Trio of brands co-fund short film by Tongue’s Jonathan Pease starring influencer Sarah Ellen
Adman Jonathan Pease has collaborated with popular Australian Youtuber Sarah Ellen and digital style influencer Margaret Zhang to create a brand-funded short film project about the way young Australians use social media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku56GOIEBQo
Room 317 tells the story of a woman, played by Ellen, who is trapped in a never-ending nightmare set in a hotel. Waking up suddenly in the night she runs between different rooms, changing costumes and characters along the way, trying to escape the demons which are chasing her.
Funding for the piece came equally from three companies, Chupa Chups, QT Hotels and Swarovski, with product placement from all three throughout the highly stylised piece, which has had 245,000 views on Ellen’s Youtube channel so far.
Tongue executive ideas director Pease said: “We wanted to address the issues Sarah faced as a young person on the Internet and the way social [media] has impacted her. Things such as negative comments, people not being who they are on the Internet and the way young people are using social media.”
While product placement is evident in the short film, Pease said he and Ellen had been left with complete creative control of how they were used as part of the story they wanted to tell.
Pease added: “A lot of brands are slapping brands onto influencers in a way that isn’t authentic. The influencers accept it, but it unfortunately can do them some harm if it isn’t genuine.
“Sarah knows her audience will be across multiple social channels so a ‘rinse and repeat’ strategy wont carry the conversation forward.”
He added: “We re-edited the film for social media channels so we could market specifically for all social channels.”
This included 6-second teasers for Vine, 15-second previews for Instagram and longer edits for Snapchat. Ellen will continue to post snippets of the film across all of her channels to drive viewers back to her Youtube channel.
Creating content that is ‘ripe for sharing’ is the primary objective, as Pease hopes to reach 1 million views on YouTube and a social footprint of 5 million views for the film across all media channels.
Danielle Sen
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Jonathan Pease
I really couldn’t relate to this video, even though I felt I could by its write up. Unfortunately I do not feel that it’s intended message was easily accessible to all who watched it.
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I agree with Anonymous. I work in the fashion industry, love Zhang (she’s sublime) yet was totally confused with the intended message. Bad dream? An empty hotel. Low occupancy. Annoying trumpet alert. A beautiful woman who is losing her mind? If this is the true representation of how Gen Y use social media, then our next PM will be a lunatic.
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What do you mean our NEXT PM?
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If you want a million views put some coal in it.
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Beautiful short film. She’s compelling to watch. Stunning and suspenseful.
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Indeed @SomeoneElse – our current one is the finest example.
@JoeFraser – so she’s compelling…what’s the story though?
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@Someone – Personally, I don’t need a piece to be literal or have a traditional narrative to enjoy it or see it’s merit. There is no right answer obviously it is just my opinion and I respect yours.. but hundreds of thousands of people seem to agree with me.
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This is just over thought over analysed rubbish with mister Pease trying to make out like he has a clever ‘new’ way of interpreting the way influencers are selling out to brands and how it might effect their followings.. I don’t know why Mumbrella would even repeat this story and consider this a worthy a story.
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I love this film and love the acting. Sara is devine! So well made thanks for sharing
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