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Background & Objectives

Each year, movie studios devote countless resources on wide-reaching FYC (For Your Consideration) campaigns to voting bodies throughout the world, with the hope of earning votes for some of the industry’s most coveted honors - in this case, Academy Awards. With the pandemic limiting in-person press junkets, Q&As, and panels, the academy turned to digital featurettes to connect voters with films. These ‘Scene at the Academy’ featurettes focus on filmmakers and artists breaking down a pivotal scene in a film, while giving voters more insight and background on award-worthy films each year.

The content was posted directly on the Academy Screening Room platform for members worldwide to access and view. The Academy’s Marketing team also makes the content available to the public via Academy digital/social platforms. Members receive weekly updates about new Academy Screening Room titles and content made available by studios/distributors, and other related materials uploaded by the Academy.

Working with longtime partner Focus Features, we were tasked with creating a Scene at the Academy featurette for the film, Belfast. Our goal was to give the voting academy an opportunity to learn more about the film, from the people directly involved in making it, from cast, crew, writers, and creators. These featurettes generally focus on one specific scene from the film; one that encapsulates the overall narrative or crucial themes as viewed from the lens of this particular scene. This unique creative outlet gives filmmakers a chance to speak directly to the voting body and essentially pitch themselves to voters.

Execution

We began the creative process by working with Focus Features and the filmmakers to identify the major themes along with the specific categories they wanted to target within the featurette. The filmmakers chose a key scene that best represented the film, and from there we began lining up interviews with the cast and crew who would be featured in the piece. With this process taking place at the tail end of the pandemic, we were still very conscious of health and safety protocols, working around logistical issues to ensure everyone was safe and comfortable.

For the shoots, we used a combination of in-person, virtual, and hybrid productions, with crews in London, Europe, and Los Angeles in order to capture all of the content. We curated a list of interview questions and prompts for the cast and filmmakers in order to capture compelling sound bites that spoke to the target goal of the piece. We curated our own Q&A conversations around the specific scenes and themes in lieu of a traditional academy Q&As. Each interview was curated for the specific cast or crew member and prompted thought provoking answers about their character or role in the filmmaking process.

Once we had completed all of the shoots over several weeks, we transcribed all the interviews and created a narrative based script from each of the soundbite answers. The 20-minute featurette itself, which would feature the interviews along with BTS footage, scenes from the movie, custom graphics, and the film’s score for this documentary-style piece. We crafted the content and narrative hand-in-hand with the studio and writer/director Kenneth Branagh to ensure the finished product represented Branagh’s movie, vision, and direction.

Once the content piece was finished, it was submitted to voters through the Academy portal, and was distributed via exclusive emails to voters across the industry. It then became available for fans to see on the Oscars’ socials and YouTube page.

Belfast was based on Branagh’s life and childhood, so we were able to capture the essence of his story from an extraordinarily personal vantage point.  were lucky enough to capture some incredible content and previously untold stories from him and others from the film. Other formats and platforms would not have created this opportunity for an open dialogue such as this.

The cast and crew were literally walking through his childhood step by step. Everyone involved realized the personal journey the film portrayed and wanted to make him proud in bringing his stories to life. We were able to get an inside look at what it was like to shoot with him, film with him, visit the streets of Belfast, and even walk his route to school. Viewers were able to grasp what that was like for him and the people of Belfast living through this nightmare. This emotional journey was able to take on a life of its own through the featurette medium, allowing us insight from the cast and crew that hadn't been heard yet.  

We took viewers on a deep dive of why this story was so important to tell, straight from Branagh’s and the team’s perspective. Viewers and voters were able to learn so much about the stories within the film, allowing them to feel closer to Branagh, the cast, the crew, and the movie itself. There were so many intricate techniques and elements behind the choices Ken and the other filmmakers made, and this content piece allowed people to get a deeper understanding of this and gain a new appreciation for the film. We infused even more emotional and personal connection to the film for the voting academy, with first-hand accounts from those involved.

Results

Our goal was to create a piece of content that spoke to the voting academy and encouraged them to vote for Belfast, and we undoubtedly succeeded. The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, taking home one trophy for Best Original Screenplay. Its nominations included all major Oscar categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.

Writer and director Kenneth Branagh set an Oscars record with his nominations, as he unseated George Clooney for being personally nominated in the most number of categories (7) during his career.

Our Scene at the Academy featurette is among the highest-viewed on the Oscars site, with over 21k views and counting.

The comments on the Academy YouTube are overwhelmingly positive, which is unprecedented for this type of work.

Ultimately, we were able to deliver a powerful piece of content to voters that showcased a brilliant piece of filmmaking for the most prestigious honor in the film industry.