It’s got all the elements to go ape online – dancing, kissing, smiling faces, rapid-fire imagery, and great aerial shots.
The Ward 1 Studios promotional video You Are Here was wildly watched on social media over the weekend, getting over 61,000 views.
Intended as a Canada 150 tribute to Guelph for the recent Guelph Awards of Excellence, the video blends fast-paced images with more reflective ones, underscored with an atmospheric soundtrack that revs up, all lead by the thoughtful narration of Kithio Mwanzia, president and CEO of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce. It comes together into a roughly two-minute video with a ton of heart.
“How do you know you’re home?” Mwanzia asks to start a video that is all about Guelph people and places. “Is it the smell? The sounds? The beat? Is it the familiar that declares, I am here? How do you know you’re home? How do you know you’re here?”
Once the questions are asked, the video speeds into a breathtaking diversity of moving images of Guelph – a drone shot high over a Hillside Festival crowd scene, a winged hoop dancer, children playing, cheeks being kissed, and so many smiling faces.
“I think what we were trying to achieve with this video was the telling of a very relatable story from the perspective of the people who make up the story of Guelph,” said Nik MacMillan, editor. The narration was written by Blair Cameron, Laura Maly, and Adam Machan.
The team focused on the human element, and in so doing gave viewers a strong sense that they were seeing themselves, MacMillan added. Efforts were made to make a video that was an authentic location profile, not one that was artificial.
The video has reached an enormous audience, and MacMillan said the majority of those views are from current and former residents of the city, with comments coming from places near and far. Those comments express deep affection, as well as deep homesickness for Guelph.
He said the piece is driven by emotion, has a lot of love and heart running through it, and it seems to be touching people.
The video can also be viewed on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/222862261
