Roots to Legacy

What we heard

From our call on 19 October.

• Under two minutes, voice-ledA brand belief film that is a visual treat, and still works with no sound as the corporate AV and in social cutdowns.
• The things Max will look forThe Max Group's four decades, wellbeing, LiveWell, WorkWell, every age, the logos.
• Sahil's own ideaA child from Learning Matters does something for wellbeing, visits a Max place, and we meet the family at Antara.
• The evening's themeRoots to Legacy: sustainability and an enchanted forest, the roots of education and Warwick, legacy and longevity.
• Film firstIdeas for the room are a bonus. The film is the job.

Three films

Each one is under two minutes, led by a voice, and reads with no sound. Each has one thread that runs through every scene and ends on the Max Estates mark, and the same thread waits on every table in the hall.

Recommended

The Walking Tree

A six-year-old from Learning Matters asks his grandmother if a tree can walk, then carries a banyan sapling through the places the Max Group has grown, to plant it with her at Antara.

Says the evening's theme without saying it. A child carries a tree from Max place to Max place, and four generations plant it together.

So yes. A tree can walk. Someone just has to carry it.

The thread

A banyan sapling in a small clay pot, in the boy's hands in every scene until he plants it at Antara. Its last leaf, backlit, glows into the Max Estates mark, and the same sapling stands on every gala table.

In the room

The film's sapling, in the boy's clay pot, is the centrepiece of every table. As the last leaf glows into the Max Estates mark, a soft light finds each pot at once, and every table host carries theirs home.

Read the full script

Time	Picture	Voice
0:00-0:08	Black, 3 seconds, forest hush. Fade up, macro: one thin aerial root hangs in still gold air, its tip swaying a finger's width above dark soil.	BOY (6, whisper): Dadi, can a tree walk?
0:08-0:15	First light, mist. An old banyan, a curtain of hanging roots, some grown thick as trunks. The boy stands small beneath it, the sapling in its terracotta pot held to his chest, looking up.	DADI: This one can. It lets roots down from its branches.
0:15-0:25	Slow tilt down one root that has become a trunk, to where it grips the earth.	When a root finds the ground, it becomes a new trunk. Give it time, and one tree stands like a forest.
0:25-0:36	Monsoon rain beyond the canopy. Beneath it, dry: an old man, a mother with her baby, a teenage girl, the boy shielding his pot. Nobody hurries.	The Max Group grew like that. For over four decades, it has cared for people on the days life goes wrong.
0:36-0:42	Rain stops, sun breaks. A new root, beaded with water, touches the wet ground.	Then it let down a new root. Max Estates. For the rest of the time.
0:42-0:57	Learning MattersEarly-years classroom, morning window light: small children at a low table, each with a sapling in a terracotta pot. The boy lifts his to the light and the leaves glow.	You came home from Learning Matters saying we spend about ninety percent of our lives indoors. So your class began a wellbeing project for the neighbourhood: bring the trees inside.
0:57-1:01	Max Towers, NoidaMatch cut, root to column: the curtain of hanging roots becomes the bronze vertical fins of Max Towers at golden hour. The boy walks toward it holding his mother's hand, pot in the other.	You took yours to Ma's office.
1:01-1:11	Max Towers, NoidaMatch cut, leaf light to office light: leaf shadows drift across a stone floor; he looks up into green and daylight; his mother turns from her desk and smiles. Then two passing shots: the boy, tiny, looks up at The Jogger, Guy du Toit's giant bronze hare; the lobby art at Max House.	Someone had got there first. Trees, light and air, already inside. A place to work well.
1:11-1:20	222 Rajpur, DehradunMatch cut, canopy to courtyard: blue hour, low stone homes, the old tree at the head of the lane lit warm. On the front steps the boy shows his father the sapling.	You took it home. They had been there too. A place to live well.
1:20-1:26	Antara, DehradunGolden hour, a garden. Dada rises from a bench, arms opening; the boy quickens, holding the pot up. Beside Dada, Dadi: the voice we have heard all along.	Then you brought it here, to us.
1:26-1:36	Antara, DehradunFour generations under the trees: great-grandmother in a cane chair, laughing; Dadi and Dada; the parents; the boy. Nobody looks at camera.	This place began after its founder visited about forty senior communities around the world. A place to grow old, well.
1:36-1:43	Antara, DehradunLow and wide: the family kneels; the boy lowers the sapling into the earth; Dada's hand on his shoulder. The root meets the ground.	Now it has ground. One day it will shade children not yet born.
1:43-1:50	Antara, DehradunMacro: one new leaf, backlit by the low sun, glows orange. Hold.	So yes. A tree can walk. Someone just has to carry it.
1:50-1:56	The leaf's glow match-dissolves into the Max Estates mark, same place and size. The logo settles, untouched, on warm white. Beneath: LiveWell. WorkWell. A Max Group company. Gala version adds: Diamond Sponsor, Warwick Gala.	(Silence. One held piano note.)

