Cake News: a Case Study

Case studies like this allow us to show case some of the varied work we do. We are often requested to do work that is not only for commercial use. For example, we stay positive, flexible and supportive to social campaigns that we stand proudly behind. Here is something we collaborated with Fine Acts Foundation — not our first project together. Because it’s always a beautiful journey when you work with people who are united by common moral and professional values.

FAKE STORY

Together, we created a fake story about a famous chef coming to Bulgaria to launch his new series of cupcakes on a private degustation. We created fake email address, fake name…. everything about this story was all fake. And even more — there was no connection at all with real people’s names or PR / event agencies.

However, it all started, as we had thought. Popular traditional and online media published the news. Just using Copy — Paste function on the keyboard, no double checking. Some of them even expressed a desire to cover the event with reportage on the spot and asked for an interview with the famous chef.

‍FOCUS GROUP OF TASTERS

The next step was to invite a focus group of close friends to our special and very secret event — the cupcakes tasting. Over 30 people registered for it. We had to lie to them in order to keep the experiment going.

We made fake cupcakes which were anything but sweet. And that’s how our social experiment began — from the enchantment and the excitement of all our special guests to their authentic reactions based on contradictory tastes.

‍THE CREW BEHIND THE VIDEO

It was important to us to bring the right crew for this particular cause. And that’s how we ended up with the creative quartet — Dimitris Georgiev (director), Damian Dimitrov (DOP), Andrea Popova (Production designer) and Mirela Vasileva (Stylist). They all created the fairytale vision of our fake pastry shop — from the entrance to the tasting spot. The honest questions and quick reactions of the director led our characters to real paradoxical reactions. That’s how we managed to get all our guests to thinking about how fake news can actually upset the public “taste”,one bad cupcake at a time.

PARTNERS

In projects like this, it is important to cooperate with loyal partners. We had to find the right location,the perfect spot to develop the initial idea. That’s how we found Bistro Krug,where we felt like home and had the great support of the management and the staff.

We also had to find a chef to cook the fake cakes and make recipes that you can’t remain indifferent.So the campaign met a friend in the face of Chef Sevda Dimitrova and Ahora restaurant. She created masterpieces … with the strangest tastes.

True and false information spreads rapidly through all kinds of media. According to recent studies defining what is true and false has become a common political force for example, or a way to mislead reality. That’s the topic that Fakery by Fine Acts stands behind. And through this video we would like to raise people’s attention and ask them to read and write wisely. Because every one of us is playing a role in this process of disinformation. We are sharing content all the time. We are producing and publishing it every day, so we have responsibility. Stop fora while and think, what are the real-life consequences of sharing “bad tasting”information.

“Fakery is a campaign by Fine Acts, a global platform that bridges art and activism in the name of social change.

Behind the idea of ​​Fakery (The Fake News Bakery) are the stage designer Iliyana Kancheva and the IT programmer Ivan Shulev.

Fakery is the winner of the second edition of ACT Labs — innovative events where multidisciplinary teams of artists and technologists seek solutions to human rights issues.

The teams work together over a weekend and prototype ideas that raise awareness or provide solutions for a specific problem. The jury awards the best idea with a development grant.”

You can discover more about this cause by looking at the campaign website.

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Client: Fine Acts

Director: Dimitris Georgiev

DOP: Damian Dimitrov

Producers: Fine Acts / Co-producer: Krasimira Krasteva, handplayed

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WHAT WE DID:

Script Writing

Equipment rent

Location Scouting

Production

Editing

Color correction