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JOHNNY ROCKETS Winner of 2004 CAB Award!
(Note: In June of 2004 this spot won a highly coveted CAB Award. Read my DefBlog entry for the full story!)
It was the best of times and the worst of times. After being given the general concept of classic cars, swing dancers and starting in black-and-white, I storyboarded this spot; breaking it down into individual shots. It was a major shoot and the most complex one I’ve ever directed. There was a huge buy attached to this spot and the clients had a reputation for being picky, so the scrutiny and pressure to deliver were intense.
After going back and forth with the client in the script and storyboard stages for several months, we finally shot the interior stuff on a rainy Saturday morning in March. We faked sunlight by shooting HMI lights through the windows. The exact makes of the cars escape me, but the star is a Chevy and the yellow one behind it is a Thunderbird. Both date from the late 50s and were rented for this shoot from area owners. The two dancing employees are national champion swing dancers. Our stars came from a talent agency and we had about 30 extras on hand.
After waiting another month for the weather to clear, we finally shot the exterior stuff early on a weekday. The raw footage I shot of the cars is so vibrant it broke my heart to show them in black-and-white. This led to me keeping about 10 percent of the chroma in those exterior shots, giving it that antique washed-out look.
After this spot was cut together, everyone in the office and some independent advertising agents were all thrilled. We got loud approval from Johnny Rockets Corporate Headquarters out of California. But despite all this, the client still didn’t like it. It sat on the shelf for four months until a new salesperson took over the account and convinced them to run it. Finally, all the frustrations were rewarded when I was fortunate enough to win Best :30 Second Spot at the 2004 Charter Media Gulf Coast Regional Awards. And by virtue of winning that, the spot was automatically submitted to the CAB Awards for national consideration. And, believe it or not, this spot WON the 2004 Grand Prize for Best Single Creative Commercial in Markets with 200,000 to 500,000 subscribers. Please read the full story here!
"Johnny Rockets"
MPEG 7.09 MB (I recommend right-clicking on this link and saving the video
clip to your hard drive first.)
Here are some behind-the-scenes pictures of me shooting this spot: 1 2 3
Email me with questions or comments.