In our latest commercial for James Patterson, we scoured from coast to coast for real readers who didn’t already know his work!
Ok, so maybe our range of real readers didn’t quite span from coast to coast. But, it’s hard to find people who haven’t read James Patterson! See, we weren’t just searching for fans, Jim wanted us to find potential critics, too. This Real Readers campaign, shot in a day here in Atlanta, was Jim’s chance to get honest feedback.
But, reaching that day required massive preparation! Not only did we have to coax 60+ people to read a book(!) we had to get them in one place to talk about it afterwards. We housed the waiting readers in our own LensHead Studios A and B, and shot in the conference room at digital marketing firm, Brain Bytes Creative. We know both very well! See, Brain Bytes is partly owned by ECG Creative Director, and Director for this shoot, Jason Sirotin.
In the conference room, DP Trey Gregory, with ACs Emily Payton and Seb Chamaca, commanded a three-camera setup. Two Canon C200s on dana dollies, each equipped with Angenieux glass, kept tabs on all the groups. We used our BlackMagic Pocket Cinema, seated on a Kessler Second Shooter Pro motorized slider, for Jim himself.
In post-production, Seb moved from the camera department to the editor’s chair for The Coast-to-Coast Murders. He had a particular challenge ahead because at the time of shooting, the book still had a working title. That’s right: all these folks called the book something else during the shoot! Seb did an amazing job of cutting around it, creating an edit with a great flow that still captures the group’s enthusiasm. All part of a day’s work!