I stepped in to lead a team and help them create a anthemic campaign for Bonobos. This had a tight turnaround with barely two weeks to lock down talent, shoot and finish post-production, but we pulled it off.
In addition to the anthem, we also told some individual fit stories, too. This one from fighter Andy Ruiz is my favorite.
I’ve done a dozen of these docu-style spots. Here is some advice to make them great:
1. Write more questions than you’ll think you need. Atthe same time, don’t be so beholden to the questions. Let the subject talk and steer them with prompts when needed.
2. Don’t step on the person’s answers. Invariably, they’ll say some gold while you’re saying “uh-huh, right, interesting.” This is harder to do than it sounds. Treat it like a one-sided conversation.
3. Get the agency to pay for a transcription
service, so you can read while you listen. But always listen back to the reocrding as well. What looks good on
paper might not work if the inflection is off.