Survey, Part 1. The Pandemic
1) LEXUS L-Certified “Fall in Love”
The challenge: shoot a car commercial depicting several people in the same vehicle (one of whom needs to be a professional singer) during the Shelter in Place/socially-distanced phase of the pandemic.
Agency: Team One
Production Company: Stink Films (Fran McGivern, EP)
Directors: TRAKTOR
DP: Rachel Morrison
Location: Chandler Valley Center Studios, Panorama City (LA)
– The size of the studio allowed us to employ the pod system (to ensure social distancing) with our cast, agency creatives, and 30+ crew members. We were also able to access the location early for sanitizing purposes and to prelight.
– We also avoided the very real danger of having a shooting permit pulled at the last minute if we were shooting in a public space.
Editorial: Whitehouse (Brandon Porter, editor)
VFX: TiltShift (Felix Urquiza, Creative Director/VFX lead)
– “Lexus Dealership” was created ground-up in CG
– TRAKTOR, Brandon Porter (Whitehouse) and TiltShift created a meticulous pre-vis for production planning and client pre-approval
2) This creative idea was approved before the pandemic, so we needed to re-calibrate in order to produce it in the COVID world. That said: the production did not hinge as much on unique uses of VFX as much as an increase in VFX work, for example to portray two actors being closer to each other than we allowed them to be, given the pandemic.
3) During the pandemic, Team One has taken the restrictions of the current situation into consideration during all creative development. We consider any and all appropriate production approaches and take a pragmatic approach to which makes the most sense from creative, cost, timing, and public health perspectives.
4) Not much changed (during production and post) because of the pandemic. Our people fulfilled their same roles. At times from a distance and at times in separate shifts to avoid having too many people in the studio at the same time.
5) Allow more time for everything than you anticipate needing (you’ll need it). Develop communication technology and protocols for all the various communication channels that need to be functioning during the shoot. Follow all the very latest health and safety protocols and guidelines.
Survey, Part 2. Emerging filmmaking talent.
1) Immerse yourself in film. Read, watch, listen. Write your own material. Learn to create your own content and create a lot of it.
Join film industry organizations. Look for organizations specific to the advertising business. Read the AICP website frequently to stay abreast of industry happenings. (aicp.com).
Go after any opportunities you can find to be involved in production. Take any position – you’ll learn something from every experience.
2) Same as advice for new directors, really. The more you know about every aspect of production, every role and every task, the better producer you become. And constantly work on your communications skills – not only expressing yourself, but listening.
Learning is an ongoing process even for the most seasoned producer. Would you share a recent lesson learned on the job; it can relate to people, workflow/technology, etc.
I think the lesson I keep being reminded of (and much more now than ever) is the importance of good communication. And within that perhaps the most important and often overlooked part: the art and skill of listening, processing information and asking further questions in order to clearly understand what’s being said – and intended.
4) Team One and The Publicis Groupe are always looking for new talent as well as improving our internal programs for giving the talent we already have more opportunities to learn and grow.
Additionally we’re involved in a number of diversity programs, including:
- We tasked students at VCU Brandcenter, the next generation of diverse advertising talent, to come up with an achievable, impactful idea about how to cultivate future generations of advertising talent. The goal: to present this idea to, and activate it with, the Publicis Network.
- Team One and Saatchi LA are agency partners with the CDDP (cddprogram.com). The CDDP’s mission is to foster awareness and increase directing opportunities for women and other historically underrepresented groups of people through a targeted program of outreach, mentorship and exposure.
5) I’m proud of every aspect of this recent spot for Expedia that we worked on at Team One: the strategic insight, the creative idea, and the execution.
