How long does it take to fall in love?
I once produced an experimental branded film to answer this question!
“0.13” (Russian: “0,13 секунды”) is the Branded Film based on the songs of the indie rock band the Parlotones.
A group of students has been unwillingly locked in the lecture auditorium where they are at first forced to listen to Parlotones’ songs and watch their videos on a big screen. However, they soon start enjoying both music and its messaging. By the end of the movie, each character breaks their own social “cage” and finds true love.
Yes, I have starred in my own movie: for the first and for the last time in my life because I was the worst actress in the whole gang. I played the evilest and the weirdest character though.
WATCH TRAILER:
WATCH MOVIE:
Project Overview
Back in 2010, I was about to graduate from the International University in Moscow with a major in Public Relations. By that time I have tried a few jobs in film and felt quite ready to try out directing my own short movies.
My thesis was about Branded Video Content. As the practical and experimental part of it, I produced branded film to promote one of my favorite rock bands at the time: South-African “The Parlotones”, on the Russian music scene.
So, I assembled and coordinated a wonderful team of more than 30 people. Some of them were my school friends, some — professional filmmakers that I got to know through real-life film projects.
In 2010 YouTube was just approaching its most dazzling times, and I felt really inspired by its potential. My plan was to use YouTube specifically for our project’s distribution and marketing.
It’s probably worth saying that I convinced my parents to give me some money for the production. So, all together we made this project happen.
We also had quite a bit of special effects and acrobatics in one of the episodes:
That’s how we shot it. I’m honestly still genuinely proud of my wonderful cinematographer Yliana Lukiyanchenko and her team for their creativity and passion:
Since this project was for my thesis I did way too much by myself: screenplay, directing, editing, promoting. That was rough at times but I also learned a lot. That was the time when I understood that I would love to do film editing professionally. I also figured how lucky I was to have my friends around me (look at those amazing actors and crew!) and that I will always enjoy working with real people and open up unexpected facets in their personalities through my work.
The theory behind the project includes a study of the world branded video content, web 2.0, and YouTube as the distribution and marketing tool.
Since I presented my thesis and got my BA degree 11 years from now, it is not crucial to translate it to English, however, I put the link to its full text with examples and research in Russian here.
Seems like we also managed to predict the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2010:
