As the city of Los Angeles continues to ease restrictions in the wake of the pandemic, downtown L.A.-based Sanctuary Fitness will be re-opening its doors to resume group classes offering HIIT, boxing and yoga with new safety guidelines in place. To mark the occasion, Sanctuary Fitness collaborated with director Phillip Montgomery on a commercial, “We’re Back,” that reflects the brand’s unique fitness philosophy. “We’re Back” depicts a small, dedicated and inspired group doing a HIIT and Boxing workout while following health and safety protocols such as social distancing, cleaning and wearing protective masks.
Montgomery independently helmed, wrote and produced “We’re Back,” shooting with cinematographer Laura Merians Gonçalves on a small RED camera package with Zeiss prime lenses, available lights and a few additional practical lights. As a two-person crew, Montgomery and Gonçalves maintained social distancing with talent and used longer lenses for tighter details. Masks were plentiful, and equipment and surfaces were constantly cleaned in the downtown gym. Montgomery worked remotely with Josh Bodnar at Whitehouse Post who edited, and colorist Tyler Roth at Company 3.
“This Sanctuary Fitness commercial is a sample of what we can do safely, with the bare minimum, if you have just a few amazing collaborators who are down for the cause,” Montgomery said. “We wore a lot of hats over the course of our one-day shoot and it was DIY filmmaking in its purest form. I was thrilled with the opportunity to create content supporting a local business I love.”
Montgomery is a filmmaker known for his work on large-scale commercial productions for Jack Daniels, Uber, Guinness, IBM and many others, along with equally impactful (and smaller scale) DIY productions. Most recently, he shot “The Things We Miss” on his Sony DSLR which features his wife, actress Alisa Allapach. The one-minute film, his first in the COVID-19 era, is a time capsule that movingly reflects what many were feeling early on in quarantine. Montgomery is an alum of the 2013 SHOOT New Directors Showcase.
CreditsClient Sanctuary Fitness Production/Creative Phillip Montgomery, director/writer/producer; Laura Merians Goncalves, DP. Editorial Whitehouse Post Josh Bodnar, editor. Color Company 3 Tyler Roth, colorist. Music Song: “Put The Work In” by artist LG. The Music Bed, licensing company.
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brand’s story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled “A New York Minute,” the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brand’s own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuri’s jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
“When I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a ‘campaign’ could be,” said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. “Gia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuri’s values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I can’t wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.”
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