VERY stoked to finally share some of my latest commercial director work that’s playing all over your TV’s here in the USA. It’s the new 30 second broadcast TV spot for that great outdoor brand, REI.
Remember all these posts back in March, chronicling the day by day shooting of a video-and-print campaign-all-in-one shoot?…working through some curveball weather challenges? Well, this spot here is one of the fruits of that labor.
As you can see, our patience persevered on the weather. Huge thanks to the entire cast & crew that worked so hard to pull this off. I’m humbly grateful. A massive team effort, with a ton of sweat and laughs, waaaay up at 12,000 feet. And you might even recognize the fresh bed of music we licensed…thanks to our talented compadres from We Are Augustines.
Lemme know what you think of the spot [update: and of course feel free to ask any questions...] and stand by for a behind-the-scenes RAW video coming soon that’ll highlight how we snagged the the most important shots using cranes, jibs, steadicams, and a very special helicopter.
Chase,
Funny, I saw this ad the other day (during Sunday Night Football, I think) and thought, “Damn, that’s the most spot-on ‘friends ski and snowboard’ ad I’ve seen in a while.” They’re all usually so corny and off-mark.
Figures you were behind it. Great work!
Matt.
Well done Chase! I love it!
Chase,
You are an inspiration hermano!
Cheers from San Francisco,
Ricardo
I recognized your signature the first time I saw the commercial on TV. Great work as always!
Good stuff sir! Nice feel and of course love that they hiked to some nice private stash
Which…have to say looked a little to easy!
Chase, what a beautiful job.
thks for being such a great inspiration.
Juan Manuel
nice job
Seems like TV ads all suck these days. Not this one. Great work, Chase.
I love the direction of these recent REI commercials. That’s awesome you & your team are a huge part of that! Keep it up!
Nice work, Chase! I read your day-to-day blog posts with much interest. Nice to see some of the final results.
recognized the music, assumed it must have been your work. Very nice.
Well, the T.V. spot has not been aired here in Florida…LOL…no surprise there. This is the first time I’ve seen it. Well don, but not over done, if you know what I mean. I love the visuals!
I suppose it’s a requirement for a 30 second spot but there are so many cuts in this that it’s a bit disorienting. It’s still nice, though.
About a month ago I was working at home with the TV on in the background and suddenly I’m hearing “Chapel Song” by We Are Augustines. I hadn’t really been paying attention before, but that caught my ear and I turned around to see an REI commercial featuring snow boarders. My first thought, “I wonder if that’s what chase was working on last spring…” You’re finger prints were all over this one.
This is some great work Chase. Music was great, the angles were nice, and more than anything it made me want to go skiing with my friends. My only preference with a commercial that short is that there would be fewer cut scenes so I could appreciate the beauty of each scene. Just a thought, but honestly you do fantastic work and I’m a big fan.
So fresh. I’m such a fan of this. Was this shot on the D7000? Also, how much post-image work did you do? (color correction, sharpening, etc)
Don’t any of you guys remember the blog posts that Chase did while he was shooting this? Click the “all these posts back in March” link to fully appreciate the work that went into this.
Great work Chase, thanks for sharing.
Hey Chast
Ha . you need to get some of those folks some skins.
Congrats, and nice work, as usual.
Cheers
Carl
whoops .. chase, sorry.
That looks great. Well directed. These kind of commercials are the one you don’t mind to see it all over again. It will be great to see the ‘behind the scene’ video.
i’d be interested to hear what you think about this 30 sec ad from TNF…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1OnAA5i8ec&feature=relmfu
Got any stills to show us?
really love the helicopter work… gives a great feel to it and works very well. the close up of someone eating a gum, though very natural (and quite american
) is a scene i thought wasn’t needed.
also shame that you cant see that much of the sunset as the sky and colours look amazing.
i think as an ad it stands out from the crowd, great camera work and tells you indirectly what you are missing out if you dont go and buy your ski’s/ snowboard
moritz
http://www.mostphotography.blogspot.com
and follow me on facebook http://www.facebook.com/moritzstragholzphotography
Chase,
I love your work, but at the risk of being called a troll, this probably isn’t my favorite. The quality of the photography is gorgeous, but the speed of the cuts really put me off. It cut so quickly, jumping back and forth over the 180 line that I actually had to look away from the video because it made me a little ill. I’m a little shocked to say this because, in addition to being a photographer I’m a write in Hollywood and no stranger to quick, MTV style editing. But in this case, it was too quick and disjointed for me to stick with. I apologize if the critique is unwelcome — I am a huge fan of your work and a faithful follower of your blog.
Best Regards,
Brian
Nice images, angles and tunes. Quality TV ads show respect to the viewer.
Cool! When I saw that on TV I thought, “I wonder if that’s the one Chase did in Telluride with all the weather problems?” Turned out great.
This commercial is in heavy rotation on my Hulu. How cool.
The beginning is not beliavable – during a beatiful day, there are only four people getting off a chairlift and noone is close to them; and they walk a human made trail; not very believable
“The Art of Flight” is everywhere, even in Chase Jarvis Ads
)
Visuals and edit are fantastic! What throws me off is the voiceover. When she says, “February third” her inflection makes it sound like she’s going to chronicle a story from her adventure diary,but then her inflection changes. It’s a weird switch from sentence one to two and takes me out. I can’t figure out why she even has to say “February third.” It doesn’t seem relevant.
Anyways.
Great production! I clearly remember following you through the events as they happened and am stoked to see the result.
Ah, Telluride! Awesome work! As a former Coloradan I know it is one of the unfriendliness places to work from the altitude to constantly changing weather. Great, great work. I’ve seen it a couple of dozen times on Hulu already. Besides admiring the work, it makes me homesick for Colorado. Time to hit the slopes!
Very very very good job Chase, love this commercial, just like your others!
Great ad, even better song choice. If not for the ad I would not be on this We Are Augustines high I’m on right now. You’re doing great things. Thanks.
Just curious where you shot it . . . and did you have anything to do with the other REI commercial––the guys under the rock, waiting out the rain. The Rock looks very familiar. Thanks. bob
this was shot in telluride colorado in march. i didn’t write or direct the one under the rock from last year or 2 years ago. The rock is in BC canada I think…