How The Producers Defied Gravity with Subway
Is there anything in this world better than a good sandwich?
From school lunchboxes, meal preps and beach adventures, sandwiching good food between two slices of bread has always been a highlight of the midday meal.
Sandwiches serve as a reminder of the good-old days sitting on the oval with a juicebox in hand. They can be simple yet incredibly complex, stacked yet compact, and above all, the best of the best, are always fresh.
Mitch Kennedy and The Producers captured the feeling of unadulterated joy that a good sandwich can give a person. Together with Subway and Publicis Brisbane, they created a spot that is fun, energetic, and highlights the ‘Feel Good’ message in a way unlike any other.
LBB’s Casey Martin spoke to Mitch to learn more about coordinating 70 space-hoppers, elaborate stunts and what ‘no shot left behind’ truly means.
LBB> Firstly, what an amazingly fun spot! Please take us through the storyboarding process of this campaign. Were there any ideas that hit the cutting room floor?
Mitch> Initially I walked around the city with my stills camera and found angles of that environment that I felt would give us interesting perspectives and directions for the action to take place.
I’ve used the same storyboard artist for over a decade and he has a great understanding of my lensing and composition. So for this spot we created an animated storyboard that I edited to various music tracks that were being considered in pre. The final spot is pretty bloody close to the animation we created.
LBB> How did you achieve the gravity-defying awe-inspiring bounces seen in the spot?
Mitch> My new favourite toy is the crane we had on this shoot. It’s a nimble boom crane that can rotate at decent pace, so we harnessed a bunch of stunt performers from cable rigs and actively pulled them through the groups of other hoppers in the scenes. I knew right from the start that I wanted the action to fluidly move between reality and surrealism, so it was important to me that we captured all the hoppers on location and in-camera together rather than separating elements with a partial studio shoot.
LBB> Working with a brand as well known as Subway, what were the key questions asked in order to fully understand the brand’s identity? How do you find a balance between a well-established brand and your own creativity?
Mitch> I was lucky that this campaign was coming at a point where the agency and client were keen to further explore what “Feel Good” would represent to the brand going forward and were really open to my input. I spent a lot of time thinking about the types of characters we would see and how they relate to either the current Subway customer or where the brand particularly wanted to appeal to a younger adult audience.
LBB> What did you use as inspiration for this spot in particular?
Mitch> I always start with the tone my approach will bring and music was a really big factor in my development process. I created a playlist for the treatment that influenced the balance of humour, energy, action, and joyfulness that I wanted to capture. I then really struggled to find a precise visual representation of the mood, so instead I ended up shooting a test where I composited about 20 versions of myself bouncing around in a park at 200fps.
I blew the ass out of my favourite jeans in the process, such is the sacrifice of art.
LBB> Being one of Brisbane’s largest productions last year, what were the challenges and highlights? What did you learn?
Mitch> I started my career in Brisbane before moving to Melbourne, so I love shooting up there and the accessibility we had with large city street closures wouldn’t have been possible in any other city. The crews are amazing and allowed for me to shoot a very ambitious couple of days with almost every shot having stunts in it.
The toughest part of shooting in the city is chasing the right light as it moves between skyscrapers, so DOP Campbell Brown and I spent a lot of time discussing the schedule and trying to “leave no shot behind” when it came to the right light. I think we got to version 15 of the shoot schedule before we cracked it.
LBB> From having a look at your previous work on The Producers site, you seem to love a good action-packed spot, what draws you towards spots that allow you to run a bit wild, like Choice Hotels, Subway, and even Cadbury?
Mitch> Before I moved into directing commercials I was a cinematographer, so I instinctively start to shoot a script in my head from the first read. It helps me to see the visual flow of the action, and how the camera can take us on a journey. Working out what it is about the film craft that is going to get us excited about the idea or message. I get really inspired by ideas that need a lot of elaborate blocking, or pose challenges in terms of how a script can physically be shot.
LBB> How have you developed your ability to ‘shoot the impossible’ and how has this impacted your work?
Mitch> I’ve spent a lot of time learning the dark arts of visual effects and have been lucky to work with some amazing VFX/CGI post houses. I find this knowledge has allowed me to look differently at a location, or piece of action, and prioritise how far we can push an idea creatively rather than literally. Whether it’s really elaborate 3D creature work like what I created for Darrell Lea with a T-Rex chase and an Orangutan playing the drums; or just logistical nightmares of combining various locations and seamlessly blending them together. It’s something I’m excited to push further in my work, finding more and more scripts that don’t let the impossible get in the way of a great idea.
LBB> I have to ask… How many people were actually bouncing on the space hoppers?
Mitch> The biggest day was a cast of 70 hoppers. Well, 71 if you include my cameo. After two days of bugging the stunts team they finally harnessed me up and let fly. You need a microscope, but I’m bouncing around in the deep background at one point.
LBB> And lastly, what is your subway order?
Mitch> Italian BMT on Italian Herbs and Cheese. Don’t hold back on the onion and olives. Hit it with some ranch. Shot on a 50mm lens. Left-to-right dolly with a counter pan. Bellissimo!
