Take four low budget spots to primetime network television with the virtual guarantee that viewers won’t fast forward past them. That was the scenario enjoyed by Santa Monica-based commercialmaking house Plum Productions on the next to grand finale show of ABC-TV primetime reality series American Inventor. Plum produced the ads, each promoting a contestant’s invention. Three of the commercials were based on concepts from DDB Los Angeles; for the remaining spot, the inventor opted to go with his own idea.
All four commercials were integral to and aired as part of the program, with the contestants using them as springboards to help get audience votes–the winner of the election taking home $1 million and the opportunity for mass production of his invention.
Young, up-and-coming directors Eric Heimbold and Jason Moore each helmed two commercials via Plum. But beyond the spots themselves, Plum gained major exposure on the show with cameras going behind the scenes to inventor meetings with the directors right through to pre-pro, casting, and the shoots.
Plum got the gig based on its track record with production company Fremantle Media. The two shops have collaborated regularly in the past with Plum producing the music videos for aspiring singers on Fremantle’s mega hit series American Idol for each of the past four years. Based on that experience, Freemantle gravitated to Plum for American Inventor, a series exec produced by Simon Cowell of Idol fame–or is that infamy?
Moore directed the spots promoting Word Ace, an electronic word game invented by contestant Ed Hall, and D-Tract, a bicycle handle mount seat device from inventor Francisco Patino. In the latter spot, a young man emerges from another, but not to worry–they can both ride on the same bike as D-Tract offers safe handlebar seat accommodations for the second passenger. In the Word Ace ad, youngsters pose word questions to themselves and their friends (“a four-letter word ending with ‘e’ to convey how a gal feels about a certain special guy) as they go about their everyday lives.
Meanwhile Heimbold directed the commercials promoting The Catch, invented by Erik Thompson, and the Anecia survival capsule for inventor Janusz Liberkowski. The former shows a football player missing ball after ball thrown to him. He comes to the sideline, detaches a hand and replaces it with a hand that subsequently snares everything thrown at it. The parting message is if it were this easy to become a star receiver, you wouldn’t need The Catch, a device which requires the person wearing it to catch the ball with his hands and away from his body.
The Anecia commercial dramatically shows a baby safe and sound in its Anecia-enclosed car seat after an automobile accident. This was the alluded to spot in which the inventor came up with his own concept, opting not to go with the DDB creative. As it turns out, all four invention spots ran again on the American Inventor finale, in which the Anecia capsule won the competition. American Inventor has already been renewed for a second season on ABC.
Plum produced the spot fare at cost, valuing the diversification and exposure it provided for the company, as well as the opportunities afforded to directors Heimbold and Moore. Indeed Heimbold’s work on the Idol videos has translated into him about to embark at press time on a Ford spot featuring this year’s Idol winner Taylor Hicks for JWT Detroit.
“That job is a direct result of the branded work Heimbold did on American Idol,” related Plum president Chuck Sloan, who noted that the relationship with Fremantle has helped Plum gain a foothold in the branded entertainment arena. Plum’s endeavors in concert with Freemantle, added Sloan, have also attracted inquiries from new directorial talent, which is the lifeblood of a production company.
Helene Cote served as creative director for DDB. Eric Trageser was the DP on the Word Ace and D-Tract commercials. Joe Labisi shot the commercials for The Catch and Anecia.
Shelby Sexton-Gonosey and Beth Pearson executive produced the spots for Plum, with Brett Marx serving as producer and Sandy Haddad as associate producer.
An ensemble of editors from Rival Editorial, Santa Monica, cut the work. Karen Knowles Zuniga edited the Word Ace and The Catch spots. Steve MacCorkle cut the D-Tract ad, and Walter May was the editor on the Anecia commercial. Online editor was Michael Short. Bill Fortney executive produced for Rival. Visual effects house was ingenuityengine, Hollywood, with David Lebensfeld serving as exec producer. Music composers were Scott and Roger Wojahn of Wojahn Bros. Music, Santa Monica.
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More