Beatbox :30 spot
Charter Internet takes customer service to heart, with a new offer that provides increased high-speed Internet service to the majority of Charter Internet customers for free. Fallon Minneapolis enlisted Sam Cadman of Station Film to direct their new campaign. They wanted to show Internet users, many of them real Charter Internet customers, having fun at home with high-speed Internet. To make the spots—Thank You, Beatbox, and Rollercoaster feel even more authentic and topical, Cadman cast and directed the entire campaign over webcam and iChat.
The casting brief was for any age, ethnicity or gender, Cadman explains. But they had to have access to a webcam and a home computer. Our casting call went out through social networking. Renita Whitehead [Renita Casting, L.A.] used Facebook, YouTube and MySpace in Charter service territories.
People auditioned with recordings of themselves done via webcam or iChat, answering random questions from Cadman to give him a feeling of what they were like. Seventy people were invited for callbacks, done virtually at the Inter Video facility in Burbank. Cadman and his team called all 70, talking using Charter Internet via webcam and iChat. He and the agency chose their favorite 25 people for the one-day shoot. At no point did I physically meet with the agency or client, Cadman relates. The prepro was on the phone, and on the shoot day, the agency had a live feed from Minneapolis.
We believe the future belongs to generous brands, said John King, Fallons Chief Communications Officer. Charters free fast Internet upgrade is a genuine way to give a little more value, unexpectedly, to Charters customers.
Added Fallon Senior Producer, Ted Knutson, Shooting spots over the Internet with web cameras is new territory for us. The process was truly organic and a lot of fun to produce. Theres something very pure about shooting real people speaking in their own words, within the comfort of their own homes.
Cadman, a big fan and renowned practitioner of vérité filmmaking (e.g., Trigger Happy TV), says directing over webcam and iChat brought charm and humanity to the spots, with no performers coming away compromised. Its the opposite of a highly polished, impersonal ad, Cadman offers, pointing to a shot in Beatbox by way of example. Cadman was thrilled when one performer accidentally captured her cat lounging by the fireplace in a shot. She says, Oh, theres my cat. Should I put her away? Beatbox opens on the shot and comment, then segues to a montage of similarly unplugged beatbox moments.
Directors are always trying to get authentic moments from their cast, Cadman offers. Using webcams and iChat is like a social experiment. You cant predict exactly how it will turn out, but youre guaranteed authentic performances. The result for us is a feeling of participation and fun the audience will have that is a timely reaction vs. non-interactive viewing of TV.
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Charter Rollercoasterby wearefallon714 views
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