Commercial concepts for the Doritos Guru commercial contest, held between February-March 2009.
To develop a 30-second ad that
1) reflects the Doritos brand,
2) caters to their audience, and
3) highlights the product.
Humor sells snacks, as past Doritos campaigns have shown us, so we wanted to have interesting characters in strange, yet humorous, situations.
Director — As the director of two of our three ads ("Man Date" and "Hostage"), I was in charge of developing the concepts and storyboards, shooting, and editing.
1) Try the product
2) Review the brand and its current approach in advertisements
3) Brainstorm ideas
4) Storyboard
5) Shoot & edit
Two of our concepts ("Man Date" and "Atomic Spice") were well received, but unfortunately did not make it to the finals. The third ("Hostage"), a spoof of the movie Reservoir Dogs, was made purely for fun.
Brainstorming — After trying the chips and reviewing past Doritos campaigns, the team (Brad Slavin, Eddy Walters, Kirsten Johnson, and myself) launched right into brainstorm mode. Hours later, we listed our top ideas (pictured above). "1) Professor Graph" and "2) Dino Sponge" would eventually be combined to form the "Atomic Spice" idea, while "5) Schmeh" evolved into "Man Date". (Photo: Brad Slavin)
The Evolution of "Man Date" — After the brainstorm, Brad and I decided to do some test shoots to get a sense of timing and framing. With "Schmeh," the original idea was to have two guys facing each other while eating chips, creating an awkward, but funny, moment. It wasn't funny enough, though, so we kept adding new elements, such as standing extremely close and having me hand-feed him the chips. This later evolved into a conversation about awkward moments between guys, thus leading to the "Man Date".
Storyboarding — After the idea was set, I planned out my shots with a storyboard. Before filming, it's always a good idea to storyboard all the important shots. You can draw them, or use stand-ins, like these awesome Ninja Turtle toys.
Shooting — As you can see, I followed the storyboards very closely. This resulted in quick overall shooting time, allowing more time for editing and polishing.
Behind-the-scenes — In the photo above (by Brad Slavin), you can see the set, our two actors John (left) and Eddy (right), myself, and Kirsten with the monitor, acting as the assistant DP (director of photography). The image below is the resultant shot.
