KPMG: The Brazilian Chapter of a Global Series
How Olive Tree Films filmed in Belo Horizonte the Brazilian episode of KPMG’s Make the Difference series for the UK production company Beagle Media, with the interview directed live from London.
Production partner in Brazil
A global series has one look. Our job was to keep it, a continent away from the director.
Belo Horizonte. One shooting day. Direction live from London.
KPMG and its Our Impact Plan
KPMG describes itself in its Our Impact Plan as more than 270,000 people across more than 140 countries and territories. The plan reports the firm’s progress in four areas: governance, people, planet and prosperity.
Before the shoot: a series about people
Every year, KPMG publishes its Our Impact Plan, a report on the organization’s impact across governance, people, planet and prosperity. KPMG Brazil presents it in Portuguese on its Our Impact Plan page. Reports like this are full of figures, and figures are hard to remember. To give them faces, KPMG created People Stories, a series of short films produced by Beagle Media, a UK production company that lists KPMG among its long-term clients.
The series reached its third season with the theme Make the Difference: four professionals, in four cities around the world, explaining how their work makes a difference. The Brazilian chapter told the story of André Winter, who co-leads the Human Rights Services Hub of KPMG in Brazil, according to the People of KPMG section of the global Our Impact Plan. The hub works on the S of ESG, helping companies deal with human rights, labor conditions and diversity. KPMG Brazil’s page on corporate social responsibility describes the human rights projects he co-leads. KPMG Brazil also announced an alliance with Instituto Olga Kos to apply the Escala Cidadã Olga Kos, a methodology that measures diversity, equity and inclusion in companies, and André, a partner-director of ESG Advisory, discussed it in an interview published by KPMG Brazil. The Our Impact Plan also names Engaja Brasil, a local alliance partner, as the provider of a governance, risk and compliance platform for the hub’s clients.
André lives and works in Belo Horizonte, and the series needed him filmed there, in his office and in his city, to the same standard as the other three episodes. Beagle Media, based in the United Kingdom, needed a team on the ground in Brazil that could follow its creative direction precisely. That is where we came in: Beagle Media hired Olive Tree Films to produce and film the Brazilian chapter.
The challenge: London’s eyes in Belo Horizonte
In a global series, every episode has to look like part of the same film, even when it is shot on another continent. Beagle Media had a visual standard approved in previous seasons: cinemascope framing, interviews with two cameras, top shots, slow motion and scenes of the main character walking through the city. The challenge had three layers. Remote direction: Beagle Media’s creative director and producer would follow everything from London, by Teams and WhatsApp, and KPMG’s global team would watch the interview live, while the execution on set was ours. One day: the interview, five scenes in the office, an exterior shoot in Praça da Liberdade and a photo session all had to fit into a single shooting day. A global brand: KPMG has strict image guidelines, and every detail, from the light to the wardrobe, had to follow them.
Each layer alone is routine. Together, they leave no margin: a missed shot cannot be filmed again the next day, and a director who cannot see the set cannot correct it. This is the kind of project our global video production model is built for: one creative standard, local execution, and a local partner that answers to the director wherever the director is.
The insight: follow the standard, bring London into the room
The first decision was about attitude. In a global series, the local team is not there to reinvent the film. Its job is to execute someone else’s creative vision so precisely that the audience cannot tell which episode was shot by which crew. That meant studying the previous seasons, agreeing on the framing and camera language before the day, and sending London the set-ups for approval before rolling.
The second decision was about direction. Even hiring at a distance, Beagle Media wanted to direct the interview itself, because the interview is where the story lives. So instead of relaying questions through a local interviewer, we brought London into the room, with a periscope and teleprompter system that let the creative director ask every question face to face, from another continent. The result is an interview that feels like a conversation, with André looking straight at the viewer. Films built on real employees and their own words are what we explore in employee testimonial videos.
The Brazilian episode of KPMG’s People Stories series: André Winter on how human rights work makes a difference, filmed by Olive Tree Films in Belo Horizonte, edited in London by Beagle Media and published by KPMG. Watch the film on YouTube.
The finished film is public. Behind-the-scenes material is available on request.
The scope: full local production in Brazil
What the project covered, and who was responsible for each part.
01.
Objective and audience
Film the Brazilian chapter of KPMG’s People Stories series for an international audience, to the same standard as the episodes filmed in the other three cities of the season.
02.
What we produced
A two-camera interview with André Winter, five scenes in the KPMG office in Belo Horizonte, an exterior sequence in Praça da Liberdade and a photo session with stills of the character and the locations.
03.
Look and equipment
Two cinema cameras, a Sony FX6 and a Sony FX3, in the cinemascope framing defined by Beagle Media, with top shots, slow motion and walking scenes, lit and graded within KPMG’s brand guidelines.
04.
Our team
Direction on set by Caroline Mendonça, our co-founder and creative director, and cinematography by Silas Oliveira, our CEO, with a second camera operator, a sound technician and a production assistant from Belo Horizonte, plus a photographer and an assistant.
05.
Timeline
One shooting day, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., following a shot list built around André’s day, with the interview at the end of the afternoon.
06.
Delivery and edit
Raw footage from both cameras and the stills in RAW, delivered to Beagle Media and KPMG for editing and grading in London. The final edit, versions and publication were theirs.
