Panasonic is currently showcasing an epic spot that features scores of hard-working professionals putting its Toughpad to use in countless situations and locations. Entitled "Generation Tough," the :100 and shorter versions of the spot were produced by Wondersmith and directed by the team of Mortimer Jones via advertising agency Sigma Group. The ads will continue to run in targeted online media over the weeks ahead.
For Sigma Group, the project was led by creative directors Tim Stapleton and Nikolay Nikolov, senior art director Christie McPartlan, copywriter Dmitri Vallis, agency producer Alyson Watson and senior account director Diane deCastro. The team's original script presented 20 individuals in different locations and settings demonstrating how they take-on difficult challenges using the Toughpad.
"A main challenge was finding all the different locations so that the piece would have a feel of traveling around the globe while exposing the Toughpad to heat, cold, vibration, dust, water and more," began Chris Walldorf and Adam Stone, who work together as Mortimer Jones. While directing as a team, Stone was the project's director of photography while Walldorf was its editor.
Further addressing the logistical challenge, the pair also made it clear that the budget required them to be highly resourceful. With that in mind, a key component of the solution came from choosing Hawaii, and specifically Oahu and the Big Island, as the production location. "The best thing about Hawaiian locations is that not all of them look like Hawaii," the directors continued. "Based on our careful location management and visual storytelling, the production for this project appears to span the globe."
"Locations manager Jim Triplett's years of experience scouting the Hawaiian Islands for features and episodic TV proved invaluable to both find locations and schedule the shoot to avoid long moves and traffic delays," added Joe Murray, Wondersmith's executive producer. "A typical day involved three to five locations, with our talent either flown in and/or shuttled to and from the airport and a rolling schedule of wardrobe fittings on location."
Murray also explained the process of casting the spot both from Hawaii and Los Angeles. "In Hawaii, Rachel Sutton was our casting director, while Dowd Roman helped with casting eight roles in LA," he said. "We found that the combination of local and LA talent provided the right mix for both the diversity and the budget of the project."
To capture their footage, the team used the ARRI Alexa with Zeiss master prime lenses to shoot raw footage in 4K resolution, and that was supplemented with Sony FS7 B-camera and Panasonic GH4 drone footage. Convergent Design's Odyssey 7Q was used to record raw high-speed footage from the Sony FS7. The complete post-production toolset consisted of Adobe Premiere for editing, and Adobe After Effects for VFX clean-up, compositing, final color and finishing.
"Stylistically, we wanted the footage to be varied to add to its epic scope," said Stone. "We shot to capture things like handheld magic moments that we could juxtapose with smooth dollies and giant sweeping drone shots to make it feel like it all was filmed by crews all over the world."
The story features the various talents speaking directly into the camera, often echoing each other's comments and completing each other's sentences. Along with the stylized cinematic approaches, the spot's authenticity is also heightened by the directors' painstaking focus on sound design to ensure that the sound of each environment registers, and that the music ties everything together. Chris Walldorf of Mortimer Jones handled sound design and also composed and produced the project's custom score.
Additional credits for Wondersmith include post creative director Thom Blackburn. Complete project credits are available upon request. To learn more about the Panasonic Toughpad, please visit http://us.panasonic.com/toughpad.
About Wondersmith
Wondersmith is the Charlotte, North Carolina-based creative production company. Home to proven specialists creating breakthrough branded content for screens of all sizes, Wondersmith serves brands and their agencies that use smart storytelling, bold content and flawless execution to set themselves apart. From creative contributions to location productions anywhere in the world – and top-tier animation, visual effects, editing and finishing – tap the power of Wondersmith by calling 1.704.332.4040, or visiting http://wondersmith.tv.
