Calyxt | The Power and Possibility of Plants
Calyxt came to us to help them craft a video that clarified who they were and embodied their commitment to creating healthier food. Cutting-edge agronomy practices can be a lot to wrap your head around, so we needed to put on our thinking caps to explain the technical details in an informal way.
Calyxt is a plant-based technology company focused on delivering products with wellness and sustainability benefits.
They have created a way to do what farmers and botanists have been doing for hundreds of years: choosing the best crops and breeding them to make stronger, more sustainable, higher-yielding plants. They accelerate that process with leading-edge TALEN® technology to enhance the unique characteristics that naturally exist in each plant.
Their first product, a high-oleic soybean variety, delivers superior nutritional and functional benefits including: zero trans fat and 20% reduced saturated fat — providing an FDA qualified heart health claim, allergen and gluten free, less oil absorption, expeller pressed, superior stability and performance, increased fry life and reduced buildup in fryers.
To kick things off, we held meetings with C-level executives in order to understand their journey and what Calyxt was all about. After our brains were very full, we went to work on how to weave the narrative. A director’s treatment was prepared and we pitched the creative direction we wanted to go.
Working with Calyxt’s internal team, we picked 3 locations in the state of South Dakota where early adopters were the first to grow the company’s high oleic soybean variety. Not ones to be shy about getting a little dirty, we threw on our boots and packed our bags for a wild South Dakota adventure. One highlight of the trip includes chasing some turkeys with super soakers because they were gobbling during an interview.
Aside from the days of photography in South Dakota, we also filmed at Calyxt’s state of the art facility in Roseville, MN. A splinter crew was employed to light shots and provide grip support for our camera moves. For one last day of filming, we staged a family enjoying dinner at their home with a dressing made with the high-oleic soybean oil.
Our editor Matthew Kroese took multiple terabytes of data and parsed through all of the footage. After the cut was approved, Eric Riggs took the final cut through our DaVinci Resolve suite.
The finished video debuted at the investors day conference in June 2019, and recently won us an AdFex Bronze Pin for Film/Video Branded Content in “The Show 2020.”
How did the client feel about us? Well, we’ll let you see for yourself here!
