Did you happen to catch the Super Bowl last night, with the surprise power outage and all the new commercials? They're always a lot of fun to watch, but one that you didn't see was one that I was hoping you would.
A few months ago a friend from Poland wrote a message to me saying "My brother needs your help with a commercial he is making for the Super Bowl. Are you interested?". I didn't even know what that meant because I am not a producer, director, or actor, and maybe their definition of Super Bowl was something different than mine. I mean, maybe they're advertising for a company that makes nice ceramic cereal bowls or something. After clarifying they were indeed talking about "that American football thing", I figured that since I am American, they wanted some feedback from me on how their idea for a commercial would compare to other Super Bowl commercials I've seen. So, thinking I might be able to help, I said yes.
A lot of people say that the Super Bowl is watched more for the commercials than for the game itself. People who have never paid attention to a single football game in their lives, who don't know a single player, or who don't even know which sport the Super Bowl is for, will still watch it for the commercials. Big companies will spend millions of dollars to premier their new, clever, memorable 30 second sales pitch because they know 100 million people around the world will be watching. At SB parties I've attended in the past, it seemed that during the game people were talking, drinking, eating, going to the bathroom, taking smoke breaks, and generally not paying attention to the game, but when the commercials came on, people excitedly motioned others to "SHHHHHH!" so that they could hear the next great Beer, Deodorant, or Taco Bell commercial. For the past few years, Doritos has taken this commercial craze to another level by getting the fans to create commercials for them, and having a competition where the winning commercial gets shown to the world during the game.
This is where Maciej and his friends come in. They are part-time commercial producers/directors/filmers/enthusiasts and do this sort of thing as a hobby. But it's no handycam-in-their-parent's-basement production. They have all kinds of equipment, lights, cameras, (action), special effects, and even rented studio space. So if they're so experienced with this, why do they need me? Well, because I am American. And that's all.
Maciej told me to bring a while t-shirt and that he'd pick me up in Old Town to take me to where they were filming. It was our first time meeting, but since he is my friend's brother, I figured he wouldn't take me to the salt mines to murder and bury me. He explained the commercial's concept and showed me the draft video on his phone. It looked pretty funny, although I didn't completely understand the whole thing the first time. He said the commercial was almost finished, and I told him what I thought about it. After about 20 minutes of driving, we pulled into a McDonald's parking lot (he was hungry). McDonald's was only a pit stop on our way to who knows where, for who knows how long (although he was polite enough to ask what time I needed to be home). Maciej was a very nice guy, so I didn't mind just chatting with him anyway. As he bit into his Big Mac, I asked him what else they had to do to finish the commercial. As it turns out, there was still one, short un-filmed scene, and he wanted me IN it. Not just to consult about it (not that my consultation would add any value anyway). Wait, what? Me? IN the commercial? I thought you wanted my help MAKING the commercial. He had never even met me, how did he know he wanted me to be IN it (besides the fact that I'm obviously movie-star material)? Because I'm American. So basically I'm qualified to star in a commercial because I'm American. Now I think I'll move to Hollywood and become a celebrity.
The filming for my 0.84 seconds on-screen time took over an hour, to prepare the set, for costumes, for lighting, and for honing my brilliant acting skills to make just the right emotional and physical connection with the audience (you'll see how enthralling I am). There were 4 others there to help with the scene...all of them helping me, none of whom I knew before that day. Since they had already finished the rest of the commercial, I was the center of attention. It was actually pretty cool to feel like a movie star, with the director, producer, and film crew helping me get into my role, people fetching me hot tea, putting my costume on, giving me a motivation, interacting with me during the shoot, and generally encouraging me to make the most confused faces I possibly could. In the end, I can't say this was the best acting I've ever seen, but I'm sure you'll agree it's at the Denzel Washington/Jack Nicholson level. Or at least the Keanu Reeves/Paul Walker level. Unfortunately, the commercial didn't win any prizes (nor did I), so you won't see it on TV, but it was fun nonetheless.
Anyway, take a look at the commercial and let me know what you think.
After watching a bunch of the Doritos contestants, I thought this was the funniest one. Turns out it was shown on TV during the game, and actually, it was one of my favorites out of all of them!
Editor's note: In the video, my name is Smith. They also had a "Kowalski" name tag option, but they voted against it. I would have loved to be Captain Kowalski.
