Sohonet FileRunner: Behind the Explainer Video

When I was brought on to help Directive Consulting produce a brand explainer video for Sohonet's FileRunner product, the brief was clear: make it feel like Frame.io. Cinematic, polished, and product-forward. What followed was a three-month production sprint that tested every part of my workflow, from art direction to animation to client communication.

Finding the Visual Direction

I joined mid-project, inheriting a script and brand guidelines, but no approved art direction. The first mood board had already been rejected by the client, Liv, Sohonet's marketing lead in London. She felt it didn't align with their new website or the Frame.io reference videos she'd shared early on.

I stepped up to lead the art direction call, updated the style frames, and walked Liv through the visual rationale live. Once we had her buy-in, we could finally move forward.

Storyboarding the Story

With Sohonet's Figma UI files finally in hand, I illustrated all 14 storyboards; visualizing how FileRunner's product UI would integrate into the motion design. Tyrone (the creative director) and I recorded a Loom walkthrough together to present the boards.

A key piece of feedback came from the account team: a major FileRunner feature hadn't been communicated clearly in the boards. I revised accordingly, and Flora, Sohonet's product expert, was brought into future calls to keep UI accuracy on track.

Building the Cut

Once the storyboards were approved, I moved into production. I was sourcing and compositing stock footage from FilmPac and Motion Array, animating UI mockups from the Figma files, and syncing everything to a recorded voiceover. Progress was steady, but the "Hollywood film" note from Liv said that all footage should feel like it came from the same shoot. That feedback pushed me to rethink the stock footage strategy mid-build. The solution: source thematically cohesive sci-fi and creative-professional clips and composite them as unified sequences.

Meanwhile, a late-stage script change requested by a new stakeholder meant commissioning a VO pickup line. It slotted in cleanly, so no major animation rework was needed.

Delivering Three Videos at Once

The final sprint involved delivering the 60-second master explainer plus two 15-second ads (one technical, one non-technical). These production tasks worked all in parallel revision cycles with internal review from the creative director and a senior producer before anything touched the client.

The client's final words: "[We are] extremely happy with what you have created."

The 2GB final file was delivered uncompressed via WeTransfer alongside a Frame.io presentation link, with all working files (After Effects, Premiere, and Illustrator) packaged and handed off to Directive.

What I Took Away

This project was a good reminder that freelance production work is as much about communication as craft. Whether it was a scope concern on the ads, a missing logo file, or a family emergency that briefly took me offline, kept the project moving without surprises. The final product was something the whole team was proud of, and a client who came in with a very specific vision left genuinely satisfied.