Marching Penguin recently partnered with OKRP on the Metro by T-Mobile “Nada Yada Yada” social media campaign. Together, we produced a series of videos in multiple sizes to be distributed via Instagram and TikTok. Maybe you’ve seen some of them lately?
Typically when you close your eyes and imagine what a commercial shoot entails, you don’t picture shooting five unique spots in a twelve hour day (six when you consider we filmed one of the ads both in English and Spanish). Thankfully, we had an amazing cast and crew who bulldozed through a complex day that involved four different sets spread out across two floors of Interwoven Studios in Culver City, CA.
Jordi Matsumoto deftly led the team through what could have been a chaotic experience. While I wish we had more time to craft some of the images, I think we found a good balance between working at the breakneck speed required to make our day while still capturing something worth sharing with colleagues.
We paired my ARRI Alexa 35 with Marching Penguin’s Zeiss Supreme Prime Radiance lenses. Since we had to keep the shots so wide for the various social media deliverables, we mostly lived on the 21mm. Given our distance from the subject and the wide angle, shooting wide open didn’t limit our depth of field much. As a result, my excellent 1st AC, Samantha Kelly, had an easy day on the focus wheel.
We tested the limits of overexposure on the Alexa 35 with the “Forgotten Customer” commercial. The location offered limited space for me to physically place my lights so we couldn’t blast as many foot-candles onto them as I’d have liked. I think we would’ve held even more detail in the background if it weren’t for the clouds and white building there.
Perhaps it’s a case of Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, aka frequency illusion, because I’m seeing Metro stores everywhere since we shot these commercials! They are constant reminders of this fun experience. Side note: do you remember when long distance calls were still a thing?
CREW
Executive Producer / Director: Jordi Matsumoto
Producer: Johanna Saldaña
Producer: John Lovejoy
Coordinators: Ericka Burwell, Rachel Gaudiosi, & Elle LeBlanc
1st Assistant Director: Adrian Rozas Cristino
2nd Assistant Director: Bryant Familia
Cinematographer: Dustin Pearlman
1st AC: Samantha Kelly
DIT: Jacqui Carriere
Gaffer: Valentin Salembier
Best Boy: Noah Frassetto
Key Grip: Richard Brush
Best Boy: Gordon Chan
Sound Mixer: Alex Altman
Production Designer: Amanda Fletcher
Art Director: Carolina Perdoza
Carpenter: Marko Prelik
Set Dressers: Maximo Huete & Tai Wilson
Wardrobe Stylist: Chaisson Baggett
Make-Up: Sonny Nguyen
Hair Stylist: Cindy Mon
CAST
Abbey Mohaddes
Niyah Coleman
Ava Rose Paul
Juan Madrigal
Daniel Vasquez Jones
Ava Rose Paul
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