SEASON'S GREETINGS 2024
Embraer Commercial Aviation 2024 - Video Campaign.
Creative Direction · Concept Development · Scriptwriting ·
Film Direction · Post-Production Direction.
Credits:
Creative Direction & Concept — Leandro Dourado
Script & Storytelling — Leandro Dourado
Film Direction — Leandro Dourado
Production — GPM
Director of Photography — Shindi Kavamukai
Editing — Shindi Kavamukai
Executive / Creative Approval — Arjan Meijer, Rodrigo Silva & Souza
BRIEFING/C HALLENGE
Every year, Commercial Aviation closes the year with a message - for the internal team and external partners - from its CEO reflecting on the highlights, achievements and defining moments of the past year, while looking ahead to what is to come.
The challenge was to find a meaningful thread connecting the year's different stories and turn it into an emotional narrative for the year-end message.
IDEA
Looking across the year's major highlights, I noticed a recurring theme: improvement.
From product enhancements and new technologies to the evolution of the business itself, many of the year's stories shared the same underlying idea — something that is already good can continue to evolve and become better.
This became the foundation for “Better Versions.”
But instead of focusing only on the evolution of Embraer's products, I wanted to bring the idea closer to the people behind them.
CONCEPT
I began looking through historical photographs of long-standing Commercial Aviation employees, searching for moments from earlier stages of their careers.
The photographs became the starting point for selecting the people featured in the film. Once they were identified, we searched for ways to recreate each image in the present day — ideally in the same location, or as close to it as possible.
The result was a visual dialogue between past and present.
The same people.
The same places, when possible.
But different versions of themselves.
Their appearance had changed. Their roles had changed. Their careers had evolved.
The visual transformation became a metaphor for the message of the film: we are always evolving, and there is always a better version of ourselves ahead.
SCRIPT
While the initial draft was developed collaboratively (with my briefing/concept), I took ownership of the final script — reshaping the language, structure and messaging to ensure that the speech connected naturally with the visual narrative.
I worked through multiple rounds of feedback and approvals before the final version was approved by the CEO himself.
PRODUCTION
Turning the concept into reality required a detailed production process.
I coordinated the production as the creative/main director, with our filming supplier team, three to four days of filming, directing the shoots and working closely with the crew to recreate each archival photograph as accurately as possible.
One of the biggest creative challenges was matching the original framing. We experimented with different techniques, including printed and semi-transparent versions of the archival photographs, to align the original composition with the new footage directly through the camera.
The first shoot became an important part of this process, as we refined the technique and established how closely we could reproduce the original images.
EDITING
Although I did not physically edit the final film, I directed the edit from concept through final delivery, as the owner of this project.
Because the narrative and visual progression had been developed from the beginning, I worked closely with the editor throughout post-production, directing the pace, tone, music, transitions and emotional progression of the film.
The goal was to make the transition between past and present feel natural and emotionally meaningful rather than simply presenting a collection of before-and-after images.
OUTCOME
The 2024 Seasons Greetings became one of the year's most personal and engaging ways to reflect on Commercial Aviation's journey. The combination of familiar faces, archival memories and the “Better Versions” concept resonated strongly with employees and stakeholders, generating positive feedback and organic engagement across the organization and social media.
Beyond its original purpose as a year-end message, the film continued to live on through Arjan's social channels, allowing the story and its message of growth and evolution to reach audiences beyond the original internal context