Wow, this feels good. I just posted all three of my Doritos commercials online (‘The Red’, ‘First Date’, ‘The Breakroom’, and check out behind the scenes pics right here) and now I can call it a wrap. Done. Finito. My first personally funded, professional shoot is now officially in the can. Ahhhh.
But before I can move on to the next project, I need to wrap up my thoughts and so here we are at this blog post. How convenient.
So this shoot was a big deal for me for a few reasons:
1. It was my first professional shoot that wasn’t funded by a client. Meaning me and my creative partner Jesse had to front $2,000 ourselves. Now a lot of you filmmakers are scoffing at that, but for a guy who just graduated into this horrible economy without rich parents, that’s a lot of rent and spaghetti right there.
2. It was my first time really working with dialogue. If you take a look at most of my work, I’m definitely more of a visual filmmaker. Dialogue has always scared me, but I really wanted to learn so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to stretch my wings.
3. It was my first time seriously working with a production team. I’m usually on my own when it comes to my personal projects, but not this time. My creative partner, Jesse Epstein, and producer, Jenny Ahn, were right there with me every step of the way. For a straight month of craziness, these guys were pulling long hours and late nights to make our commercials the best they could be, and no way in hell could I have pulled it off without them. Continue reading