JUST AHEAD OF THE CURVE, we are creatives who suffer from a touch of tech geekiness and a tendency to cross role boundaries, using the latest film and video production technologies well before they become mainstream. CLAi have always been early adopters of software and hardware – when it will boost quality, increase flexibility, open up new possibilities, lengthen a project’s useful life or simply give clients a better deal.

Doing this means building a level of Expertise that doesn’t stop with knowing the technology inside out. It demands a rethinking and mastery of it’s use within the industry disciplines to get the most out of the hardware and software and best apply it to the story you are telling to significantly increase a project’s value and impact.

It really is as simple as that. My first experience of the “real” business world of production after college was with the BBC Chapel as a documentary film director.  Second was with Saatchi & Saatchi producing and directing long form advertising, marketing and branding projects.  And my third experience was in starting CLAi as a full service film and video production company in the UK, working with the complete range of broadcast, marketing agency and corporate film clients.

The company we built, and the attitudes and beliefs that we hold, are all evolved from what I learnt and put into practice from those experiences. It’s a big part of what makes the way we work and the services we provide somewhat unusual. Because not only are we great storytellers through moving media, we believe that the style, creativity and quality of that work are critical in telling those stories effectively to audiences. Because film and video is created to motivate viewers to action and/or belief precisely how these are demonstrated is the difference between a program working or failing. Of course, having the ability to design, capture and produce every part of that piece is critical – as is doing so on a realistic budget and timeframe.

Documentary storytelling, digital marketing design and top production execution coming together – it’s a beautiful thing…

This is the basis of the services that CLAi provide. We split these into the three stages of most projects – Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production – and any part of these can be provided as a single service, or all combined into a one-stop shop for ease, budget savings and creative synchronicity.