Robert Payne

I was recently tasked with creating a new video for the Global Commerce team here in Georgia, USA. This is not a simple task given the diversity of industry sectors the Global Commerce division targets for recruitment and relocation. From Aerospace to FinTech to Food Processing, each industry has its own requirements for success – with one exception. They all require talent to innovate and grow. Coupled with the tried and true approach of, don’t listen to us, listen to the companies that are here, and now you have a strategic approach to keep the narrative succinct and applicable to all.

This video project took me to a myriad locations across the state of Georgia:

Stogner Hill at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at dawn to shoot footage of planes taking off and landing.

UPS’s new SMART Hub, which is 1.2M square feet, or the size of 20 football fields. And I love the fact that every morning UPS drivers do calisthenics together before departing on their rounds.

In the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains with Bill Oyster, owner of Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods.

In the brand new Telluride on a 2-mile test track at Kia Motors Manufacturing in West Point, Georgia.

In addition, the port of Savannah – headquarters for Gulfstream – King’s Hawaiian’s food processing facility in Hall County – the data center for InComm – the new Cyber Center in Augusta – Sany in Peachtree city, which is the same location “Avengers: End Game” used for their headquarters – and the list goes on.

I also spun out three separate videos from the larger finished piece:

It was a big project and a great experience, and I am thankful to the companies and individuals who opened their doors and took their time to help me tell a great story.

My most recent video production is the culmination of many other supporting video projects that have taken me across the state of Georgia, and behind-the-scenes of some incredible companies, over the past 5 years. In essence, I took a limited budget and made it in to a $250k production.

But I could not have done it without the great guys that make up the band, The Quiet Hounds. Their talent and genuine personalities carry the diverse scenes that are tightly edited to inform the next scene, and the next scene, and so on. I feel lucky to have been able to ink a sync agreement with them for this perfect song. I followed them to Athens, Georgia to record the live performance at the Georgia Theatre, and we spent a long night together at a recording studio in Midtown Atlanta. It has been a pleasure getting to know them.

How do you encapsulate an entire state in one video and do it well? That was indeed part of the challenge. I knew it could not be everything to everyone. Sure, there were sacrifices and difficult decisions along the way. But positive emotion is the great equalizer.

The video is now featured on Georgia.org and its affiliated social media properties – at all the Visitor Information Centers across the state – and baggage claim in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

I hope this experience provides you with a taste of the authenticity, beauty, diversity and “southern charm” that I have come to find in Georgia . I feel it. The band feels it. Georgians feel it. I hope you do as well.

Do me a favor. Pop the video full screen and turn up your speakers.

A special thanks to the Quiet Hounds for lending their creativity, time and music to this piece.

“Southern Charm” Lyrics

All the gardenia on the sideway dropping like they want you.
I’m a believer on the highway when they’re playing our tune
driving up slowly though the gravel nothing stopping Sunday
Summer love songing in my longing we can do this our way

Hot city you are mine

Storms on your shoulder and I call it Paradise
Everyone knows this thunder only means bright lights for us

Hot city you are mine
So pretty on my arm

Hot city you are mine
So pretty on my arm
Tell me that you’ll make this rainstorm ours
make it ours
dancing through the black night
Hot city you are mine
Oh say that you are mine
This is where my southern charm will lye

This city home, this home is you, you are my summer love song
how do you do it, how do you make it hum
My heart is warm, my blood is red, this sweat is all I have to make it up to you, make it up to you, love.