Product: Miller High Life "Snatch"

The Client: Michael Victor - Director, Group 101 Spots www.group101spots.com

Cinematic Treatment: Michael wanted an overall desaturated cool tonality to the spot. Because of this I used uncorrected - KODAK VISION2 200T Color Negative Film 5217 for an all day exterior shoot, so that the look would naturally take on a cool cast. I used an 81EF filter so that the skin tones and shadows did not go too purple or red, as is the tendency of uncorrected tungsten film.
We achieved the desaturated look through diffused soft lighting augmented by a bleach bypass look in telecine. A bleach bypass look will mute colors while increasing the density of the blacks. Michael also loves images that are super sharp, so thanks to Rufus, Emily, and the rest of my friends at The Camera House, we access to Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses and where able to achieve our desired in-camera look. We shot super 35mm and utilized a narrow shutter to further increase sharpness.

Michael is very particular about the beats that each particular shot will represent in his spots, and has a particular frame rate idea for each shot. Our frame rates varied between 36, 48, and 70 FPS. Michael's work has a heightened sense of reality to it, so he seldom shoots at regular frame rates.

We used a Nikkor 400mm lens on a Fisher 11 dolly for some lateral moves, and for the wider dolly shots designed counter track moves to increase tension and the relationship between the bottle, the characters, and the environment against which all these elements were juxtaposed.

Because the Nikkor 400mm telephotos has a very narrow depth of field, it was a great tool to help us isolate our characters in space. We shot on an overcast/rainy day in Downtown LA, and were fortunate to have out of focus moving car headlights as a backdrop against which to stage our story.

CREW:
Director - Michael Victor
Producer - Heather Victor
Copywriter [Ogilvy NYC] - Keith Cartwright
Colorist - Bob Curreri, The Syndicate
Editor - Michael Victor
DP - Daron Keet
1st AD - Brad Birkeland
Gaffer - Dave Chung
1st AC - Wade Whitley
2nd AC - Lorenzo
Key grip - Mark Evans
Electrician - Crystal Ramin
Actor: Robert Keli - Thug
Actor: Fairly Tull - Woman
Actor: Ted Henwood - Cop
Camera Rental - The Camera House
Camera - Arri 435 - S [Super 35mm]
Lenses - Zeiss Ultra primes, Nikon 400mm
Dolly - Fisher 11
Film stock - Kodak 5217 / 200T