Portfolio: Retail's BIG Show | LAI Video

Retail's Big Show

We partnered with the National Retail Federation on NRF 2023 Retail's Big Show -- the trade association's signature convention and EXPO event. Some of our best client partnerships are defined by growth, and it has been a pleasure to grow with NRF's appetite for quality videos, perhaps best exemplified by the evolution of their "recap" video. This year was our eleventh labor of love.

How BIG are we Talking?

This isn't just an enormous gathering. The 35,000+ attendees, 500+ exhibitors and thousands+ retailers travel from around the world to make this non-stop three-day spectacle. With no shortage of people and events to point our lenses at, Retail's Big Show demands a thoughtful approach for our crew of video ninjas. Focusing on the industry's current issues, NRF's major announcements and new show features, Tori finds fresh angles (and faces) to tell the show's story through an attendee's perspective.

Artful Run and Gun

Every year, Favata, Jun and Donovan approach the show as a challenge to raise the bar for live event cinematography. From sliders and jibs to time-lapse photography, the crew introduced carts and hover boards in 2017 to reflect retail's rapid speeds. In 2018, we slowed things down using high-speed photography to dwell on the big and little moments -- to emphasize an industry on the brink of major change. Gliding through the full Feature Stage, the bustling EXPO floor and the brand new Innovation Lab, the team collected light-filled b-roll that added a sense of wonder and swagger to the formidable event. Throughout the conference, footage was shipped back to command central (aka: a hotel somewhere in Times Square) for immediate editing.  

The Overnight Edit

Producing marketing videos over the last ten years, we've earned the trust of the world's largest retail trade association. We savor and safeguard the retail brand, allowing us to make split-second creative decisions during overnight production. This year, we sifted through hours of general session keynote captures, dozens of testimonies from Sarah and Victoria's person-on-the-street interviews and multiple cards of footage to produce the prized BIG Show recap. Embracing an energy drink-rich diet and nocturnal schedule, Rob returned for his tenth edit, creating an ending grand-finale video that speaks to the scope and magic of an event that parallels an industry with a robust and limitless future.