Treatment by Nick Robertson 1
Story 45’ TVC Fresh Water Thinking A morning sun sits low in the sky; it’s rays blasting the edges of frame with gorgeous flare. Our vision quickly drops with a steady tilt down to reveal fields of corduroy green. Before the camera reaches its picturesque wide panorama of the rural Western Australian landscape, two young boys burst from below frame, running past us, chasing one another with glee towards a small hill, their dusty dog hot on their heels. Voice over begins as they begin their exhausted ascent up the hill: “When our climate changed, everything changed.” Cut to a view from the top of the hill as the boys and their dog enter frame, pausing to gaze at the breathtaking sight before them. The voice over continues, “Not able to rely on rain alone, we set out to find water in new places.” We see before them, as far as our eyes can reach, a crop of translucent water orbs stretching far and wide into distant the horizon. As we notice movement of what appears to be ants marching around the orbs, we cut in closer to wander among the orb shapes, our vision eagerly following busy farmers as they happily harvest their water orb crops. VO: “We learned to get water from the ground.”
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We cut to a man and a woman, staff working onboard a deep sea fishing trawler in choppy seas, as they heave a huge fishing net on board. Hundreds of glistening water orbs hang high above them as they slowly move their catch of orbs over the back of the boat. Sunshine glistens through the body of translucent orbs. VO: “And we also learned how to desalinate seawater into fresh water.” Cut to reveal we are now inside an aquatic centre as a team of smiling staff members leisurely drag back the pool cover from an Olympic sized swimming pool to reveal it bursting with water orbs. The VO continues, “We got serious about helping businesses become more water efficient.” We cut to a shot of a youthful, vibrant green park reserve as we soar high above it from an aerial view. The waves of trees leave the bottom of frame as we pull up beside a group of Water Corporation and everyday people, each carrying water orbs. A medium shot of the group at ground level reveals a group of five people (2 WA Water workers, 3 from the public) all cradling water orbs towards camera. VO: “And we learned how to recycle wastewater - for replenishing groundwater reserves and for revitalizing our parklands. And we’re not stopping there. Looking after the water we have is up to each and every one of us.”
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Cut to a pair of delicate, young hands gently planting a seedling into soil. We pull back to find a young boy kneeling beside the seedling with his mother, packing water orbs around the base of the sapling in their home garden. Mother and son turn to one another and embrace the moment with a loving smile. The mother takes the young boy’s hand into hers as they stand and the voice over continues: “With everyone involved, we will continue to explore and expand on this fresh water thinking.” Cut to Water Corporation end device and Fresh Water Thinking logo. The VO concludes, “Visit water corporation dot com dot au today. Authorised by the Water Corporation, Leederville.”
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Theme This campaign is an unbridled celebration of a new, reinvigorated WA Water, embodying all aspects of their extraordinary new environmental approach and attitude to water conservation. The important thing is that it retains a strong sense of humanity, a glorious and emotive journey into the wonder and excitement of a huge collective endeavour. The metaphor of the water orbs represent a great deal of fun, yet at the same time it becomes a thing of extraordinary beauty once placed in the familiar locations of everyday life. It shows us on a cinematic and organic stage, waters true relationship with its people. It’s about capturing the essence of the water, the landscape, and the people who love it. They function as thought provoking, sharp and entertaining scenarios that embrace the Western Australian way of preserving water for the present and future. The important thing is that it retains a strong sense of humanity, a glorious and emotive journey into the wonder and excitement of WA Water project.
