Cheer - “Stay Colorful”.
In early 2016, one of the producers I work with regularly, Matt Harton with Red Productions, had been talking to me about how he wanted to make a spec commercial and to let him know if I had any ideas. I told him about a photoshoot I wanted to do with Holi powder that we could make into a commercial for Cheer, my favorite laundry detergent. I thought it would be a perfect fit, because the packaging was very modern and colorful, and I had never seen any sort of ad for Cheer, despite it being a pretty popular brand at the time. So he asked me to put together a pitch for it so he could get it approved. Below is the simple 5 page pitch I created for the spec commercial.
He got the go-ahead to pay for the spec commercial, so he bought a ton of Holi powder, and I started gathering actors / models. We shot in the back of a mostly empty warehouse owned by Deryk Poyner of The Greenhouse 817. Ironically the producer and key grip were late to the shoot because their boss wanted everyone in the company to watch a documentary about the importance of doing creative projects just for the fun of it.
We set up a tarp to catch the loose powder, set up an Arri M18 through diffustion to create a big, bright, soft light, with flags to keep the background dark, and three slow motion cameras all shooting different speeds; a Red Epic Dragon shooting 120 frames per second, a Red Scarlet shooting 60 frames per second, and a Sony FS700 shooting 480 frames per second. The Red Productions interns mostly helped out with throwing powder from the edge of frame as the actors all started out in clean white clothes for each of their 15 second commercials.
Once everyone was covered in Holi powder, we started shooting the 60 second commercial, and all the actors / models got to start throwing the powder at each other. It was an entirely messy and fun day. Everyone looked like dirty rainbows.
When it came time to edit, it turned out Wesley Jensen, one of the actors in the commercial and a musician I had worked with before, was currently writing a song called “Colors”. Once I heard it, I knew it was 100% exactly what I was imagining for the commercial. He was nice enough to let me use the song for the commercials, and even help make versions to better fit the 15 & 60 spots.
The producer knew a very talented voice over actor, Jesse Springer, who’s done Walmart and Kia commercials. He was kind to agree to help us out, and was great at taking direction through email.
Unfortunately, not long after the commercials were completed P&G, which owns Cheer & Tide, decided to change Cheer from their premium brand to their budget brand, vastly reducing how widely available they are, and not likely to need cool commercials. Either way, it was a great experience and a fun way to spend the day.
Director: Wesley Kirk
Producer: Matt Harton, Red Productions
Camera: Wesley Kirk, Erin Summerlin, Matt Munson
Music: “Colors” by Wesley Jensen
Voice-Over: Jesse Springer
Talent: Christine Williams, Penny Halcyon, Amelia Menefee, Laura Contreras, Wesley Jensen, Natalie Szczechowski, Brian Fozkos, Joseffa Trip, Sterling Gafford, and Dalton Ibarra.
