agency and brand in the Netherlands and the shoot taking place in Latin America. Effective communication was the key to the smooth completion of the project; the team also used Evercast, an editing platform, for real-time edit reviews. Frame.io for offline reviews and feedback, and virtual links for audio, VO and grade. The edit was done in-house by editor Jack Dawkins, who says that “working on the Hertog Jan project was a real privilege.” He adds: “My pre-existing knowledge of the brands, aligned with the creative direction, allowed me to find a middle ground that satisfied all parties, making the approval process smoother.”
LBB caught up with draftLine’s executive producer Christopher Reed to learn more about the decoupled production process, the craft of capturing how lovingly Vatgerijpt beers are made, and how technology facilitated this very modern shoot.
LBB> What was the brief behind the launch of Vatgerijpt like? What did you want to capture and communicate to consumers?
Christopher> For Hertog Jan this was one of the most ambitious content campaigns so far as it was produced outside of Europe and had four very different variants to promote. The barrels themselves come from across Latin America; Brazil (cachaca), Central America (rum) and Mexico (reposado and mezcal). Reposado and mezcal are from the agave plants and can be harvested throughout the year; rum and cachaca come from sugar cane, a production which is more seasonal. It meant we had to travel to a range of distilleries and farms to get the different harvests and production processes.
The main themes for this production were the craft and labour behind the process of making Hertog Jan, the four variants and also the barrels. The creative references we were given were very textural, complete with close ups of soil, hands, machines and the production processes. Previous HJ projects have been a lot cleaner and lighter but this campaign we wanted to 'touch the earth' and get close up on the production of the variants.
LBB> Why did you decide to pursue a decoupled production model? What kind of benefits would this bring?
Christopher> AB InBev have decoupled production on a number of projects in the past year with their creative agency partners developing the creative and strategy and the draftLine team managing the production. It allows the brands to be closer to the production itself and, as the draftLine production offering has grown, the ABI brands have found a lot of benefits from the consistency, quality and creativity of the in-house production and post production team.
LBB> Tell us why you decided to partner with The Valley and what the process of acting as a production partner was like?
Christopher> The Valley has been crafting the creative on the Vatgerijpt Barrel ageing campaigns for Hertog Jan for a number of years now. Draftline came in to manage the production side of the campaign, working hand in hand with The Valley’s creative team. draftLine has offices in LATAM and also a number of great production contacts and was able to reach out to a number of different partners and provide a range of production and post production solutions for the agency and campaign.
LBB> What was your relationship like with The Valley - how did you agree on the right creative approach to take?
Christopher> The Valley owned the creative and draftLine ran production. We worked hand in hand to deliver the creative vision they had developed and to find the right director and production partner. draftLine producers are encouraged to give creative solutions and opinions throughout the process and The Valley were very responsive to this although the creative remained their responsibility. Where draftLine were able to help was on how production and post production considerations might influence or help creative, for example in the creation of unit teams, more focussed product shoots and developing shot lists according to timeframes and locations.
LBB> Tell us about the spot’s aesthetic - were there any visual references that you had in mind? What did you definitely not want the spots to end up looking like?
Christopher> We wanted to show the labour and craft of the people involved but also the terrain of the places they worked. We wanted to get up close to the people making the products and also to reveal the rugged nature of the work, the people and the land with close ups and wides of the environments. We got up early to catch the workers arriving and left late to catch the last of the sun over the fields. We wanted a sense of openness and to allow the viewer to be immersed in the wild of the environment. We also wanted to situate the master brewers within the films and photography, sharing moments with the respective distillers and farmers and sharing techniques, experience and craft.
LBB> Why was Cameron Thuman the right director for this project?
Christopher> Cameron was a director from Fight Gravity films, a UK production company I have worked with before, and are fantastic with tricky briefs. They have a great knack of over delivering and are super adaptable and great to work with. Cameron not only understood the tone and aesthetic we were trying to achieve but he had already shot in that style in a number of his previous films. He is a director that is able to bring out detail and mood in environments and the people he shoots. He is a high-end documentary film maker rather than a standard commercial director although he can do both but we saw in his reel his ability to make the viewer feel like they are there with those people in those environments with a very cinematic lens.
LBB> And why did you opt for an in-house edit?
Christopher> draftLine is lucky to have some great editors in-house who not only understand the process but also the brands. It allows both the creatives and the brand teams that sense of collaboration and understanding and be closer to the postproduction process. Jack Dawkins, the editor, was also instrumental in the build of the edits offering up suggestions and solutions throughout postproduction. He was also included in some of the creative discussions rather than being just an operator.
LBB> This project came together with teams based across the globe. How did you ensure that you communicated effectively across borders and time zones?
Christopher> With our brand, agency and production teams spread across the different time zones we relied on both technology and good organisation and in some respects mutual understanding and flexibility. We used email for sign-offs on production and post production logistics, WhatsApp was used during the shoots and in some cases post production but was conversational and we were careful not to allow feedback via WhatsApp where it can often get lost or not logged properly, edits were conducted via Evercast - an online, real time editing software and where we could view and discuss edits. Edits were then sent via frame.io where small feedback was logged as well as over email. The voiceover was done with Micha Peute, master brewer at Hertog Jan, in the Netherlands where he was based via remote feed and the grade was conducted online with Unit in London.
LBB> Did you feel at all restricted by not being in the same place or did it bring unexpected advantages?
Christopher> There’s nothing like having all parties sit in a room and discuss an edit. However, in this case that wasn’t possible at least not physically but, technology allowed us to virtually. The virtual edit sessions allowed us to have moments of strong focus with realtime Evercast sessions and WhatsApp allowed us to be reactive and respond quickly to requests. If there was anything that needed discussion again we would set up a call and have full focus on the challenge or the situation at hand. Technology actually allowed us to work more efficiently and selecting the right application for its need helped us to either be open and conversational or direct and responsive.
LBB> The production of the spots took place in Latin America - tell us a little about it!
Christopher> It was a seven-day shoot run by Fight Gravity and their service company shooting in a different location everyday. Each drink has its own process from mezcal and the burning of the agave to rum and the harvesting and crushing of the sugar cane. We were careful to try to catch as much of the process as we could across the range of locations but also try to hero the people working there. We did not hire actors nor pre-select the workers, there was no hair and make-up or wardrobe. These were real people in real places doing the production for real.
LBB> How did you use technology to reduce the production’s carbon footprint? Why was this important to the team/brand?
Christopher> As above, it allowed us to reduce the distance between the various countries and time zones. We kept the crew sizes low on the shoot and made sure our production footprint was as low as possible by shooting docu-style and using natural light wherever possible. This meant we very rarely plugged into power sources and we had no video village, large lights, rigging and the props and wardrobe were minimal reducing waste.
LBB> Did you run into any challenges while working on this project?
Christopher> To be honest we had an amazing, patient and adaptable team from the crew, the production company, the agency and the brand team and I think everyone would say the same. We were organised but also open to allow the director freedom to shoot unscheduled things. It was one of the rare times in production where nothing really went wrong.
LBB> What’s your favourite part of working on it?
Christopher> When we got the shots back from Cameron and Maria the photographer the excitement levels raised. We knew we had something special. Cameron had put together an amazing treatment with some great visuals but this isn't a guarantee that is what we will get in the end but when we started going through the shots with the editor everyone was so excited to get started. I know the shoot was the same, to be honest we were lucky (or well organised) that the land and the people were so photogenic but it needed to be translated by the director, editor, photographer and the rest of the team.
