"Out Here, Life is Measured in Seasons"
This project means a great deal to me on a personal level as a farmer's daughter. This video created for BigIron Auctions is a story about how the passage of time in rural communities is measured in "seasons". This can be as literal as the harvest and planting season in farming, or allude to more complex themes dealing with various stages of rural life, such as a young farm kid growing up and having to decide to leave the farm.
For this video, the marketing team had the idea to take old and new photos of life on the farm, and then film those photos in settings around the farm to represent memories made in those areas over the years. The visuals in this video are a literal representation of how certain places, feelings, or situations can bring back old memories.
As a farmer's daughter whose family has farmed the same land for over 100 years, I took great care to make sure this project was an honest interpretation of the rural way of life. Many of the photos in this video are of my own family. I even make an appearance as a young girl at the 1:52 mark, enjoying a day with my grandfather and cousins.
The Process
Creating this video was a fun, albeit time consuming process that involved crawling in the dirt, climbing on equipment, and and chasing down cows to get that perfect shot.
I wrote the first draft of the story myself, pulling from my own feelings and experiences as a member of the farming community. The final was edited by another member of the team, and my boss's father lent his voice talents for the narration.
Collecting photos took a few weeks. Some of our generous customers provided photos, but many of the photos came from employees (most of our staff come from rural backgrounds). After amassing a collection of both old and new photos, I grabbed the camcorder and took it to my parent's farm and the shop where we store equipment. I spent several days collecting b-roll of the photos placed in various farm scenes to tell the story. A few of the scenes were collected by another co-worker using a drone.
When I was satisfied with the amount of footage, I took it all back to the office for editing. I was careful to capture the right mood in the editing process with my choice of lighting, color, sound and transitions. I wanted my viewers to experience a bittersweet longing for the past, coupled with a sense of pride and familiarity.
The Facebook cover video that appeared on the BigIron page during the campaign.
The Aftermath
I think that this project did what it was meant to do; we connected with our fans and gave an honest and emotional interpretation of our rural audience's experiences. The response on social media was successful, with over 177,000 views and 398 shares. Our audience was engaged with the content, and many were inspired to share their own stories growing up on the farm, which I loved reading and responding too. We played this video at farm shows, and I've that heard watching it has even made a few people tear up. I consider the Seasons video to be one of my most thought provoking and successful projects to date.
This Video was created for BigIron Auction company. Website: www.bigiron.com
Music for the video is "Acoustic Meditation" by Jason Shaw: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/