The Brief

Every now and then, Prolex Media produces spec ads (speculative advertisements) as a way to test out new creative ideas and practice new production techniques. Our spec work aims to attract future clients that are interested in our style and execution--especially those specifically featured in the spec ads.

We often select speculative clients with fun brands we would love to work with: those that allow for the freedom to pursue ideas that challenge us to push the limits or our creativity and our technical abilities.

For example, we previously released a spec ad for SkillShare to try out the one-shot cinematic style, and produced another spec commercial for UE Boom 3 to allow us to visually realize the idea of “music as the universal language.”

Our Creative Director, Jordan, originally wrote the concept without a specific brand in mind. After rejecting a beer brand as the potential product, we found that Mountain Dew’s advertisements all had a sense of goofy humor to them that aligned nicely with the silly concept that would also push us out of our technical comfort zone.

The Challenge

What pushed us out of our comfort zone with this video? We wanted to tackle some new video and VFX shots we have never used before, which included learning and executing Blue Screen Chroma Keying to really bring the idea to life.

The Solution

We proactively prepared ourselves for Chroma Keying by running multiple tests prior to our shoot day. We made sure that we went into the shoot confident about how we were going to pull off the effect. We tested in multiple light situations and different keying techniques in post. In the end, it was well worth the extra work.

Once we had the brand locked in we got to storyboarding and planning the actual shoot day for the commercial. This involved finding ourselves a desert location to shoot in. Lucky for us, there is an old quarry around Seddons Corner that people use frequently to go off-roading. It has some pretty tall sand dunes and it worked perfectly for our vision.

The Result

This was one of our most ambitious video projects to date, and we are very proud of the results. By making  sure that we tested the Chroma Key technique thoroughly prior to shoot day, we made our vision come to life effectively with great success.

We made a plan stuck to it, but were flexible enough to improvise creative ideas while on set. Our team worked together very smoothly to get it all done in one day, raising our confidence even higher in our abilities to deliver large video projects in a short timespan.

We also believe that we delivered on a voice and style that perfectly aligns with Mountain Dew’s current online brand personality. We hope that they see it so we can open up the conversation to create something even bigger for them in the future.

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