Transforming the business of agriculture and transforming lives - Origo eMandi.
In a country where 20% of the Gross Value to the Annual National Income is added through agriculture and allied sectors, it is imperative that technological transformation is brought to the sector to make it 21st century competitive. Origo is one such firm leading this change from the front, and we got the opportunity to interact and work with them to bring their work to life for the world!
Co-creating an impact story
Origo Commodities is one of India's leading Agri tech companies and provides end-to-end services in the post-harvest management segment. One of these services is the Origo eMandi, an online marketplace that enables online trading in various agricultural commodities, where farmers, traders, processors, exporters, and importers, can buy/sell transparently within the framework of standardized contracts. This innovation is a modern solution to the traditional 'kisaan mandis' that provides efficient price discovery and an effective marketplace for all parties.
When the Origo Commodities team reached out to us, they required us to – "Make a 20-minute AV of the brand presentation." In the video production space, this sort of request is very commonplace. We often get queries where brands have a preconceived notion about what they think will work for them, and one of our primary tasks is to understand the purpose of the story they are wanted to tell, understand who it is being said to and what impact it needs to drive. This is why we are firm believers in co-creation. While clients know their brand and story best, we understand our craft and use that to turn mere audio waveform and moving stills into stories that have a tangible impact on the viewers, stories that inspire action.
Trust and collaboration create transforming videos
In the Origo eMandi team, we didn't just find clients but collaborators who wanted to co-create something of actual value. We got the opportunity to brainstorm with their marketing head Varun Mahajan, who led the project, Vice-president KV Singh and one of the co-founders, Sunoor Kaul and understand the organization's mission. Through this extremely useful exercise, we distilled one 20-minute AV into three different brand films, each made with clear intent for a specific audience.
The first film we created was about eMandi, what it does, how it works, and the more significant agri-trading issue it solves. Aside from bringing the company's vision to life, this film is also helping the government stakeholders and policymakers understand how technology can help solve national-level farmer issues and help them achieve their goals in the agriculture sector.
The second film was for the farmers, highlighting how the eMandi helps them eliminate intermediaries, reach out to sellers pan India and get the best value for their produce. (preview available on request)
The third and final film was created for wholesale buyers and food processors, who could now make their business and life much smoother by taking their purchasing and reporting online, sitting anywhere in the world. (preview available on request)
Three different films, for three different audiences, each with its own impact story, keywords, visuals and call to action, but built in a way that connects you to the larger purpose of Origo eMandi. A large part of why we could structure the storytelling in this manner came from our understanding of 'The science of storytelling' by Muse Storytelling and their Story First community.
Delivering value, no matter what the video duration
As the case goes with every shoot, with this shoot as well, the challenge was fitting three film shoots into 4 working days. The first day was spent capturing the management team and head office in Gurugram. The second and third days were spent in Behror, Rajasthan, capturing the farmer's stories and b-rolls relevant for management interviews. And on the fourth and final day, we headed to Jaipur & then Alwar to shoot the food processors' perspective and their unit, concluding our hectic but extremely productive four days.
This entire film shoot was done with the following gear:
A Sony A7s3 camera with Sony G Master lenses
Sound on Zoom H6 with Sennheiser Boom mic and Rode Wireless Go mic for backup
2x Aputure 300D, 2x Godox LC500 lights, 2x 1by1 Led Panels + Light gels from Lee Filters
We used a teleprompter interview kit for the interviewer to capture the directly into the camera look.
The videos were edited using Adobe Cloud Suite [Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop]
Colour Grading was done using Lumetri within Premiere Pro.
Music tracks were picked from Artlist.io (Use this link to get 2 months extra on your subscription)
Success follows those who plan for it
Because of the extensive planning and story structuring work that we managed to do collaboratively with the Origo team, the output we created hit the nail on the head. It helped with not only information discrimination but also multiple lead generation. The brand film was published on their YouTube channel and is currently their most viewed video across channels.
As a result of the 'The science of the storytelling' process we followed to create these films, we were given an additional project by the team to create a launch video for an upcoming product. This was an urgent request, with the film being needed in 10 days, in two languages! In our typical French Fries Films way, we focused on the solution and not the problem, got cracking on the project and closed everything from the script writing, graphic storyboard, animation, SFX, and Music to 2 feedback sessions, all in a matter of 10 days.
eMandi Cash (Hindi)
A stellar and dedicated video production team made all of this possible:
Directed by Gaurav Nagesh & Ravneet Oberoi
Concept & Production by Ravneet Oberoi
Cinematography by Bharat Kumar
Sound Recording by Chander Dev
Editing by Gaurav Nagesh & Ravneet Oberoi
Co-Editing by Gagan Kumar & Karuna Oberoi
Graphics by Gagan Kumar
Colour Grading by Ravneet Oberoi
Music from Artlist.io
Client: Origo eMandi
Client Team: Varun Mahajan
2D Animation Video Team:
Written by Ahsanat Chaudhary
Graphics by Diwyani Vajpayee
Animation by Abhishek Sharma
Project Supervision by Yuvraj Verma & Ravneet Oberoi
