Case study: the craft of knife making as branding content

This blog post will introduce the documentary style branding video and some of the social media cut down videos we produced for a Japanese knife maker in Niigata Prefecture, Fan Out.

The branding documentary style video, with comments from the master blade smith on his philosophy

The story behind the forging - why? Why bother with the why?

We were not able to do a location scout for this shoot beforehand but we knew from photos that the client shared beforehand that we were probably going to get great visuals. Hammering, forges, sparks, a sense of urgency, timeless tradition, physical exertion, precision. We knew that this would make some engaging visuals if we filmed thoughtfully and just let the craftspeople do their thing.

But we wanted to take a peek behind the action, behind the scene before the camera lens, to find out why these crafts people bothered to put so much care and effort into their work. What motivates the men to keep hammering away at the metal, to forge yet another knife, yet another metal tool, for others to work with? If we could find out what drives them, this would allow the customers, the users of the knives, to appreciate the value of the knifes beyond just its physical qualities of sharpness, ease of use and appearance. It wouldn’t just make a great story for our video, it could add value to the knives at the point of sale, add joy to the buyer, and give a sense of connection between the user and the maker.

Short form 1x1 version of the branding video for social media, focussing on the knife polisher

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Short form 1x1 version of the branding video for social media, focussing on the blade-smith

How we filmed (and recorded sound for) this branding video

After getting some great visuals at a couple of locations over two half days it was almost time to go home but we sat down with the blade smith to chat. No cameras, no mics, no equipment. Just everyone in a group for a conversation. After getting a sense that he wouldn’t mind opening up and explaining about the more philosophical parts of his work we asked if we could attach a mic?

No problem he said. As we didn’t need visuals of him talking, we pulled out the DJI Mic and clipped it onto his shirt in seconds, attached the receiver to the venerable Zoom H1 and continued the conversation together. Now that the iPhone 15 with USBC is out and supporting 2 channel recordings I think we will just connect the DJ Mic to the iPhone in these situations from now on.

By keeping the conversation a conversation, not a formal interview, we were able to discuss why he continued to craft his blades. Which the video to find out.

Fan Out

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