Branded content has long promised to unlock a stream of corporate dollars to fund the aspirations of filmmakers.
But despite its long standing place in the industry, director Marc Furmie says his branded content project – short film Venger – has attracted a slightly confused response from the industry.
“The response from industry people – including people who make films and also work in commercials – has been one of confusion, they’re not used to this type of series," he says. "I see that as a positive – when people are confused it means you’re doing something new and special."
The first episode in a three-part series of 15-minute episodes is an action film following the story of a devastated and enraged ex-race car driver on a mission to avenge the violent murder of his fiancé.
The project was funded by Sydney-based Mercedes-Benz dealership G Brothers and Petronas Lubricants International and, Furmie says, the response from the public has been great.
“The average punter basically loves watching content for content – they’re not looking for big budget blockbusters and Hollywood superstars, they just think: 'wow, we want to see more!'"
“Venger was created to be like an HBO drama in a sense – everyone is confused, they’ve never seen anything in this content or form before, and that’s why G Brothers is putting their name to it,” Furmie says, also noting that the project took inspiration from the BMW short films starring Clive Owen.
“The initial reaction from G Brothers was very positive – [dealer principal] Mark Guberina liked the idea as it coincided with his goal to lower the age demographic of those purchasing the product. The reality is that a lot of people buy Mercedes-Benz, but they wanted to broaden their market.”
G Brothers supplied financing and all of the featured cars. Throughout filming the only stipulation was that one scene had to be set in the show room for advertising purposes – aside from this, producer Simon Ritch, Furmie and the team were given free reign to be creative as possible.
However, Furmie says the project still needed more sponsors and this is where Petronas Lubricants International – who had a new relationship with Mercedes-Benz – came onboard.
“Petronas Lubricants International are about to release Venger through their PR channels which will be quite big, circulating via word-of-mouth, and Mercedes is planning on releasing it themselves also.”
Filming of the first episode took seven days at iconic locations around Sydney, including the Northern Beaches and showcases four current Mercedes-Benz models.
The two planned sequels will feature the AMG SLS Class, SL class, GLK class and many more of the best Mercedes-Benz cars in the world.
Cinematographer Marc Windon had Red Apple Camera Rental and Cinoptix supply two brand new ARRI Alexa HD cameras for the project.
“They allowed us to shoot in very low light levels with an ASA rating of 1600,” he says. “They were also small and versatile enough to move quickly in the action sequences and high-speed car chases – ARRI have created a great tool for fast paced filmmaking.”
The next Venger episode is currently in development using many of the same characters, and the crew are hoping to shoot in June for a third quarter release.
The film is going out via YouTube, which Furmie acknowledges to be “the most trackable way to measure who is viewing content and how far-reaching it can be".
"For a client like Mercedes, that is really important because we are able to see how many people are viewing it within Australia.”
It is also being distributed via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
“At the end of the day, the content drives the brand; the brand doesn’t drive the content”, Furmie says.
For more information, visit the film's website at: www.vengerfilms.com.