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First of all, I would like to thank you for inviting me to be part of this beautiful and special project. Shooting with babies is always a very hard and grateful challenge, I love it. And in this case, we will shoot two different narratives, giving us the opportunity to be inspired by each idea, which will lead us to a creative and joyful journey. I already began researching aesthetics, cinematography, editing and maybe the most important, the technics we will use to get great acting from the little ones. So let the fun begin!
intro
When babies are sleeping, they are at peace but also in active development. Their movements are unique and subtle and deserve to be observed and preserved. Inspired by that idea we will shoot the Cot Dance Film, a fun campaign featuring the moves that shake babies' and mom's night in safety when wearing their Pamper's diapers.
babies' sleeping movements
FILM 1
cot dance
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COT DANCE
cot dance
narrative
01
The film begins with a close-up shot of a window at night, the curtain slowly moves, a lullaby is heard following the image. We can figure out that by that window there is a baby sleeping peacefully in his cot. We see details of his hands, his breath. A close-up shot of his face shows he's calm and relaxed, but we feel he's moving his lips repeatedly. At this moment a different beat from the soundtrack is heard, a sound that seems to be in sync with the baby's movement. We cut to a different baby and he is also sleeping heavily in his dad's chest, a detail reveals him moving his little hand.
Kind of unexpectedly, the music completes its transformation and turns into a Brazilian dancing version of the song, like an Axé or a Funk. The narrator starts explaining how babies move at night. From this point forward, we can be sure of the feeling that the music is in sync with all baby's movements.
We see a top shot of a baby in a crib, his arms and legs movements feel like a John Travolta dance step. We cut to another baby co-sleeping with his mom, he moves his body from one side to another.
02
03
Now, editing gets to a faster rhythm and allows us to play around, with repetition, fast cuts and effects that give us the happy feeling that all babies are dancing in the beat of the song. We cut to some new babies, and all of them are moving, arms, legs, or body, it's an amusing party. An external shot shows through a window a baby sleeping, the soundtrack gets a little far away, it's a fun fun night.
We can see one of the babies moving his tiny foot through his cot's grid, camera dollies back and focus rack to a Pamper's pack by the side table. The VO explains how well they are sleeping and developing freely while wearing their diapers. Animated arrows over the image of another baby sleeping and shaking his bum helps illustrate what is heard. A mom touches her son's diaper showing he is dry and comfortable.
Now we see a fast edit in a continuous camera movement, from couple of locked top shots of babies in similar positions "dancing" during their night sleep. When we get to the last image of this sequence is already daytime, the baby opens his eyes, awakes and smile. In a wider shot we can see the happy mom by his side, the baby moves excited in the rhythm of the song. That's our golden moment, we can see the sun entering through the window, they are both shining and exchanging tenderness.
Pampers Signature takes over the screen.
We cut to a last easter egg scene of a funny baby smiling while sleeping.
04
We will shoot this film in a couple of different baby's and parent's rooms. The important thing is to build diversity and personality for each family. As we choose the casting we will create a visual concept for each baby's life. It could be a small apartment, a cool house, a countryside or beach style home, we will create a unique environment for each character, always pursuing truth. We want rooms with life, with personal objects, pictures, toys, even some mess is welcome. At the same time, we will create a color palette for the film inspired by Pampers brand book, combining colors with green that will be used in a subtle way. And at last, one very important aspect when shooting with babies is choosing the right materials, textures, cloths, furniture, clothes, and toys. They should all be delicate and cozy, we'll be working with wool, cotton, organic touch, natural wood, that will bring the comfy feeling we want for the film. The idea is to reinforce that no matter where or how your baby sleeps, he's always safe.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
DIFFERENT FAMILIES' HOMES
cinematography
The first two acts of our film will happen during night scenes. So here the proposal is to lit each situation in a beautiful and subtle way, where we can feel the dark ambiance but also be able to see babies' moves and expressions. That's a great opportunity for us to create atmospheres, with well-drawn lightning, coming from windows, from diegetic elements as bedside lamps, baby cute light cords, and moonlight, so the scenes will have a great feeling and won't be too dark.
Composition and camera movements will be a crucial point of our narrative. We want to frame babies in some combining traditional top shots, medium, and close-ups dolly movement shots, and also some unusual takes, through cot's grids, macro short depth of field extreme close-ups. We may want to explore some smooth handheld camera shots, so we can grab really unique and special moments. I have a special crew experienced in filming babies, DOP, Production Designer and technicians that always work to deliver the set ready for us to move around and shoot freely, so we can have the least necessary number of people on a quiet set, letting baby and mom feel at home during their acting moments.
cinema
tography
Fun film led by music, scene speed and editing.
Rhythmic editing and loops
visual storytelling and editing
Every step of this production is unique and very necessary. Storytelling and editing are no different. We will shoot specific takes that we know can be used in the editing, with looping movements, fast-forwarding and cutting from a diversity of angles to get the idea of the dancing babies. Camera movements will also be planned to give us possibilities of effects and cool cuts.