A few months ago a friend from Poland wrote a message to me saying "My brother needs your help with a commercial he is making for the Super Bowl. Are you interested?". I didn't even know what that meant because I am not a producer, director, or actor, and maybe their definition of Super Bowl was something different than mine. I mean, maybe they're advertising for a company that makes nice ceramic cereal bowls or something. After clarifying they were indeed talking about "that American football thing", I figured that since I am American, they wanted some feedback from me on how their idea for a commercial would compare to other Super Bowl commercials I've seen. So, thinking I might be able to help, I said yes.
A lot of people say that the Super Bowl is watched more for the commercials than for the game itself. People who have never paid attention to a single football game in their lives, who don't know a single player, or who don't even know which sport the Super Bowl is for, will still watch it for the commercials. Big companies will spend millions of dollars to premier their new, clever, memorable 30 second sales pitch because they know 100 million people around the world will be watching. At SB parties I've attended in the past, it seemed that during the game people were talking, drinking, eating, going to the bathroom, taking smoke breaks, and generally not paying attention to the game, but when the commercials came on, people excitedly motioned others to "SHHHHHH!" so that they could hear the next great Beer, Deodorant, or Taco Bell commercial. For the past few years, Doritos has taken this commercial craze to another level by getting the fans to create commercials for them, and having a competition where the winning commercial gets shown to the world during the game.
This is where Maciej and his friends come in. They are part-time commercial producers/directors/filmers/enthusiasts and do this sort of thing as a hobby. But it's no handycam-in-their-parent's-basement production. They have all kinds of equipment, lights, cameras, (action), special effects, and even rented studio space. So if they're so experienced with this, why do they need me? Well, because I am American. And that's all.
Maciej told me to bring a while t-shirt and that he'd pick me up in Old Town to take me to where they were filming. It was our first time meeting, but since he is my friend's brother, I figured he wouldn't take me to the salt mines to murder and bury me. He explained the commercial's concept and showed me the draft video on his phone. It looked pretty funny, although I didn't completely understand the whole thing the first time. He said the commercial was almost finished, and I told him what I thought about it. After about 20 minutes of driving, we pulled into a McDonald's parking lot (he was hungry). McDonald's was only a pit stop on our way to who knows where, for who knows how long (although he was polite enough to ask what time I needed to be home). Maciej was a very nice guy, so I didn't mind just chatting with him anyway. As he bit into his Big Mac, I asked him what else they had to do to finish the commercial. As it turns out, there was still one, short un-filmed scene, and he wanted me IN it. Not just to consult about it (not that my consultation would add any value anyway). Wait, what? Me? IN the commercial? I thought you wanted my help MAKING the commercial. He had never even met me, how did he know he wanted me to be IN it (besides the fact that I'm obviously movie-star material)? Because I'm American. So basically I'm qualified to star in a commercial because I'm American. Now I think I'll move to Hollywood and become a celebrity.
The filming for my 0.84 seconds on-screen time took over an hour, to prepare the set, for costumes, for lighting, and for honing my brilliant acting skills to make just the right emotional and physical connection with the audience (you'll see how enthralling I am). There were 4 others there to help with the scene...all of them helping me, none of whom I knew before that day. Since they had already finished the rest of the commercial, I was the center of attention. It was actually pretty cool to feel like a movie star, with the director, producer, and film crew helping me get into my role, people fetching me hot tea, putting my costume on, giving me a motivation, interacting with me during the shoot, and generally encouraging me to make the most confused faces I possibly could. In the end, I can't say this was the best acting I've ever seen, but I'm sure you'll agree it's at the Denzel Washington/Jack Nicholson level. Or at least the Keanu Reeves/Paul Walker level. Unfortunately, the commercial didn't win any prizes (nor did I), so you won't see it on TV, but it was fun nonetheless.
On the set (I wasn't really in a submarine)
Anyway, take a look at the commercial and let me know what you think.
After watching a bunch of the Doritos contestants, I thought this was the funniest one. Turns out it was shown on TV during the game, and actually, it was one of my favorites out of all of them!
Editor's note: In the video, my name is Smith. They also had a "Kowalski" name tag option, but they voted against it. I would have loved to be Captain Kowalski.
Hey it's great!!:)
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