A new campaign for American Family Insurance evokes the company’s association with heartland values through finely crafted images of factory workers, motorcycle riders, newborn babies and kids diving into swimming pools. Conceived by Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago, the campaign involved a seven day shoot in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. Post work was completed at Optimus, Chicago, through a workflow anchored by <a href="www.filmlight.ltd.uk.>FilmLight‘s Baselight colour grading system.
Principal photography was recorded with an Arri Alexa camera, with some scenes captured on 35mm film. At Optimus, original production elements initially went through a dailies colour pass, performed by Ken Wald on a Baselight Transfer system. “It worked beautifully,” recalls Optimus associate colourist Joel Signer. “We applied dailies colour and made DNXHD files for editorial. We were getting camera elements every day and were able to turn them around at faster than real time so that our editor, Mike Berg, could immediately begin cutting.”
After the spot was cut and conformed, it was moved to a Baselight EIGHT system for final grading. “We performed the grade with the agency’s creative team in attendance, and they were able to see everything in the context of the cut,” Signer explains. “To be able to watch the cut in the grading suite is one of the great benefits of Baselight. We’ve been using this workflow for three years and our clients have gotten very used to working this way—they appreciate it very much. They don’t have to wait for us to switch reels or worry about what format was used to record the material.”
From a creative perspective, the post team’s goal was to bring out the iconic quality of the imagery. “Every shot is a hero shot,” Signer says. “Our job was to make it all look great.”
Credits
Title: Dreams Anthem
Client: American Family Insurance
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago.
Joe Sciarrotta , Managing Director/CCO; Mitch Gordon , Senior Partner, Group Creative Director; Donna Charlton-Perrin, Creative Director; Tereasa Surratt , Creative Director; Larry Byrne , Senior Partner/Director of Production; Mike Diedrich , Partner/Executive Producer.
Production: @Radical Media, Santa Monica.
Josh & Xander, directors; Frank Scherma, executive producer; Steve Annis, director of photography.
Post: Optimus, Chicago.
Brian Hrastar, executive producer; Mike Berg, editor; Logan Hall, assistant editor; Craig Leffel, colorist; Jeffery Greco, assistant colorist.
About <a href="www.filmlight.ltd.uk.>FilmLight
<a href="www.filmlight.ltd.uk.>FilmLight develops film scanning, colour grading and colour management systems that are transforming film and video post-production and setting new standards for quality, reliability and performance. The company’s products are in use every day by leading studios, labs and post-production facilities around the globe as essential components in their digital intermediate, commercials and video production pipelines. Fuelled by some of the industry’s brightest minds, <a href="www.filmlight.ltd.uk.>FilmLight is committed to delivering innovative tools that allow creative professionals to work at the forefront of the digital media revolution. Founded in 2001, <a href="www.filmlight.ltd.uk.>FilmLight is headquartered in London, where its research, design and manufacturing operations are centred. Sales and support are conducted through regional service centres located in London, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Auckland and Singapore, and through qualified partners worldwide. For more information, visit www.filmlight.ltd.uk.