In the editing room, we will work with a range of speed ramps to help feel the movements during the scenes, combined with a diversity of rhythm cuts. I also want to propose some special pre-planned effect shots, as a continuous top shot movement that flows through different babies moving in fast editing and a circle track movement that we can move back and forward repeating a funny baby movement. The balance between those and traditional shots will be decided along with creatives and the brand.
During casting, we will figure out more possibilities and in this same creative path, I'll be able to propose the best compositions, camera movements and editing for each scene.
WORKING with asleep Babies
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I'm quite used to work with babies and kids, but each film is a whole new challenge, and that's what moves me. During this treatment development we have studied and talked to professionals about how we could proceed in the pre-production and shooting, to get the best results for the dancing babies during their sleep. We'll be having some days of casting sessions, filming babies in a studio while they sleep. With that, we will be able to evaluate with parents if the baby is capable of sleeping out of his own environment, for how long, what period and how many times he takes a nap during one day. Then we will also be able to see what movements he does naturally during his sleep, and when waking up, then we will be testing if he has a deep rest, so we can stimulate his movements, by touching and carefully tickling him. Regarding some specific movements we will want to shoot, as the John Travolta step and the Bum Shake move, we also want to consider the possibility of moving babies' arms, legs and body, intentionally. We can do that by wearing gloves that can be erased and retouched in post. Interaction between parent and baby will be also tested, as we will be working with real families. Having chosen our favorite babies, will make a callback with our Baby Wrangler attendance, so we can be sure which families are the most recommended to work with in this film. Than, along with the AD we will make a shooting plan focused on baby's timing, we have at least two extra babies for each scene, and will leave two sets ready and lighten simultaneously so we'll be always ready to shoot the baby that falls asleep first. As I mentioned before, everything about photo and art will be decided before the baby gets on set, and only the necessary crew members will be inside, so baby and parent can be comfortable in the room. A friendly, focused and quiet set will lead us to unique special shots.
Kids' and mom's clothes will be chosen according to the personality and design created for each family. Always paying attention on colors, texture, and coziness. As all the babies will be wearing Pamper's diapers, we will have a special crew member that will be totally dedicated on taking care of the product, making sure it is looking good in all shots.
wardrobe
The soundtrack is an essential element for this film. My proposal is to produce an original track that begins as a classic lullaby that adds up different beats during the film, built up by some ambiance noises as toys and baby mumbles. Then, following the narrative as the babies move the music turns into a dancing fun tune, that will lead to the growing rhythm of the movie till it ends up in the brand signature.
Here we want to share some references of music styles. We can always begin with a lullaby, that will create a feeling in the beginning that we are making another common cute baby movie, but the transformation soon will come. We can transform the lulling song into an Axé (typical dancing fun style from north of Brazil, that moves crowds during carnival around the whole country) or even a Brazilian Funk (the most popular style played nowadays in Rio de Janeiro and, I could say, all over the world). Both are types of music that allow us to play around with editing and movements as they are fun and rhythmic, with strong beats and repetitions.
soundtrack
00:00 / 00:26
LULLABY REF
00:00 / 00:30
axé REF
00:00 / 00:30
funk REF
Fun film of baby "dancing" a cool tune.
film 2
brand
film
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Being a parent is a life-changing experience. Getting in touch with a baby, a just born new life, can awake really strong feelings on us. So it's normal to worry, to wonder if everything is going ok. This film will present us, in a very gentle way, some special little glimpses of kids' discoveries and development, that every mom and dad will relate to somehow. The idea is to show that Pampers will always be around helping with this breaking come true moments. Our goal is to shoot those scenes as sensible as the ones the brand has already made.
BRAND FILM
brand film
narrative
The film begins with an animation that shows a searching google engine, we can see different questions about children's development being asked from different screens, as many moms were making researches at the same time.
The last question appears on a macro shot of a mobile phone screen. The camera opens, is evening, we realize there is a mom nursing her baby (another suggestion maybe is to have her breastfeeding) while trying to get more information about him, she's caring but really focused. A VO follows the images referring to the parents watching the film.
01
In the next scene in a low light bedroom, a dad is changing a smiling little one, dad plays with him and he responds even more excited throwing his favorite bunny on the floor. We see the toy falling, dad tries to get it back with his bare feet, so he won't leave the kid alone. It's a quite funny scene, baby laughs, it seems that he knows he was playing around with daddy.
Another baby is now sat on the floor gardening with his mom. It's a mess, but he is interested and fulfilled while exploring the texture of the plants and earth.
02
03
The VO keeps leading the narrative talking about discoveries and development, we cut to two scenes of a kid crying and another one tumbling in a very cute way testing his firsts steps.
On the final act of the film, the narrator concludes that Pampers will always be there, by the parents side, ready to help. That's when a camera moves from a medium shot of a co-sleeping cot at parents bedroom and rotates to show a cute top shot scene of baby and mom side by side, they are not sleeping yet, they are staring in love at each other, is a very tender moment of comfort and trust.
