Shot across 3 locations spanning 3 continents, this online film to launch the rebrand of Olam Foods as 'ofi' was a global production! ofi are a leading food and agri-business, supplying food ingredients, feed and fibre to thousands of customers worldwide, ranging from multi-national organisations with world famous brands to small family run businesses. 

The aim of the film was to celebrate ofi’s belief in raw potential, and show how at every level they use imagination and expertise to find more creative, productive and sustainable ways of doing things. We wanted to portray ofi's ethos of harnessing nature and expertise to feed us and our imagination, creativity, wonder and joy.

The script describes in many ways how ofi’s products are so much more than simply base
ingredients - they’re innovative ways in which ofi can provide bright futures for the
communities and farmers they work with. 

Bray Leino supplied their vision in the form of storyboards for this project. They implemented the circle motif that runs throughout the film to reflect ofi's new logo as well as their full-circle approach to supplying food ingredients.

Director Matt McDermott was the perfect director to bring this vision to life, with his extensive experience in CGI and post production. He added elements such as the rotating rig, working with the DOP to make this a reality in camera. And he brought John Langham on board to bring the storyboards to life in an animatic. 

This film was complex as it incorporates stock footage, fully 3D elements, CGI, archived footage and new footage from three separate countries! 

We first filmed drone footage with Story Productions in the ofi suppliers’ Coffee farms. This was a remote shoot, where the agency, director & producer attended via Zoom, with a direct link to the monitors in rural Brazil.

We shot at our studios, Foundry Film Studios in Manchester over 2 days to capture the majority of the footage. It was a big shoot with lots to get through and various different set ups. The art department and food stylists pulled off a very quick turnaround to create some wonderful sets that would represent, among others, a Ghanaian dinner scene, a coffee farmer weighing their beans in Brazil, and different stages of a cashew nut on a rotating rig. 

Finally, a 1 day shoot in New Mexico, sadly remote again! Director of Photography Gary Long travelled to one of the ofi contributors' chilli plants in New Mexico, where they kindly let us film their chilli washing drum for one of the shots within the film. Director & producer attended via Zoom and directed Gary and his team.

Our in-house post team worked on the edit, online and grading whilst bringing the various VFX components and footage together, with John Langham supporting us with the 3D elements.

The result was 1 x online brand film, plus 8 x versions with subtitles for different languages.

Katie Lock, Producer at Bray Leino said on the project: 

“The launch went really well, the client is very happy so thank you to you, Matt and your team for all your hard work.”

Director Matt McDermott said:

"I wanted the film to have a life affirming, euphoric build - to capture the sense of community and people coming together to do great things."

Client & Crew:

Director – Matt McDermott

Producer – Abi Saleem 

Production Manager - Lindsay Cowan 

Production Assistant - Alice Briers / Ellie Martin

Client - Olam Foods / ofi

Agency - Bray Leino

Agency Producer - Katie Lock 

Art Director - Debbie Button 

Associate Creative Director - Henry Challender

Account Director - Neil Fenton

Manchester Shoot:

D.O.P - Nick Bennett 

1st AD - Stevie Fylan 

Focus Puller - Adam Feeney

2nd AC - Jan Koblanski / John Millman

Playback - Owen Davies

DIT - Ben Manning Wade

Grip - Renny Borthwick, Gage Pickering

Gaffer - Lee Martin

Spark - Paul Tymon, Jamie Preistner, Howard Metcalfe

Production Runners - Andrew Evans, Edward Paterson

Art Director – Pete Rodwell 

Stylist - Emma Edwards 

HMU – Lou McCann & Katie Wrigley 

Food Stylist - Jo Fahy 

Brazil Drone Shoot:

Production Company: Story Productions 

Producers: Fernanda Fraiz, Georgie Reynolds & Luana Pimentel MD: Nick Story 

DOP/Drone Operator: Renato Passareli 

New Mexico Shoot:

DOP: Gary Long

Post:

Post / VFX – The Gate Films

Freelance Post - John Langham & Nick Quayle 

Colour Grade – Michael Nixon 

Composer - Alex Wells 

Like what you see? Think we could bring your idea to the screen, then contact us below.