A day planned to the minute
A single shooting day only works when the order of the day tells the story. Our shot list followed André’s day as the film would show it: arriving at the KPMG building and walking through the lobby; working with colleagues and running a training session; a client meeting, filmed through the glass so the conversation stayed private; a simulated inspection of a workplace, a nod to the labor conditions he works on; and the city itself, in Praça da Liberdade, a square that local press describes as a symbol of Belo Horizonte’s republican history, chosen as a setting for a story about rights and social justice.
The interview came last, at the end of the afternoon, when the scenes were in the can and the team could give the conversation its full attention. Throughout the day we sent photos and updates to London, so the director could see each set-up as it was built, and we sent the interview set-up for approval before recording. When a director is thousands of miles away, that steady flow of images is what turns a remote shoot into a shared one.
Arrival and lobby walk
Training session with colleagues
Client meeting through the glass
Simulated workplace inspection
Praça da Liberdade
Interview at the end of the day
Arrival and lobby walk
Training session with colleagues
Client meeting through the glass
Simulated workplace inspection
Praça da Liberdade
Interview at the end of the day
Who did what
The process: one day, three teams
Five stages, with the responsibilities of Olive Tree Films, Beagle Media and KPMG separated at each step.
Filmed in Brazil.
Directed from London.
KPMG watching
the interview live
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Standard and brief
Beagle Media set the series look and the questions; KPMG set the brand guidelines.
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Local production
Olive Tree Films planned the day, hired the crew and equipment, and secured locations.
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Filming
Our team shot every scene, sending photos and updates to London throughout the day.
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Live interview
Beagle Media asked the questions from London through the periscope while KPMG watched.
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Delivery
We delivered raw footage and RAW stills; Beagle Media edited and KPMG published.
The experience: London in the room
The moment that defined this project was the interview. We used a face-to-face interview periscope and teleprompter: a semi-transparent mirror mounted in front of the lens which, instead of a stranger’s face, showed the live image of Beagle Media’s creative director asking the questions from London. André answered looking at the person asking and, at the same time, straight into the camera. The interview has the warmth of a conversation and the eye contact of a direct address.
It all had to work live: an international connection, KPMG’s team watching, and framing, light and sound ready for every answer, with no chance to repeat the day. It worked. For a production company hiring a crew it had never met, on another continent, that is what trust looks like in practice: being able to direct as if you were in the room.
“I believe human rights are a key part of the sustainability equation.”
André Winter, KPMG in Brazil
Quoted in KPMG’s Our Impact Plan, People of KPMG section
The results
The Brazilian chapter
in a global series.
1 of 4
professionals profiled in the People of KPMG section of the global Our Impact Plan, alongside colleagues from the UK, South Africa and the US.
1
shooting day for the whole Brazilian chapter: interview, five office scenes, exterior sequence and photo session.
Sources: KPMG’s Our Impact Plan and the published film.
The outcome of this project is a published film and a story that sits in the firm’s global report. KPMG published André’s film as part of the Make the Difference series, on YouTube and on its Brazilian Our Impact Plan page. We do not have audience or engagement data for the film and do not claim any. What we can say is what our role delivered: a Brazilian episode that matches the visual standard of the episodes filmed in the other countries, produced in one day, with the series director in control from London.
Beyond the film
Brazil as a production base
Brazil is increasingly chosen as a production base by brands and production companies from other countries. Production companies linked to FilmBrazil, the internationalization platform of Apro with ApexBrasil, exported US$54.7 million in advertising projects in the most recent year reported, the highest figure in more than five years, with the United States and the United Kingdom among the largest buyers, according to Propmark. For companies hiring from abroad, this project shows three things that make the difference.
Lesson 1
Follow the standard
In a global series, the local team executes the creative vision precisely, so that every episode looks like part of the same film. Reinvention belongs to the director, not to the crew.
Lesson 2
Communicate all day
With direction at a distance, photos and updates throughout the day give security to the people on the other side of the ocean, and approvals before rolling prevent surprises after the fact.
Lesson 3
One team for everything
Film, photography, logistics and image releases with a single partner reduce the risk and simplify management for the foreign production company. See how we work with agencies and creative teams.
Questions about this case
Short answers for production companies and brands planning a shoot in Brazil with direction from abroad.
What is an Interrotron-style interview?
An interview filmed through a semi-transparent mirror in front of the lens that shows the face of the person asking the questions. The interviewee looks at the interviewer and, at the same time, straight into the camera. In this case the face on the mirror was the creative director of Beagle Media, live from London.
Can a director abroad direct a shoot in Brazil in real time?
Yes. For this film, Beagle Media followed the day by Teams and WhatsApp and asked the interview questions live from London through a periscope teleprompter, while KPMG watched the interview as it happened. On set, the execution was ours.
What did Olive Tree Films deliver to Beagle Media?
The raw footage from two cinema cameras and the still photographs in RAW, ready for editing and grading by Beagle Media and KPMG. The final edit and the publication belonged to them.
How do you keep a local episode consistent with a global series?
By following the approved standard instead of reinventing it: the same framing, the same camera language and the same brand rules as the episodes filmed in other countries, checked with the series director during the day.
Can Olive Tree Films work under another production company’s creative direction?
Yes. In this project the creative direction belonged to Beagle Media, and our team handled local production, direction on set, photography and delivery in Brazil. The same model works for agencies and production companies from other countries.
Where was the KPMG film published?
KPMG published the film as part of its Make the Difference series, on YouTube and on the Brazilian page of its Our Impact Plan. André Winter’s story also appears in the People of KPMG section of the global Our Impact Plan.
