The App for Homeowners.
Housecall is a new app that gives people trusted series professionals at their fingertips. The ability for homeowners to have a shortlist of trusted professionals, many who work on-demand, is a huge benefit and something that was previously unavailable. Each service is categorized by type which makes navigating the app seamless. The service professionals are trusted, pre-screened and can be messaged directly through the app.
How do you explain something in a non-traditional manner that creates intrigue and interest without over doing it? That was the question we asked ourselves after first meeting Housecall. We brainstormed several ideas, from complex to literal to explainer and more. Ideas were shot back and forth, and many were shot down. We had to be picky, specific and not settle for second best. We only had one shot to hook the audience, explainer the app, show the benefit and ease. It had to be seamless, interesting and not over the top.
we pitched Housecall on the idea of doing a “one-take” video.
This was going to require stepping outside the box and drawing new lines. A traditional explainer video wouldn?t do Housecall justice. If we can explain the app in a more visually appealing way, why not? After talking with the team at Housecall and doing our independent research, our target market was defined as stay at home mom, homeowner, who typically needed things done around the house that her husband would keep putting off. This app empowered the homeowner. And since each service professional is pre-screened and interviewed, he or she can be trusted to enter your home.
We pitched Housecall on the idea of doing a ?one-take? video going throughout the house with our target market using her phone to get several tasks done at once. We created a checklist of popular tasks homeowners were using their app for and staged a house to be transformed in an instant. The first take would be of a messy house with our app screen digitally projected in 3D space as our homeowner chooses her service professionals. We seamlessly blended two takes as she re-enters her house, this time with her kids, and her house has been transformed (and cleaned). We shot this one high quality cinema camera and lenses knowing that we were battling several elements, including shooting indoors and outdoors in the same take. This creates a challenge for exposures and adjusting aperture smoothly. Cinema quality was the obvious choice to not only give us a pleasing image, but also the latitude to control the image, colors and exposure in post production.
We also used a gyrostabilized gimbal allowing us to literally run with a camera in hand and remove all shake from footsteps. Gyrostabilized gimbals were brand new to the market for this shoot and we pushed the limits of what?s possible with this amazing tool. We included a graphical interface onscreen that tracked our characters as the camera moved throughout the video. This was not only challenging to create graphics in 3D space but matching the interface of the app familiarized the audience with what to expect from the app.
Housecall used the video with their launch campaign that quickly amassed to thousands of users in San Diego alone – their only launch territory. To date they have raised more than $3MM in venture capital and are quickly adding users, service professionals and expanding nationally.