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.
