Versus Commercial Campaign

[pavyaz19 1]

I'm a transplanted Red Wings fan (grew up in NW Ohio) and now live in Hollywood pursuing a film directing career. I finished 2 commercials in February that I think you all may be interested in seeing...

http://www.youtube.com/battalionx

and in much higher quality at my website...

www.chrispavlica.com

To make a long story short, working your way up in Hollywood as a director begins with spending your own money on creating "spec" commercials (speculative). Since there is no real "ladder" to climb which results in a directing career, you just have to prove what you can do on your own time and pray that someone notices what you've done. So that's what these are, examples of work that hopefully lead to paid jobs.

Fortunately for me, the cinematographer for these Versus commercials is one of the best in the world (www.bradrushing.com - shot britney spears. eminem, and tons of other videos / commercials / films... he also won mtv moon man for moby's we're all made of stars). Since we've finished in February, the commercials have made their way to Versus, ESPN (not that it matters), the NHLs HQ in Toronto, and now the NHL Network. We are unsure whether the commercials will air or not, but here's to hoping good luck comes our way.

Hopefully you will like them as much as the networks have! I had to throw in the Joe's goal horn for "Fortune," if you hate the commercials, I'm sure you'll at least appreciate that! haha.

(sorry for the long post, just wanted to explain the origin of all this)

Thanks.

[Defenseman13 0]

I'm a transplanted Red Wings fan (grew up in NW Ohio) and now live in Hollywood pursuing a film directing career. I finished 2 commercials in February that I think you all may be interested in seeing...

http://www.youtube.com/battalionx

and in much higher quality at my website...

www.chrispavlica.com

To make a long story short, working your way up in Hollywood as a director begins with spending your own money on creating "spec" commercials (speculative). Since there is no real "ladder" to climb which results in a directing career, you just have to prove what you can do on your own time and pray that someone notices what you've done. So that's what these are, examples of work that hopefully lead to paid jobs.

Fortunately for me, the cinematographer for these Versus commercials is one of the best in the world (www.bradrushing.com - shot britney spears. eminem, and tons of other videos / commercials / films... he also won mtv moon man for moby's we're all made of stars). Since we've finished in February, the commercials have made their way to Versus, ESPN (not that it matters), the NHLs HQ in Toronto, and now the NHL Network. We are unsure whether the commercials will air or not, but here's to hoping good luck comes our way.

Hopefully you will like them as much as the networks have! I had to throw in the Joe's goal horn for "Fortune," if you hate the commercials, I'm sure you'll at least appreciate that! haha.

(sorry for the long post, just wanted to explain the origin of all this)

Thanks.

I too work in that area too as a graphic designer, and I never use spec ads. Experience is a much better thing I've found, but this may be impossible when shooting film.I only offer this as a suggestion, as I generally turn away demo reels from prospective designers etc. that use them. I'm not sure how tough the directing gig is, I can only imagine. I know a lot of prospective directors that do a lot of other things as well. Good luck though, these are great commercials. They definitely have the humor and passion that embodies the NHL. I can relate... I've fully shifted to freelance so that I'm not stuck on the 405 during playoffs. The girlfriend is another problem.

Do you know anyone at vs.? They keep running promos for teams that are out of the playoffs, and they have one with Darren McCarty which is a decent one, but they don't seem to realize that he's no longer a Wing. Anyone else seeing these?

If they knew what was good for them, they would run your ads as a replacement for theirs. It seems like the Flash animation style of ads has sort of stagnated for Vs., and the color treatments they are using are really blown out.... the best commercials always involve a good script and good camera I think.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Defenseman13

[ben_usmc 253]

that was a really cool commericals, the second one is almost true to me, I think part of the reason my ex broke up was because i would skip out on her to watch the Wings and Pistons, bitchs ill tell you what

Edited April 26, 2007 by ben_usmc

[CAredwingsfan91 28]

haha oh man that 1st commercial with the lottery ticket was dope i liked that one kudos my friend.

[Viperar 16]

lottery one was awesome

[Lidstrom5 D-Man 0]

Lucky blue ball...

[FireCaptain 563]

funny stuff. nice job.

[reppintealtown 3]

Very well done! Enjoyed both of those.

[shdwx14 7]

Loved 'em!!!

[Jwo 7]

Good stuff. I have that same tv tray table thats in the first one.

