In October, King James Advertising asked me to shoot stills and behind the scenes for the new Johnnie Walker TV campaign. We spent five days flying around the country to shoot at some of the beautiful locations in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The team behind the shoot were amazing to work with, although I do remember the Production Manager singing show-tunes at 5.30 call times. Show-tunes before the first cup of morning coffee should be illegal.

Creative Director Mark Stead Tweeting while on Location. Official hashtag was #jwshoot

The Jonnie Walker shoot was a great opportunity to work with local creative talent, including Art Director Mark Stead from King James, Director Sarel Esterhuizen from Wishbone Productions and the debut Director of Photography Jean-Mark Ronlando. The campaign ‘depicts the journey of a Walker, who is a symbol for the everyman who strives to make his journey in life one of meaning and enduring legacy. From rural South Africa moving into the city, the commercial uses a metaphor to take the viewer on a journey of personal progress that brings to life the pioneering spirit of Johnnie Walker.’ * www.celebratingstrides.co.za

Setting up the shot.

When I saw the Director, Sarel Esterhuizen’s first sketches of the campaign, I was immediately in love with his vision. Sarel has a talent for hand sketching ideas that makes me incredibly jealous, and I can hardly compare his gift to my shaky line-drawn stick-men I usually draw for mock-up shots. But this also means, using my raw sketches as their only refference, the client wont expect the final shots to be exactly framed as the mood boards, which gives me more flexibility to find the right shot while on location. The agency and client had agreed on a film grading that was a rich monochromatic golden yellow, artfully shot on 35mm film. I followed the cinematic treatment for the stills in the wide-angle crop, deep moody colors and crop.

An example of the final warm grading of the stills.

During an interview this week about commercial vs personal shoots, the interviewer asked whether I have separate attitude towards my commercial shoots, which I do for the money, and my personal work where I really pour my heart into. My answer was that I put my energy and heart into both, and with shoots like these for Johnnie Walker, I could easily do it for my personal portfolio with pleasure.

The gallery of images from the shoot is here:

Some people you can follow on twitter that were on the shoot:
Creative Director; Mark Stead
Producer: Kathi Jones from Cocoon Productions
Copywriters from King James: Paige Nick and Alex Van Tonder

Links:
King James Advertising
The Johnnie Walker Campaign – Celebrating Strides