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Shooting Style The production will take a “landscape-styled” crew, which will travel as light as possible, with the intent on chasing the better lighting opportunities that WA presents. This crew will be able to lever into locations and areas around Perth that a larger crew may otherwise hinder. By going robust and small, the crew can travel greater distances faster and wait for the change in light (the magic hour) and environment. Each location shot will feel and look like a beautiful painting, bathed in lyrical, natural light. What struck me most about this project was that even amidst the different vignettes in this script, there lies great potential to create a very beautiful, poetic journey. Placing the watery orbs and the people who preserve it into some great photogenic opportunities. The tone will reflect the natural, everyday element of the core principles behind WA Water with a very observational and almost “fly on the wall” feel to it, as if we are there with the characters on screen. The water orbs have to feel as though they truly do exist without making them appear magical or plucked from a fantasy story. Realism through hand-held camera techniques and lenses with a shallow depth of field will help achieve this, along with a sense we are foretelling a vision or prophecy for the future of the state’s people. Remaining very upbeat, this will ignite emotions of inspiration and positivity in the heart of the viewer. The overall look will be cinematic, beautiful and 100% natural - an artful and poetic visualisation of the efforts in place to preserve the great state of Western Australia and highlighting the everyday people who live there. As the story unfolds and we’re introduced to more and more people doing their part to nurture the water orbs, a gradual increase of brightness through lush greens and striking blues in their surroundings will help identify the impact of what the characters are doing and how it is having a positive effect on the environment around them. The water orbs should also look like rain drop plucked from a cloudy sky, reflective to light and circular in shape to help identify the life one drop can help create. The use of a hand-held camera, as well as the use of long lenses for a shallow depth of field will allow an organic, natural reflection of realism that taps into the heart of the beauty within every living object or character on screen. The mixture of wide panoramic shots with tight, personal shots of the characters will help tie in the land with the people. This will also allow the minute details of facial expressions and natural beauty of the people, every crinkle or dimple, to highlight the positive human interaction behind WA Water.
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Characters While this is a highly visual spot, it’s still very much supported by the characters within the story. The casting should reflect a level of authenticity that will sustain the honesty and surprise this film sets up. We need to find the playful intimacies, the honest and believable reactions. We want to avoid the overt advertising performances that makes many commercials in this category feel hammy and ridiculous. The personnel from WA Water that appear throughout this spot will give it a truly human perspective. It is the tapestry of the people and the worlds they inhabit that will make this campaign not only diverse but also engaging. Using an array of different nationalities will establish a modern, Western Australia. They need to be individual, confident and project an assertiveness that the public will respond to. Each character we meet along the way should feel like someone we’d bump into in our local neighbourhood, a sense we know them or know of them and so we care. Casting people with unique nuance will reinforce the feeling of a natural environment on screen. This isn’t a bunch of celebrities pretending they care; this is the everyday person who understands they need to look after the environment they live in. The characters should also look natural in their style of dress, not in an effort to de-glamorise the look at all, but so the characters can move and feel as though they are organic to the real world we live in. The Water Corporation staff members in the story will interact as though they were one of these people, not in any authoritative position, standing back and letting the people harvest the water for them or simply handing them the tools. These workers will all work in a united fashion with the everyday people, all pushing forward towards a common goal.
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Edit/Post The “Water Orbs” will obviously be created completely in 3D. After much consideration and discussion amongst the FX supervisor we are confident this is the only way to deliver a commercial that makes the “Water Orbs” feel as if they actually exists and were shot completely in-camera. The edit will have a flowing, rhythmic structure. Nothing will feel forced or sudden, each cut seamlessly piecing together each element of the story. The edit will also explore the character’s natural movements and capture those individual moments juxtaposed with wide shots and striking, earthy landscapes with macro photography cutaways that help add texture and dimension. For example, the tight shot of the young boy’s delicate hands patting the soil into the ground will feel like a moment captured from our own childhood. We then gently pull back to a wider shot of the young boy kneeling beside his friends to see them planting in their school vegetable patch. The close detail shots of the “Water Orbs” will give the wide shots even more breadth and scale, making us feel like we are observing the real world. These subtle match cuts link the individual segments through the people harvesting the water and those providing it back to the land which will reinforce the idea it takes many people, young and old, to change the environment.
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Music The music score is incredibly important in further establishing the mood and tone of the film. WA Water needs to purvey a sense of inspiration and energy but nothing that will drown out everything else. It will set up a sub-text that will reinforce and embellish the emotive and informative WA Water VO. I like the idea of a track that lets the pictures and voice over do most of the work, a simple but inspirational music bed that works in and around the beautiful pictures. I’d also like to record some audio atmosphere to help embellish the realism and intimacy of each scene. The audio atmosphere will record elements of children giggling, running through grass, commutters on buses, waves lapping against a boat, etc all go to building a scene etched in reality. It is this attention to detail that will make the orbs look and feel completely in camera. I’m totally captivated by the possibilities this script offers. Thanks for the opportunity. Regards Nick Robertson
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