Lapdog Tray - Instructional Film

The lapdog tray is a craft product which is new to the market which has been developed by Ann Brown who lives in Quernmore near Lancaster.

This product has been flying out of the factory to customers all over the world.  It's been really interesting watching Ann and Ian take their product to market.  It's clearly an ongoing learning curve which they have had to respond to all the time.  It's all very exciting though!

So, I was really pleased when they approached me and asked me to film a short instructional film about the Lapdog Tray.  What is the Lapdog?  Well, it's quite simple really - it's  array with various grooves and cups around the outside of the tray which are designed to hold paintbrushes, pens, craft knives etc..  The tray is mounted on a cushion which is filled with beans (or polystyrene balls or whatever) so that if you're crafting, you can sit the tray on your lap and angle it to wherever you need it to be.  Simple and effective.

Ann asked me to film Melanie Heaton presenting the Lapdog Tray.  So last month we set off for Whalley with a car full of lights, reflectors, sound equipment for an on location shoot at Mytton Fold Hotel in Whalley

We filmed Melanie in rather a dark dining room, but I decided to make use of as much available light as possible by using the daylight behind her as a backlight. This gave us the most visually interesting backdrop too.  Melanie presented the tray to camera - she was really good to work with - she is experienced in presenting craft products on a craft television channel and so talked her way through the product with total ease.  She's also very systematic in the way she presents the product which makes sense to the viewer.

For our last part of the film, Melanie agreed to come out and film in the gardens.  Filming outside poses different challenges, namely sound - we were filming fairly close to the road, so I positioned Melanie so that her back was to the road so that she would shield the microphone from all of that external noise.  On location shooting is always challenging, especially when you are not familiar with the venue.  However, I think that over the years, we have developed the skill to adapt to given situations with speed and little fuss.

From our timing session, we produced a total of four films - one main film and three smaller ones which focused on different aspects of the product.  They will be used at craft shows, and for social media marketing (social media loves video apparently), so they will be streamed on Facebook and of course sit very tidily on the company website.  It's really good that one afternoon's film session can result in so many films and so much potential coverage.

As always, I travelled home knowing far more about the Lapdog Tray than I had gone down with.   I think it stands a really good chance of becoming a must-have craft accessory! Check out the product and discover more about the company at www.lapdogtray.co.uk

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