With no sound

1. 0:03 Can a tree walk?
2. 0:10 The banyan lets roots down from its branches. Each one becomes a new trunk.
3. 0:27 For over four decades, the Max Group has cared for people when life goes wrong.
4. 0:37 Then it grew a new root, Max Estates. For the rest of the time.
5. 0:44 We spend about 90% of our lives indoors. A class at Learning Matters decided to bring the trees in.
6. 1:02 WorkWell. Max Towers. Max Square. Max House.
7. 1:12 LiveWell. 222 Rajpur, Dehradun.
8. 1:22 Antara. Wellbeing at every age.
9. 1:44 A tree can walk. Someone just has to carry it.

Option 2

The Whole Tree

A six-year-old at Learning Matters and his eighty-six-year-old great-grandmother at Antara finish each other's sentences from opposite ends of a life, until one mango leaf puts them in the same light.

The warmest and the funniest. Two voices eighty years apart finish each other's sentences, so the room hears Roots to Legacy.

A good place is one you'd want at six... and still want at eighty-six.

The thread

A mango leaf held up to the light. Hers was pressed eighty years ago from the tree of her childhood home, his fell this week; in the last shot she holds both to the sun, old veins over new. The two glowing leaves fade into the Max Estates end card, and the same pressed leaf waits at every place at the gala.

In the room

A pressed mango leaf waits at every place, tucked into the menu. After the end card, one line: "There is a leaf at your place. Hold it up to the light." The screen holds warm white, and the whole hall becomes the film's last shot.

Read the full script

Time	Picture	Voice
0:00-0:02	Black. True silence, then one sound: an old page turning.
0:02-0:06	AntaraMacro: a pressed mango leaf, eighty years old, thin as lace, held up to low evening sun at a window. The veins glow like a winter tree. Slow push in.	ELDER: Hold a leaf up to the light...
0:06-0:10	Learning MattersMatch cut, same size, same angle: a fresh green mango leaf in cool morning light. It lowers to reveal a small boy's eye, then his face.	CHILD: ...and you can see the whole tree.
0:10-0:14	Learning MattersThe boy, six, in the early-years garden, leaf in hand, looking up into a big tree.	CHILD: I'm six. My great-grandmother is eighty-six.
0:14-0:18	AntaraShe lowers her leaf from the window. A dry half-smile.	ELDER: He says it as if it's my fault.
0:18-0:25	Learning MattersWide: the boy and three classmates kneel at a low planter, each patting soil around a seedling in a clay pot; a teacher sits back on her heels. Morning haze.	CHILD: At school we're doing wellbeing. We grow little trees for our street, so everyone gets shade.
0:25-0:28	Antara gardenMatch cut on the same gesture: an old hand pats earth around a sapling.	ELDER: Eventually.
0:28-0:33	Antara gardenShe rises slowly from a garden stool; a young carer offers a forearm and she takes it, unhurried.	CHILD: She still plants one every year. ELDER: Somebody has to.
0:33-0:39	AntaraSlow track: the two walk under a canopy of trees, evening light in stripes.	ELDER: When I was your age, we all lived under one roof...
0:39-0:44	Learning MattersThe boy under the school tree, lips pressed, eyes rolling up. He has heard this one before.	CHILD: ...nine cousins, one tap, one mango tree. I know.
0:44-0:51	AntaraA cup of tea set beside her on a garden bench; the carer's hand withdraws; leaves move overhead.	ELDER: For over four decades, Max has looked after families like ours when life goes wrong.
0:51-0:58	Max Towers, NoidaLow wide: the boy and his mother walk into a tall lobby full of daylight, planting and art.	CHILD: Now Max Estates builds for the rest of the time. ELDER: Which is most of it.
0:58-1:06	Max Square, NoidaHe steps from the building into the central forest courtyard and tips his head back into the trees.	ELDER: They say we spend nine-tenths of our lives indoors. CHILD: Then bring the trees inside. ELDER: Somebody did.
1:06-1:21	Duet. Eight shots cut on the beat, alternating his light and hers: sun crossing his face (Max Towers); her window opening, curtain lifting (Antara); the boy small before a large lobby artwork, back to camera (Max House, Okhla); overhead, a green courtyard (Estate 360, Gurugram); the boy racing The Jogger, the giant bronze hare, slow motion (Max Square); she settles onto a bench under a tree (Antara); his mother steps onto a green terrace and breathes (Max Towers); his grandparents at dusk on a balcony thick with plants (Estate 128, Noida).	CHILD: Light. ELDER: Air. CHILD: Art in the lobby. ELDER: A garden in the middle. CHILD: Somewhere to run. ELDER: Somewhere to sit. CHILD: Somewhere to work well... ELDER: ...and live well. At every age.
1:21-1:31	AntaraGolden hour. Four generations walk up a garden path: grandparents, parents, the boy ahead. On a bench under a big tree, she does not look up.	CHILD: On Sundays we all come here. Four generations, one bench. ELDER: And every Sunday, I pretend I wasn't waiting. CHILD: She was waiting.
1:31-1:41	AntaraNo voice. First shared frame, medium shot: he holds out his green leaf; she takes it. Then macro: she lifts both to the low sun, her old leaf laid over his, lace veins over green, one tree glowing through another.
1:41-1:48	AntaraWide: four generations around her bench under the tree, sun low. Nobody poses.	ELDER: A good place is one you'd want at six... CHILD: ...and still want at eighty-six.
1:48-1:55	The two leaves fade to warm white; the Max Estates logo rests where they were. LiveWell. WorkWell.

