Feature film writer and director Alex Ranarivelo has diversified into the ad arena, writing, directing and producing his first commercial for family business SnoreStop®.
Entitled “Conquer your Monster,” the spot is the first work he has done for SnoreStop®, the “snoring specialists” company Ranarivelo’s parents started in 1995 and is still owned and operated by the family today.
The execution depicts a young girl in medieval knight PJs bravely running into her parents’ room to slay a hideous (CGI) monster as her “mother” cowers in terror. The monster actually turns out to be her father’s snoring. The spot ends with the girl reminding dad he “forgot” his SnoreStop.
Made on a shoestring budget under $5,000, an entire crew of seven and fully COVID-19 compliant, the goal was to make as big a spot as possible under the circumstances and budget constraints.
“It really was a family affair,” said Ranarivelo, who himself plays the dad in the spot, along with his niece as the girl, sister-in-law as the mother and lifelong friend Reuben Steinberg as director of photography. “By working together with what we had we were able to make a ‘Big Game’ size spot on a YouTube budget.” A big part of that was the legitimately scary and imposing monster brought to life by visual effects artist Connor Thomas, who, like Steinberg, had previously worked on Ranarivelo’s features.
Ranarivelo also has a Lionsgate film premiering in select theaters and VOD on Friday (1/22), an MMA drama titled Born a Champion starring Dennis Quaid and Sean Patrick Flannery.
