Thursday, March 29, 2012

Nike The Chance Director Jonathan Bregel Variable Producer Brendan Cochrane DP Bruce Francis Cole





When I got the call from Director Jonathan Bregel to produce a Nike commercial I was grinning ear to ear. Jon had officially formed his company Variable with co-creative minds Khalid Mohtaseb and Tyler Ginter who at the time were busy with a Pennzoil commercial. These guys do outstanding work and are very demanding in terms of their standards as am I. So it was both an honor and refreshing to be given the reigns to handle what at the time was a heavy sports themed commercial. The Chance is basically a competition that encourages kids from all over the world to film their soccer playing friends and upload that footage in hope of getting signed by one of the best professional teams in the world. On top of this was the fact that this spot would be narrated by Spike Lee - someone whom I tremendously respect and admire - especially for films like the 25th Hour and Inside Man. I worked on Clockers years ago and seeing Spike and the body of work he has amassed was incredible. I really want to share so much here but hopefully we can collaborate one day. The commercial was shot over several days one day at Spike's 40 Acres location and another at Thomas Jefferson Park - thanks to Parks Department and all the kids who participated. Bruce Cole was the Director of Photography and I love working with Bruce. We had a Phantom. Camera cart, Epic X, Scarlet X and a steadicam. The commercial was almost in the final stages of post - when the powers that be decided they wanted a different commercial. So we shot another one see below. I hope that one day this one can see the light of day as it was energetic and really captured kids passion for the sport of soccer.

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