[pavyaz19 1]

I too work in that area too as a graphic designer, and I never use spec ads. Experience is a much better thing I've found, but this may be impossible when shooting film.I only offer this as a suggestion, as I generally turn away demo reels from prospective designers etc. that use them. I'm not sure how tough the directing gig is, I can only imagine. I know a lot of prospective directors that do a lot of other things as well. Good luck though, these are great commercials. They definitely have the humor and passion that embodies the NHL. I can relate... I've fully shifted to freelance so that I'm not stuck on the 405 during playoffs. The girlfriend is another problem.

Do you know anyone at vs.? They keep running promos for teams that are out of the playoffs, and they have one with Darren McCarty which is a decent one, but they don't seem to realize that he's no longer a Wing. Anyone else seeing these?

If they knew what was good for them, they would run your ads as a replacement for theirs. It seems like the Flash animation style of ads has sort of stagnated for Vs., and the color treatments they are using are really blown out.... the best commercials always involve a good script and good camera I think.

Directing is a whole different animal. The only way to GET experience is to do spec ads... no executive is willing to pump hundreds of thousands into a film if the director has no track record. Even the most prolific working director's have demo reels (Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Mark Romanek, David Fincher) and they are always sent to production companies and ad agencies to prove themselves and their body of work. (Having worked at a production company myself, I've seen the massive rows of shelves storing these DVDs).

Yeah, screw the 405, there are too many people here... I'm actually a fan of the current Versus ad campaign. It's very stylized compared to their weak attempts during the regular seasn. As for Darren McCarty, they also have a couple of long-gone Mark Messier... I think they have just picked memorable playoff moments for the 20+ age group - i'm happy with those, they show a lot about the true character of a hockey player IMHO. Either way, I appreciate your praise!!! And yes, we have a contact at Versus that has proven unreliable - but we did contact her when they would have been putting money into this current playoff campaign.

[Wings_Fan_In_Exile 3]

Nicely done. I like the second one especially. I remember completely losing interest in a pretty hot girl (turned out she worked at hooters, haha) because whe liked baseball and not hockey.

I like the VS ad campaign, but it seems like they pick one or two of em and replay them over and over and over. Variety would be nice.

And at least in CO, they show the same damn Enterprise commercial every single commercial break. Apparently Sprint, Enterprise and Dodge are the only sponsors they have...... ugh

Anyway, good work and good luck sir.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Nicely done. I like the second one especially. I remember completely losing interest in a pretty hot girl (turned out she worked at hooters, haha) because whe liked baseball and not hockey.

I like the VS ad campaign, but it seems like they pick one or two of em and replay them over and over and over. Variety would be nice.

And at least in CO, they show the same damn Enterprise commercial every single commercial break. Apparently Sprint, Enterprise and Dodge are the only sponsors they have...... ugh

Anyway, good work and good luck sir.

That commercial is Dead to me!

[Wings_Fan_In_Exile 3]

That commercial is Dead to me!

Which enterprise one is your favorite? "Nice save mom!" or "let's go girls!" ?

They need new some different ads for the love of all that is holy.

[murf 0]

These are better than some of the stuff currently airing. Awesome work.

Although, I dare anyone to better the current Geico commercials.

"Go carts... Supermarket... Those remote control boats.... When it comes to Mike Wallace, the story always ends with me puttin him into the wall."

[auxlepli 17]

Fortune = iLOL

Romance = though I agree with sentiment, not so much LOL

[pavyaz19 1]

thanks for the considerate comments - very nice to hear.

[w00p33 2]

actually the romance one's best moment is the waiter's response "how could you, ma'am?"

Agreed on the Enterprise ad, seriously I'll switch to ANYTHING when that comes on. (Car Soup needs to die as well.)

Anyhow, these two are very good, just making the sound match the game footage might help, most glaringly Gary Thorne's voice with the VS. logo, an audio clip of Doc would make a lot more sense; also the goal horn going off after a center ice faceoff doesn't make much sense either. Otherwise I liked them a lot.

As a tangent, how much do most of the ads we see on vs. cost? Honestly, why couldn't we get a tad more variety? I know it costs to produce them but if people like me are switching off the channel out of boredom/annoyance, aren't they being counter-productive at that point? At least Geico, though not hilarious, are somewhat amusing and they are swapping between about 4-6 different ads so I don't want to stab myself in the neck when one comes on...