With no sound

1. 0:03 ELDER "Hold a leaf up to the light," then at 0:07 CHILD completes it: "and you can see the whole tree."
2. 0:11 CHILD: "I'm six. My great-grandmother is eighty-six."
3. 0:19 CHILD: "At school we're doing wellbeing. We grow little trees for our street."
4. 0:26 ELDER: "Eventually."
5. 0:45 ELDER: "For over four decades, Max has looked after families when life goes wrong."
6. 0:52 CHILD: "Now Max Estates builds for the rest of the time." 0:56 ELDER: "Which is most of it."
7. 1:16 CHILD: "Somewhere to work well," ELDER: "and live well. At every age."
8. 1:25 ELDER: "Every Sunday, I pretend I wasn't waiting."
9. 1:42 ELDER: "A good place is one you'd want at six," CHILD: "and still want at eighty-six."

Option 3

Matter Moves Mind

A six-year-old from Learning Matters brings the outside in for the old people in his building, finds Max Estates has built his idea at full size, and shows his grandmother at Antara that Warwick's motto works both ways.

Keeps the Warwick link front and centre: the university's own motto, turned around by a six-year-old.

Mind moves matter. Kabir showed me it works both ways. Matter moves mind.

The thread

A winged seed, nature's own paper plane: it flies, and it grows. Match cuts carry its spin through every scene, from a Warwick window to a candlelit table at Antara, and a real one waits at every place at the gala.

In the room

A real winged seed rests at every place in a small card: Mind moves matter on the front, Matter moves mind inside. The film's last picture is that seed on a candlelit table like theirs, and the hall holds at candle light for five seconds.

