We set out to create the world’s first crowdsourced nature film, directed by an Emmy and BAFTA-winning cinematographer and enabled by Xperia technology.

Our film would be shot entirely on Xperia smartphones by ordinary people – without lenses, grading or image enhancement.

With 40 budding filmmakers in different countries on board, we gave them a simple brief: to capture the idea of a ‘journey’ in the world around them.

To help guide our amateur filmmakers and shape the edit, we brought in experienced cinematographer Mateo Willis (Frozen Planet and Blue Planet II). The aim was to take a genre of film – nature documentaries – synonymous with expensive cameras and production processes, and show that anyone, anywhere could capture something beautiful.

‘The Journey’ was the result. Woven from more than 15 hours of raw smartphone footage, this authentic, mesmerising and immersive film successfully bucked the trend for ultra-short online video.

Starting in late summer 2017, we set out to find and engage our filmmakers, chosen by and for the content they were creating in their own social feeds, as well the added reach they would give us.

We then gave our 40 filmmakers around a week to create their footage, with feedback and direction all offered remotely. Once we had the footage (over 15 hours, much of it in very short clips), we began rapidly cataloguing and editing.

We also engaged Poldoore (a DJ/producer) to create a bespoke score that would not only enhance the natural rhythm of the film, but stand alone as a piece of music in its own right.

‘The Journey’ was released on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram and on influencer social feeds in November 2017. We also produced trailers, teasers and cut downs, plus tutorial videos with Mateo Willis showcasing different techniques for shooting eye-catching content.

Our key brand KPI was brand reach and engagement, and driving traffic to explore the new Xperia device.

To date, ‘The Journey’ has achieved reach of 24.7m with user engagement of 1.57m. This smashed our targets by +9.2% and +26.5% respectively.

PR activity around the film has realised incremental reach of 7.9m through earned coverage.

Crucially, though, the activity also drove active consideration and interest in the new Xperia handsets, with over 72k visiting the product website as a result of the film.

This is an authentic and beautifully realised piece of non-fiction film created by ordinary people around the world. Shot entirely on Xperia smartphones, the film was conceived to demonstrate how incredible video captured on Xperia handsets could be.

Without VO or script, and playing purely online, the film would live or die by the quality of the footage and our ability to weave this into a seamless and immersive ‘narrative’. It ran at over 5 minutes long, bucking the trend for ultra-short online content. Quite simply, the film had to entertain to be a success.

Launch the new Xperia handsets through highly targeted digital and social channels, to drive interest among our socially connected opinion formers. We sought to do this by positioning the Xperia as a device that’s laden with innovative Sony technology to allow customers to enjoy more immersive entertainment experiences than ever before.

Our strategy was to showcase how device features like Super Slow Motion, Hi-Res Audio and 4K HDR, can deliver experiences so rich that they can even enhance the natural world. Our focus was to substantiate claim this in digital channels; lofty advertising wouldn’t cut it, we needed solid proof to convince our tech-hungry audience. So we set out to create a body of digital evidence to show how Xperia smartphones deliver and capture the richest perspectives of the natural world, by collaborating with real people in their own environments.

The smartphone market is dominated by Apple and Samsung, not least in terms of media spend. Our task was to drive interest in a new range of Sony Xperia handsets – and ultimately drive brand awareness and desire – by targeting a highly socially connected and tech hungry audience.

We’d do this by showcasing the phones’ world-first features: Super Slow Motion at 960fps, Hi Res Audio and 4K HDR – features which, we believe, add up to an experience that you simply can’t enjoy with other smartphones. To prove this in channels where our audience were active – digital and social – we needed to show that ordinary people could use Xperia to capture content so beautiful that it would enhance even the wonder of the natural world.

Ultimately, we wanted people to re-evaluate the Xperia brand and product by engaging with our activity.