The next scene happens in a garden table, where the whole family is united celebrating the new member's first birthday. It's dawn and the table is set with a colorful cake, they all get emotional and excited. Then we can see a close-up shot of the baby staring at the lighted candle, he looks amazed, hypnotized. (This is one suggestion for this sequence, I will propose some other alternatives)
We finish the film with a mom and baby in a golden moment, we can see the sunlight invading the room on a close up of a cute toy on the floor, just by a cot. Mom has her daughter in her arms, they hug in a really caring way, the woman is looking outside the bedroom window where the sun is waking up, the baby is awake but still laid down on mom's shoulder. Her look is peaceful, the feeling we get is that everything is ok.
Pampers Signature takes over screen.
04
I'd like to share some other ideas for the family scene. We will have time to discuss and decide this together in pre-production.
The family is making an improvised shadow theatre for the baby. The kid is playing in a swing for the first time. When the family realizes the baby has just painted with colorful crayons a white wall.
Baby trying some food for the first time, he's eating with his own spoon and hands, food is everywhere, the family has fun with the situation. Baby sees himself reflected on a window, or shining furniture and kind of recognizes himself. Baby "helps" older brother playing the piano, parents are around having a blast.
extras
The VO keeps leading the narrative talking about discoveries and development, we cut to two scenes of a kid crying and another one tumbling in a very cute way testing his firsts steps.
On the final act of the film, the narrator concludes that Pampers will be always there, by the parents side, ready to help. That's when a camera moves from a medium shot of a co-sleeping cot at parents bedroom and rotates to show a cute top shot scene of baby and mom side by side, they are not sleeping yet, they are staring in love at each other, is a very tender moment of comfort and trust.
Visually speaking the scenes we are going to shoot for this film have to dialogue with the ones that are already beautifully shot. So my suggestion is to create an art directing proposal for each ambient we will shoot, bringing diversity and specially thinking about nationalizing the film. What I mean by that, is to bring some Brazilian characteristics concerning colors, materials, dressing in general, and also be aware that the film will play in some other Latin American countries. So, we should create a special living room for the opening scene, with wooden floor, plants, curtains and some life around, as toys and books about motherhood. The second set we will be filming has to be a baby room, with a big window, where we can place the changing table, here is possible to have the presence of Pampers products just as a natural placement in the scene. At last, we can maybe shoot the co-sleeping scene in the same set we will be doing the Cot Dance sequence just changing some dressing elements, as we will have chosen a charming wooden cot and bed. The family scene I've suggested we could shoot outdoors so we will can have more diversity regarding situations and lightning. Colors and joy will be brought in each scene. As well as the last one, we want to find a special place where we will build a beautiful baby room with a view and an environment that will inspires all of us.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
cinema
tography
cinematography
The cinematography of this film has also the challenge of creating scenes that go along with the ones already shot. We will follow the optics feeling, working with bright and spherical lenses. The idea of filming respecting the directions of the light of the locations and letting the situation guide us is lovely, we want a real feeling, so let's create moments of lightning as the dawn, sunrise, exploring some shades, highlights, and flares. Along that lets work with a handheld camera (in most shots) and wider lenses close to the characters, so we get the feeling of complicity and intimacy.
I also propose that we shoot some of the moments in a high-speed mode so we can bring more emotion and extend the tender moments.
Camera and the set will always be ready for the babies, and not the other way around, shooting plan will be developed following this idea, so I'm sure we will have the material we need and a lot more, that we can always capture from spontaneous moments.
Sensible and beautiful range of baby situations
As in the previous film, we will develop the personality of each character, so we will choose his/her style being true to his characteristics. Clothes will be part of the whole visual proposal we have, using colors, textures, patterns, that will help us building personality. Here is also important to bring some Latinamerican characteristics in the way of dressing parents and kids.
wardrobe
GENERAL
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GENERAL
We will be casting kids from 9 to 16 months and their real families. Great research will go on, so we can find at the same time visual diversity and kids that are able to do the actions we need for our sequences.
We will follow the instructions received from agency and client, and try to find as wider ethnicity as we can. I recommend also that we remain open to great surprises that always happens during casting sessions, and maybe a scene that was thought for one baby works better with another one, we can, for example, find twin brothers for a scene, an LGBT couple, a kid gently raised by a cute grandma. So let us see what the universe brings us. We will be testing babies for both films, and we also will bring some older babies that can already lying down on their bellies, for that one scene we need.
After the sessions, we will evaluate all the material and if needed go seek more options, while we bring kids back to be tested by me and the BabyWrangler in person. This will be when we make also an interview with parents to get to know the maximum information we can about the family. We will have a backup plan with some good actors, they might have kids and be able to create bonds with babies.
CASTING
loads of baby movie
baby wrangler
When shooting with kids, I usually work along with a really special partner of mine called Bettina Steinberg, she has more than 20 years of experience working with babies. Her work starts with me the moment we begin pre-production, we analyze script, scenes and all the challenges of the film together and she helps me thinking the best strategies for each project. She will be at my side during the casting sessions, callback, pre-production and of course shooting day.
betina's work
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