Face it. You gotta work out, and you gotta look good doing it. Reebok’s got you covered- as evidenced by this fun spot I did a while back.
It’s beautifully shot (and storyboarded) and since it’s visually driven, it’s my favorite type of commercial. These aren’t shoot boards, so it doesn’t match the final spot exactly, but they door capture the concept very well. It’s speaks for itself and looks great, so lets check it out! Here’s the boards:
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The challenge with this spot was there wasn’t a full day to spend on it, so I had to kind of keep things loose, but it was also important to get a close approximation of a cinematic feel- and I think it worked out great! Here’s the final spot!
Another great spot I storyboarded for my clients at Slim Pictures. These is an Intel commercial but focused on their integration with the latest offerings in computing wearables- called out in this case as the Peak fitness watch.
In this spot we chase our Heroine through a densely wooded northern California forest- tracking, panning, pushing through the ferns and keeping up best we can as she pushes herself harder and further- checking in with her fitness watch to get the latest info on her heart rate and target BPM- she’s almost there! She rallies and reaches her “Peak” at the same moment the forest clears from view and she plunges into a cool lake 3 stories below… taking us along for the ride!
Here’s the boards:
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And here’s the final spot:
I had to execute these boards quickly, of course (this was among five other spots of theirs that I was boarding that day- hence the roughness), but I feel I did a good job of capturing the feeling of intense determination that ultimately came across so clearly in the final spot. It always helps when the client is additionally able to supply a wealth of location photos so that I can know for sure that I’m drawing the trees, paths, and cliffs with all the accuracy they need to unify the director’s vision among the production team. It’s a great feeling to put my skills to such practical use.
We live in a pretty fascinating time- one needn’t even leave their home to shop for the rarified necessities! The selection available to us online is infinite, and it’s up to operators like Birchbox to curate the best of the best and bring it to our doorsteps. Meanwhile, the “old guard,” if you will, are getting a little desperate to make a sale. Best to simply run from them and slam the door on their backwards salespitches.
I did these boards for my great clients at Ammirati– they were kind of pitch boards, actually, and so there was just enough time to make them look very nice and present to their clients, and looks like they sold the idea! See, some things you can’t sell on the internet.
Since they were pitch boards, there are only a few of them, but kind of fun to see how well they sell the story! Enjoy.
Seems like everyone’s always rushing around, late for something. Hurry up! Finish faster! Boy, I hear a lot of that. Just kidding, nobody’s faster than ol’ Maxi. That’s why I was called to do this spot.
They needed shoot boards ASAY (As Soon As Yesterday) and … well… frankly, we did this project so quickly, I can’t remember much about it! I know there was a pretty good script, thank goodness, and I roughed it out, and they only needed a few changes, and they didn’t need a finishing pass, as that was that. I probably spent 6 hours at most on these, maybe less. It’s a 1:30 second spot, 3 times longer than a usual :30.
They are super rough, but that’s all they needed, and actually, they ‘read’ pretty well! It’s an action spot, so the narrative is told visually- 3 people, all late for work, all haulin’ ass along their improvised parkour-style routes! Their SafeTStep shoes make it all possible… available from Payless. Here’s the boards:
When you see a snowy holiday commercial nowadays, bear in mind that it’s probably produced during the Summer season in Los Angeles, where it never snows. That’s certainly the case with these two spots I storyboarded.
This commercial campaign was produced by Timber, a great company and I love working with these guys, primarily because they really appreciate good storyboards and know where to get them- from me!
The story of each spot is the same, kinda: A crew of a dozen beautiful ladies in winder regalia and Ugg boots (of course) parade in front of the camera, shimmy here and there, playfully coordinating their efforts into a final snowflake structure that is slowly revealed at the end. Very fun.
Here’s the storyboards for the first spot, “Twinkling Lights.”
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And here’s the finished commercial:
You know I did a good job when the boards look like the final spot! And here’s the other spot, “Passing out Presents.”
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And the final commercial:
Two spots- two days- 16 hours- 56 frames. Two 60-second commercials in two days. That’s kind of a lot of work- but there are mitigating factors: It was helpful that one of the directors is a talented artist himself and could do some informing sketches of his own to help shortcut the storyboarding process. The downside was that both directors had to be away for most of the process at a Tech scout (where they and other production crew meet to discuss the shoot on location before it happens), so the sketches were pretty much what I had to go on. There isn’t much ‘story’ to these spots, as you’ll see, and no script either, so I had to sort of play choreographer to bring the appropriate sense of fun to these boards. Luckily for me, I draw women well, and quickly, and the backgrounds of the shots were basically nonexistent, so the sets were minimalist and there were few if any constraints in terms of camera angles and blocking. And finally, these were shooting boards, so while they didn’t have to be super perfect, it was worth doing as well as possible, since it would eventually end up as a sample on my blog, which you’re reading now. So it was a mixed bag, but not too badly tilted into either camp of hard or easy.
In the end, I love drawing cute girls and I love how these spots turned out- just like I drew them!
Just a quick one this week. These boards were done over at BNS (they keep me pretty busy!) as part of a competitive pitch… and they were awarded the job! Always nice to hear. And since the boards were very tight and concise, no further revisions were needed, and the went straight into production. BNS has great designers and they really shined in their design frames on this project.
The commercial is promoting Clorox’s new special bleach that works on articles of clothing that are mostly white but with colorful patterns. It keeps the whites white and the colors vibrant. Cool!
Our heroine enters frame in a very stylized home laundry room. The stark white walls quickly become animated and patternized with bright colored dots, stripes, and shapes. She uses the new Clorox Smart Seek Bleach and we follow the pattern logic to the inevitable conclusion- Clorox Smart Seek Bleach rules!
Generally, patterns are REALLY hard to draw because the massive amounts of time it takes to draw them accurately. Luckily, the BNS designers had all that locked up before I got there and I permitted myself the great luxury of tracing them in order to make sure the boards were ready on time.
