The promo campaign for "The Contender" (EPIX), the boxing series created by reality show genius Mark Burnett, allowed Digital Arts Engineer/Sound Designer Dominick Michele the opportunity to experiment with the sound design in a way that markedly upped the power of the montage-driven spot. “I’ve worked with EPIX for years and what I respect about them is they invest a lot of creative energy into their sound design, allowing me to take a blank audio canvas and experiment with layers of sound design and create fresh effects,” Michele says. “A technique I use often is sampling parts of the music track to create transitional effects or stings. I’ll also do some time stretching, pitch shifting and layering to get original sounds that aren’t just plucked from a library.”
SPW Credits
Client: MGM / EPIX Project: The Contender Tease Producer/Editor: Mike Novak Creative Director: Jason Bylan Audio Post/Sound Design: Digital Arts, New York Engineer/Sound Design: Dominick Michele Producer: Zennia Barahona
ScreenWork Categories:Broadcast Promotion
Discipline:Sound Mixing
Go RVing, Explore Commercial Productions and Director Jeremy Pinckert Don’t Want You to Go There in a Hotel!
"Hotel Hassle" directed by Jeremy Pinckert.
Commercial production company Explore and director Jeremy Pinckert went to a familiar well to pull inspiration for their latest production for Go RVing. "Hotel Hassle" was initially conceived as an audio-only campaign, but Go RVing's SVP/CMO Karen Redfern asked Explore to adapt the script into a new, live-action commercial. The adaptation from audio ads to digital commercial spots involved adding re-written lines and a few iconic scenes from Pinckert’s ideas that provided anchor moments for the ads. In particular, 'Hotel Hassle' features a room key that just won’t open the door. The visual he added (a round sensor on the door where the key unlocks) not only modernized the ad into the age of tap, but also gave the spot a technology vs. human undertone, invoking the AI-character Hal from Stanley Kubrick’s '2001 A Space Odyssey.'
Explore and Pinckert also added a visual hook to the ending of the spot that leaned on his own experiences traveling with his family. He found his hands were always full, clutching a few bags, random loose objects, his phone, and of course, his coffee. In the commercial, there is a moment where all of the frustrations are just too much for the protagonist and he almost curses in front of the family. What if the director added an action where the protagonist accidentally spills their coffee and the camera freezes precisely at this moment?
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"Hotel Hassle", part of Go RVing's larger Don't Go There! campaign, is currently being broadcast nationwide via strategic digital channels.
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