First Impressions
"I had a day to come up with a concept so we could start shooting the next morning. My producer and I grabbed the phone and took it to a few friends around the office. After watching them play for a few minutes we realized how amusing it was to see them interacting with it. Some people would go around the room in circles while others would just stand in place and admire the game’s world. It was like watching kids playing with a new toy. So right there and then I decided that we’d go with the simple concept of 'First Impressions'. I wanted to capture the smiles and expressions on people’s faces as they first tried the game. I also thought we could create some hype for the game if we only showed people playing rather than a montage of actual gameplay footage."
"The next morning we grabbed thirty people from the agency and had them stand in front of a locked camera to try out the game for the very first time. We wouldn’t tell them anything except for the cryptic 'Follow the hat!'. While I sat there behind the camera, I started seeing all these magical moments happening and I could see the edit in my head. After filming the first person, I decided to break the fourth wall and let people turn and talk to camera or step in and out of frame. I also started putting my arm through the frame to hand the phone over to whoever was going to be playing it. There was something great about seeing people having a blast playing a game yet never really ever showing what was on the screen. I think that mystery is what made this film unique."
"That same night I jumped into the edit and I decided to try to cut it like a music video, with every beat and movement cut to the game’s soundtrack. It was one of those rushed edits but it felt right. It had this charm to it that could put a smile in your face as you watched it. We shared it with Motorola on the next day and they loved it. At the end of the week I heard they liked it so much they wanted to shoot it all over again with a much larger budget - outdoor locations, a crew and paid actors. Unfortunately, I happened to be heading out on vacation for a few days so another team took over while I was away."
"A few weeks after my trip I saw the finished edit of the reshoot. The new director/dp on the project took a fresh approach and they did a beautiful job with it, but the video became a very different piece. The chaotic spontaneity and quirkiness from the original was unfortunately lost."
"The client once again asked for a reshoot so we could go back to the essence of the first one. I was brought back into the project for a third round. My producer and I pulled a lot of favors to make it happen and brought in a professional AC to help out on the project. Once again, we only had about 3-4 days to shoot and cut the piece together."
"We took some hints from the spontaneity of the first cut and tried to recreate some of the same scenarios. On the original, there was a moment where I had one guy playing at the agency’s kitchen. Two other guys randomly walked into the shot not knowing we were shooting. They stood behind him for a few minutes as he played and suddenly all three of them were going around in circles trying to keep up with the crazy little hat. It was a fun, real moment and I decided to keep the camera rolling. It was one of those fun, human moments we had to bring back into the final edit."
