Chrissy Wamsher

Director: Jordan Vogt - Roberts

Production Company: RSA

Edit House: Cut + Run

Color: Co3

Mix: Lime - Santa Monica

VFX / Finishing: ALT VFX

Celebrity Talent: Rosario Dawson, Garry Kasparov, Nathan Apodaca and Zaila Avant-garde

Agency: Opinionated

Production Company: Radical Media

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Editor: Ali Mau @ Arcade NY

Athlete Talent: Candace Parker, Patrick Mahomes, Trinity Rodman, Donovan Mitchell & Nebraska Volleyball Team

Deliverables:

- 1x30 & 1x15 TV Spots with 1x06 OLV

- 16 social first content videos

- Onset photography and licensing of 50 images

- BTS Still and Video content capture

A complex and very demanding client that needed any and all kinds of content at any price point.

To the everyday social post utilizing UGC, to creating unique content every month in our in-house photo studio, to medium sized shoots in the $200k range, all the way up to the $1MM limitless broadcast budgets, this account kept me on my toes and constantly presented its unique challenges.

Timelines were anything but comfortable. Budgets were “below the line social budgets” that needed to look like “above the line broadcast budgets.” Always problem solving, always thinking outside the box, ALWAYS coming up with scrappy ways to make it happen without jeopardizing the quality.

We were tasked with always trying to find a way to capture all content on a phone when we could.

Truly one of the most challenging clients of my career.

Agency: Opinionated

Client: Dick’s Sporting Goods - Calia

Production Company: Chelsea Pictures

Director: Adi Halfin

Choreographer: Sergio Reis

Editor: DFran - White House London

Production Company: Somesuch

Director: Alfred Marroquin

Editor: Exile - Stepania Dulowski

Color: Ethos - Kaitlyn Battistelli

Finishing: Exile

Sound Design: Lime - Rohan Young

VO Record & Mix: Lime - Matt Miller

Director: Stuart McIntyre

Production Company: Somesuch

Edit: Biff Butler - Work Editorial

Color: Co3 NYC

Mix: Lime - Santa Monica

VFX / Animation / Finishing: Framestore

Our agency had just won the Hotels.com business and was tasked with finding a way to bring the brand a bit of life after living in the animation world for several years.

1 Captain Obvious, 5 locations throughout Mexico City and Acapulco, over 100 extras, several gallons of sunblock, 2 months of post work in NYC and we ended up with the most successful campaign launch Hotels.com has ever had.  

I continued to work on various Hotels.com projects throughout the next year, creating content for TV, all social media platforms and non-traditional outlets.

Production Company: StepT Productions

Director: Leigh Powis

Editorial & Finishing: StepT Post Production

VO record & mix: Lime Studios

Google Nest…formerly known as Google Hardware consisted of all of Google’s hardware products which included the Pixel phone, Assistant devices, speakers, and short-lived tablet before it added Nest to its roster.

They focused a lot on educational focused videos to find a cool way to teach people how to use their products so we shot a lot of docu-style, real people, and POV content.

These spots made up a campaign called “Make Boring Brilliant” which took real Tweets talking about boredom and turning those boring situations into amazing situations.  

Delayed Flight: We told unsuspecting kids they had won a free trip to see hip-hop artist B.O.B in concert in Arizona. We rented out a section of the Burbank airport, created real check-ins for them at the Southwest Airlines counter and brought in a Southwest Airlines plane that they were to board.  We used hidden cameras in the seat backs, overhead compartments and placed rogue cameramen in seats throughout the plane. Pink Floyd’s lighting designer also camouflaged an extensive lighting system throughout the plane to go off at the moment of surprise.

After an hour of letting them sit with no air, no water, and continuous "flight delay" announcements we decided it was time. All lights went out and B.O.B. appeared with his DJ spinning his latest hit “So Good”…this shoot day was so good.  Pun intended.

Waiting Room & Museum: There were thousands of Tweets talking about how boring waiting rooms and museums are so we wanted to change that. We brought in director Billy Rainy who was a co-creator with Asthon Kutcher on the series “Punked” to help us out.

We sourced our unsuspecting participants thru Craigslist ads asking them to participate in live customer surveys. In order to capture every bored reaction, our set designers created several fake walls and displays to hide cameras and sound equipment around each location, making sure everything looked natural and not out of place.   Once we felt we had tortured the participants in enough boredom to last a lifetime, we unleashed the surprise and made boring, brilliant. 

#CoolestShootEver

Meiomi:

Production Company: Voyager

Director: Brandon Kapelow

Editor: Stephania Dulowski @ Exile

Color: Ethos - Kaitlyn Battistelli

Finish: Exile

Music & Mix: Beacon Street Studios

Ruffino Lumina:

Production Company: Pretty Bird

Director: Ashley Armitage

Editor: Lizzy Graham - White House Chicago

Color: Ethos - Kaitlyn Battistelli

Finish: Carbon

I spent almost 2 years of my career with the Domino's Pizza team and helped produced a wide range of projects including live action spots, animated web videos, Instagram videos, website content and anything and everything in between.  

Domino's is a client that prides themselves on being a very transparent brand which was incredibly brave but for a producer that meant no actors, no dressed locations, and no food stylists. With that came a lot of production challenges with casting and working with real people, finding the right director that could bring a performance out of someone that isn’t an actor, and also making food look edible without the magic tricks of a food stylist.  Not to mention being very limited in how we could make the spot entertaining given these parameters.  We were spoiled a few times with sexy locations and real actors but I really grew as a producer in the challenges we faced in producing the “real situation” projects.

This project was one of the toughest of my career but also one of the coolest and most rewarding.  4 athletes, 4 countries, 3 weeks of traveling and shooting, and 1 very small $350k budget to cover pre-prod thru post.  There were too many hurdles to count, countless late nights and weekends, but so many beautiful sights and experiences.

It was unlike anything i had shot before and more into the documentary world of advertising.  We showcased 4 of Wilson’s up-and-coming junior athletes that were poised to be the next big thing.  We met with them, their families, their coaches, their friends and documented their daily routines that made them the extraordinary athlete they are, at these very young ages.

They all had very different backgrounds, styles of play and daily routines but they all had one thing in common…they lived for the game of tennis.  It was ingrained in every part of them and the determination and motivation they had to be the best was inspiring.

Ibotta - Farm League w/Director Tim Wheeler

Think Thin - Epoch w/ Director Michael Downing

Nuclear Energy Institute - Fueled Films

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (Food Shoot) - Director Jerry Simpson

Jos. A. Bank is pure lifestyle and beauty shooting.  Its all about handsome male models strutting their stuff while making the clothing look great.  

These shoots take place over 3-5 days which includes a “lay down” day to only shoot the clothing in order to get those close-up and detail shots.  

Typically we create 1-2 general brand spots that focus on their in-house clothing lines and then produce 30+ promo spots highlighting various sales each week throughout the season.

Like Jos. A. Bank, Men's Wearhouse is pure lifestyle and beauty shooting. They also shoot over 3-5 days to capture the various brands and styles of clothing they carry.. They too create 1-2 brand spots highlighting specific brands the store carries like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Vera Wang.

They are however run by different Creative Directors so the type of models and surroundings they choose are unique to the brand and audience. Each brand has its own particulars and guidelines to adhere to so its not all cookie cutter between the two brands and each has its own challenges.