ROCC Film

Corporate film for Commerzbank You explain software with people.

Commerzbank had to explain its newly built banking app twice: to its own staff and to its customers. Instead of listing features, we translated them into everyday moments. The one where the bike is already paid for, for example.

Image Film Product launch Frankfurt & Berlin · 2019

Making a new app known. Inside and out.

Commerzbank had rebuilt its mobile banking app from the ground up. Now everyone had to hear about it, the company's own staff just as much as customers. What is new, what can the app do, how does it feel?

We built the film from two elements. The people behind the app explain it themselves, in calm sit-down interviews in front of the Frankfurt skyline. Between them runs B-roll from Frankfurt and Berlin, showing how an app like this fits into an ordinary day.

The Frankfurt skyline on the Main, a jogger running along the riverbank.
Young man outdoors, blurred greenery in the background. Woman in a coat and scarf on a path in a Berlin park.

„Commerzbank gave its own people the stage. That takes more courage than any glossy campaign.“

Christian Martin Schäfer

Christian Martin Schäfer

Founder & Director · ROCC Film

Why the budget went into the B-roll.

The budget was tight for a project of this size. Two and a half shooting days, two in Frankfurt, half a day in Berlin. We decided early to put most of it into the B-roll instead of saving a little everywhere. That way every euro lands visibly on screen.

We shot with two Blackmagic 6K cameras and Nikon stills lenses, 50 and 85 millimeters at f1.4. The B-roll ran at 50 frames per second. In the edit we slowed some of it down and sped other parts up to keep the film moving. The app screens are animated and were built with care in post.

No models stood in front of the camera, only Commerzbank employees. You can see they enjoyed it. One of them has a visible tattoo, and it stayed in frame. Commerzbank deliberately chose to retouch nothing away. Decisions like that separate a commercial from a film people believe.

The film ran internally and externally. The app itself went on to become one of the most used banking apps in Germany. Our share in that is modest. But the images it launched with still stand today.

„When everyone pulls in the same direction, you can see it on screen.“

Seen in the film.

Product owners, developers and designers explain the new app in calm interviews. Between them runs everyday life: the Frankfurt skyline in the morning, buying a bike by instant transfer, a walk in a Berlin park. The app screens are animated and sit as their own layer above the images.

Sit-down interview above the rooftops of Frankfurt

01 · Sit-down interview above the rooftops of Frankfurt

The app in everyday life, not in the studio

02 · The app in everyday life, not in the studio

Man on the banks of the Main looking at his smartphone, Frankfurt behind him

03 · On the bank of the Main, with the skyline behind

A Berlin park, with a very headstrong dog

04 · A Berlin park, with a very headstrong dog

What ROCC Film took on for Commerzbank.

One shoot in two cities, one main film and edits for every channel.

01 Concept for a film that connects product and people
02 Shooting schedule for two cities across two and a half days
03 Directing and camera in Frankfurt and Berlin
04 Sit-down interviews with the teams behind the app
05 B-roll on the Main, in the city and in Berlin
06 Animation and preparation of the app screens
07 Editing, grading and sound design
08 Cutdowns and social media snippets for further channels
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