Read the full script

Time	Picture	Voice
0:00-0:02	Black. Silence, then the soft flutter of a spinning seed, close-miked.
0:02-0:09	Warwick Business School, University of WarwickA winged seed spins slowly down a shaft of autumn sun outside a tall window. Behind the glass, out of focus, a young student at a desk looks up. Slow push-in. Super: Mens agitat molem.	Mind moves matter. A thought can change the world around it.
0:09-0:15	Learning MattersMATCH CUT: the seed's spin, seen from above, becomes a ceiling fan seen from below, same speed, same spot in frame. Tilt down: a sunlit early-years classroom, low tables, small heads bent over play.	My grandson Kabir was six when he had his first one.
0:15-0:21	Learning MattersKabir (6) at a low table by the window, seeds sprouting in paper cups on the sill. He looks up at the big tree outside as a seed spins past the glass.	We spend about ninety percent of our lives indoors.
0:21-0:28	Learning Matters gardenUnder the tree, morning. Kabir stands still, one palm open. A seed spins down and settles in it.	Kabir noticed the old people in his building hardly went out.
0:28-0:35	Kabir's homeMATCH CUT: the seed in his palm becomes a seedling in a small clay pot, same size, same place in frame. Pull back: a row of them on a sunny sill, leaves opening.	So he brought the outside in. One seedling for each of them.
0:35-0:41	Kabir's buildingA quiet apartment corridor. Kabir, his mother a step behind, holds out a pot at an open door. Mr Sethi (80s) takes it in both hands. Hold on his face.	Mr Sethi hadn't opened his curtains in months.
0:41-0:48	Mr Sethi's flatNext morning. Mr Sethi draws his curtains wide; sun floods the room and the seedling on the sill. He stays at the window, eyes closed in the warmth.	The next morning, he did.
0:48-0:56	Max Square, NoidaMATCH CUT on the light: his bright window becomes the open walkway at Max Square. Kabir and his mother walk in; he stops and tips his head back at The Jogger, the giant bronze hare.	Then his mother took him to work, and he saw his idea at full size.
0:56-1:04	Max Square forest courtyard, NoidaThe forest courtyard. A seed spins down through the canopy. On a bench, a woman with a laptop looks up and smiles.	A forest in the middle of the office, where people stop and look up. They call it WorkWell.
1:04-1:12	Estate 360, GurugramMATCH CUT on the fall: the seed leaves the bottom of frame and enters the top of a green courtyard of homes. A great-grandmother (late 80s) on a bench, a toddler on her knee, both watching it fall. Kabir passes in soft focus.	And homes built around green courtyards, for wellbeing at every age. They call it LiveWell.
1:12-1:24	Antara Purukul, DehradunMATCH CUT on the canopy: the courtyard tree becomes a far older one. Tilt down: a grandmother (early 70s) rises from a bench as Kabir and his parents cross the grass. Her face, for the first time: the voice we have been hearing.	In the holidays, he comes to see us at Antara. Its founder visited about forty senior communities around the world before building it. It shows.
1:24-1:38	Antara Purukul, DehradunSlow tilt from the great tree's roots, up the trunk, into the canopy. Three generations below in late light; the grandfather rests a hand on the bark.	For over four decades, the Max Group has cared for families like ours when life goes wrong. Those are the roots. Max Estates builds for the rest of the time.
1:38-1:46	Antara Purukul, DehradunDusk. A long table under the tree: white cloth, low candles. The family sits. A seed spins down through the candlelight and settles beside the grandmother's hand. She looks across at Kabir.	Mind moves matter. Kabir showed me it works both ways.
1:46-1:52	The candlelight dims until the seed is the last thing lit. End card rises around it: Matter moves mind. Then the Max Estates logo with the Max Group endorsement.	Matter moves mind.

With no sound

1. 0:03 Mens agitat molem. Mind moves matter. (small: the motto of the University of Warwick)
2. 0:15 We spend about 90% of our lives indoors.
3. 0:22 Kabir, six, had an idea: bring the outside in.
4. 0:36 For months, Mr Sethi had kept his curtains shut.
5. 0:56 His idea, at full size. WorkWell.
6. 1:05 LiveWell. Wellbeing at every age.
7. 1:14 His grandparents, at Antara.
8. 1:26 For over four decades, the Max Group has cared for people when life goes wrong. Max Estates builds for the rest of the time.
9. 1:46 Matter moves mind.

Timeline

About three weeks from a yes.

1. Day 0Film and script approved
2. Day 5Storyboard and cast look
3. Day 12First cut with scratch voice
4. Day 18Final film, voice and music
5. Day 21Silent version and cutdowns

What we need from Max

• How Max would like Learning Matters named on screen.
• The Max Estates and Max Group logo lockup, and the sponsor line for the gala.
• The gala date, the hall, and who runs the room's sound and light.
• For option 3: a nod from Warwick to use its motto.