Jake & Will: CONTEST WARRIORS

These last two commercials are the final losing entries for Video Contest Warriors. We have won some, we have lost some, but we have always done our best, and as we say farewell to contests, Will and I look to the future with open eyes. We did not reach our goal, but we endured through hard times and multiple losses, and we did the most important thing a creative can, we learned. We learned how to make better commercials, we learned what we were good at and what we need to try harder to achieve, and we learned what it means to keep trying despite rejection. Failure teaches us that a brighter future is just around the corner.

This is not the end for us, look for something amazing in the near future.

Here is Nokia

Nokia: Connecting Us from John Bradbury on Vimeo.

It stars Larry Cedar from "The Crazies" and HBO's "Deadwood".

We shot it for just under $500 over the course of a weekend. Check it out:



-Will

Mofilm is putting on an ad contest for the Tribeca film festival that features 12 top brands and tens of thousands of dollars in prizes. Will and I are going to create four commercials for the contest and hope that one, or all, are chosen. Our Yoplait ad was made for a mofilm contest, and that didn't work out so well, so keep your fingers crossed.

If we are not successful in placing, and winning copious amounts of cash, then I am hanging up my advertising coat and replacing it with my narrative one. I have spent a little over a year making commercials but, although fulfilling at times, nothing can beat my love of narrative film. I have re-evaluated my goals and doing advertisements out of pocket is just not cutting it anymore. If I am out of pocket on projects I want to start learning how to put together a feature, and the best way to do that is by creating short films, not ads.

...and often forgets.

The first one is a location scout.

You want the perfect bridge for the reunion scene, but you require something specific. The bridge has to have a view, it has to have little to no car traffic, and it must overlook a cascading waterfall with angels cut into the cliff face.

The location scout will go out and find anything that is remotely similar to your description, and put pictures in front of you to decide where you want to shoot. Then, once you have decided, they will go out and negotiate legal access to that particular location. I understand when you're producing indie films usually you're the location scout, so start taking pictures of places you visit. Keep a book of suitable locations, so when you need a hello kitty museum, you know exactly where it is.

The second one is a set designer.

The set designer is responsible for collaborating with the director and other members of the production design team to create an environment for the production and then communicating the details of this environment to the production manager and propmaster. They dress the set with everything from posters and bed spreads to paint and clothes in the closets. As a director it's easy to forget what is in the background, especially if you're focusing on the performances, but I must say that having a set designer makes all the difference in making your film project look authentic and beautiful.

The Superbowl is one of the biggest advertising days in the year. Advertising firms pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into their ad campaigns to make sure they are the most talked about product of the superbowl.

Will and I have entered two Superbowl contests, Doritos and Careerbuilder. Neither of which were picked, so guess which ads are going to suck this year? If you want to take a walk down memory lane revisit those beautiful ball kicking, girl crying ads we made for this special occasion.

I did a commercial contest for Ila dusk a couple weeks ago, and part of the prize besides a little bit of money was the chance for an internship with BBH advertising. BBH is an ad agency responsible for some of the best commercials in the last couple years. They have a knack for understanding the temperature of the global advertising climate and producing commercials that entice and excite.

I will find out in the next couple weeks if I got the internship. The available places I can go are London, or New York. Which one would you choose and why?