RICHMOND, VA — When shoppers stroll through the aisles of Walmart stores, he or she often learns a thing or two about the items the retailer stocks. Video content, delivered on aisle “end caps” and on overhead displays, like those in Walmart’s meat department, are carefully designed to capture shoppers’ attention and deliver a pleasing message, explains Chris Allen Williams, co-founder of Mad Box Post (www.madboxpost.com), here, which has been working on many of the 2,500 spots created for the retailer last year alone.
Studio Squared in Richmond is the agency that conceives these in-store spots, which are produced by Spang TV. Mad Box Post’s Williams serves as director, and along with partner Matt West, handles post production, including editorial, graphics, design, color grading and finishing. Red Amp produces the music, sound design and audio portions. The videos are shot using Arri Alexa, Red Epic and Sony F55 cameras. Editing is performed using Adobe Premiere. Adobe After Effects, Maxon Cinema 4D and The Foundry’s Nuke are used for animation and compositing.
“Smart Network is an effective tool for educating the consumer about Walmart fare,” says Williams of the videos. “It’s pretty impressive. Sometimes they can simply be just motion graphics with voiceover or ‘take’ you to Hawaii or a small-town Christmas street. But you can stand in front of the end-cap display and you’re always being very informed, like information about what is sometimes a new product or a product that might be exclusive to Walmart.”
The wide diversity of products and creative approaches keeps the team on their toes. “Often one week we can be doing an entire visual effects shoot, the next shooting a handful of kids, their parents and dog,” he notes. “No typecasting here.”
In addition to Williams and West, Autumn Dea also handles editing duties. Motion graphics and design are created by Charles Bevan, Travis Turner and Rick Plautz. West serves as colorist, using Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve.