How we work
Tiny Empire Collective content is always a labour of love, with enough planning, thought and technical know-how to capture the unplanned magic that happens in the moment. Our philosophy is that everyone involved, from the extras to the editor, feels – and is – valued for what they bring to the process.
Take a look at the case studies below to get a sense of how this looks in practice, or reach out to us directly to discuss your unique project.
National Museum of Australia:
Brand photography for the Tim & Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre
When you’re in the business of museums, Canberra is a pretty happening place. So when the National Museum of Australia approached us to take the core brand photography for their spanking new children’s gallery, the Tim and Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre, we were there in a nation’s heartbeat.
The brief
To show a diverse group of children and carers exploring the gallery’s many intriguing elements as well as some clean, wide stills showing off the gallery in all its colourful, kid-centric glory.
Our process
After plenty of back and forth, we made a solid plan to tackle the project in one week with an agile team of two photographers and a producer. The schedule allowed some time at the beginning of the shoot to do a site recce and plan out the approximate composition of each shot, before getting into the different requirements: empty spaces, babies playing in a specially designed play area, focused shots with small groups of parents and children and larger groups of children in wide, busier shots.
Apart from a small (or perhaps medium) hitch, which involved Bel, Joel and Winnie getting Covid on day two of the shoot, holing up in their Canberra hotel for a week with some whacky fever dreams and then returning for part two a week or so later, the shoot was a whirlwind of excited kids and museum sandwiches which had us pulling out all our tricks to get big expressions and big movements. It’s safe to say we all had a snooze on the way back to Melbourne!
We love the way this shoot turned out and are so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the National Museum of Australia. Take a look!
Behind the scenes
United Nations: International Office for Migration
Matching Grant Mechanism animation
Oh yeah, don’t mind us over here – we’ve just casually got a working relationship with the United Nations. No biggie. (Obviously a massive biggie).
Working consistently with the incredibly talented illustrator Lee Arkapaw and equally unbelievable animator Clem Stamation, we’ve been engaged by the Swiss, Thai and Somalian branches of the International Organization for Migration (UN) – the leading intergovernmental organisation whose mission is to make migration work for all.
These animations have focussed on campaigns such as: the development of a new settlement for internally displaced persons; strategies to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in an emergency; and best-practice acquisition methods when purchasing solar panels.
Our most recent project with the IOM (also with Lee and Clem) was about a Matching Grant Mechanism, a scheme in Somalia whereby communities are able to raise funds for a public good, service or infrastructure, and have those funds matched by the IOM.
The brief
To create three different versions of the animation for three different audiences: one for other branches of the IOM and UN organisations, one for the Somalian government, and one for communities in Somalia.
Our process
The workflow involved scripting, storyboarding, illustration, animation, translation, voiceover work and developing a soundscape – relatively straightforward, except that each audience needed to know slightly different things, at slightly different levels of complexity and in different languages. Subtle differences in the script had flow on impact for the timing of the voiceover, so the whole process required extra careful attention and care.
As part of this project, we also developed an information booklet and a website, which leveraged the beautiful illustrative style Lee had developed in the video.
Watch the UN audience animation here.
