That guy on the left up there? Yep, that’s me!

Once again it thrills me to no end to present to you the latest Troupe Dynamic video! This one turned out to be a bit of a beast production-wise, but I’m pretty darn happy with the final product. “Totally Baked” was the name on the shooting script, while the Top Ten list was dubbed “Our Top Ten Rejected Top Ten Lists.” Check out the vid after the jump!

I will be posting a follow up to this video in a week or so that will present a couple of alternate bits from this latest production; scenes that were cut for reasons I will explain in that post. It’s all part of the process, and I look forward to sharing it with you!

Till then…

Good Times!
–jay

I’ve been juggling several projects lately and haven’t taken the time to post all that much. One project I have posted is my latest commercial for Earthmover Credit Union, featuring Lindsey Idle. Comprised of several still photos, the commercial used only a fraction of the overall pics taken during our session.

While I haven’t spent a lot of time with the additional photos, I did want to go ahead and share one I found particularly striking. Check it out after the jump!

(Make sure you click on the pic to see it larger on your screen!)

I will eventually get to other photos from this session. Till then, I hope you enjoy this one!

This is my eighth commercial  working with Karen Woods at Earthmover Credit Union. Eighth! I love working with Karen and always look forward to “the next one.” We’ve had a lot of fun over the years, and produced some great spots that she and I both are very proud of. Our latest is no exception!

This one is quite a departure from previous efforts, and boy does it pop when you see it on a large screen. Lindsey Idle is featured as the face of Visa Girl with Caryn Clark providing the vocals. Check out the :30 and the :15 versions after the jump!

This past Sunday was the Superbowl, and sprinkled throughout the commercial breaks were four Doritos ads that were born out of a contest. I was part of a team that produced an entry for this contest, and it is with great excitement that I finally post our spot on this site!

I actually wrote about this commercial in depth a while back, when the spot made it’s initial debut on the Doritos Crash the Superbowl website. That site was a hassle to navigate, and you could only watch the spot in an iiiitty-bity presentation, so I’m stoked you can finally see it blown up.

While it didn’t make the cut for the Superbowl, I’m extremely happy with our effort. I have thoughts as to why it didn’t place – thoughts I’ve had for some time, really. Bottom line is that we produced a damn good spot despite the fact we learned about the contest late in the game. Certain aspects of pre-production just didn’t happen (art direction being a big one), so going into next year I think we are hyper-aware of where we need to be to nab a spot.

I look forward to our next effort!

What did you think of the Doritos spots that aired in the Superbowl?

We’re back at it again! And this time, you can check out this month’s Top Ten video RIGHT HERE!

Typically the Troupe Dynamic video’s run exclusively on thrivedecatur.com for the duration of their namesake month. This month we decided to try and spread it out a bit, so check it out – along with some thoughts on this go round – right after the bump!

I can’t tell you how excited I am about our February video. Each month I’ve tweaked the format juuuuust a bit on these things, and this month is no exception. The result, in my opinion, is our goofiest outing yet. Sure, much of this edition is the same – it opens with our  ”Act One” of the Story, followed by the Top Ten list, and closing with the “Act Two” resolution (plus a “sting” at the end of the credits, usually offering a continuation of sorts from the story) – but the differences make all the… difference. For one, nobody addresses the camera directly in the Story mode, so the whole thing is self-contained for the first time. Two, we worked the Thrive Entertainment Guide INTO the video instead of mentioning it by name – product placement, baby! And third, the top ten list itself is presented in a completely different format. It’s practically it’s own self-contained story!

What does all this mean? I think it plays a lot differently now, and for the best. We teased this format in January and embraced it full-on this month, and I really like how it looks and feels. It’s a bit more sitcommy, and allows us to fully inhabit the Troupe Dynamic world. Yes, we still address the camera in the Top Ten bits, but they’ve always been separate from the story so it’s no big shake.

Character-wise I’m really happy with this outing. We’ve been strengthening the characters up bit by bit each time, but to me they really hit their stride this time out. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still playing around a bit with things here and there, but overall I think we really found our groove with this one. I know writing the script was super easy; the characters were so clearly driving the action that I never once questioned where they were taking me!

I’m going to save it for another post, but I really want to get into what it takes to produce one of these things. We’ve talked about documenting it a couple of times and just haven’t pulled the trigger, but this really is a monthly form of guerilla film making. It’s a small crew of volunteers who have full-time jobs and families and lives, coming together and working as hard and as fast as we can to get things done. It’s a great mix of professionals and novices, and I’m telling you…For all the long hours I put into this thing (and I put in some looooooong hours), nothing I do brings me as much satisfaction.

To paraphrase Dr. Janet and Dr. Timmy from Dynamic Labs: When it comes to Troupe Dynamic, tomorrow can’t get her fast enough!

I love ABC’s ‘Lost’.

From Day 1 it has captured my imagination in a way few others have. Is it perfect? No (Hello, “Sayid falling in love with Shannon” on, like, Day 6 island time, even though he was on his way to L.A. to find his one true love, Nadia…). But overall this show has been an experience like no other, and for that, I can’t thank the creators and magic-makers involved enough.

In honor of this most awesome of awesomest shows coming to an end (and my steadfast devotion to it), I wanted to brand myself a lover of Lost in a fun, simple way. So, without further ado…

Ladies and Gentlemen (and Polar Bears), I proudly present you with my “Lost Love” logo!

Just as the makers of Lost have shared with us, I share with you. As far as I am concerned, this logo is for anyone (and everyone) who loves Lost, so PLEASE feel free to take it and use it to brand yourself as a proud Lost lover! My only request is that if anyone asks where you got it, you tell ‘em Jay hooked you up (and point ‘em back to the site)!

(Someone who’s already seen the logo asked me why I added the “scuffing.” Honestly? I just liked it. If enough of you would prefer a “clean” version of the logo, let me know and I’ll throw one up.)

Namaste!

Have I mentioned lately how much fun I have with my comedy group Troupe Dynamic? Oh yes, I have. Oh well, I’m gonna do it again anyway, because this was TOO MUCH FUN!

Our first night of filming for our January Top Ten video ended with us gathering at Coney McKane’s in Downtown Decatur to film what may in fact be our silliest Top Ten moment yet (and that’s saying something). Bringing back “The Clown” character for one more appearance – we had planned last month’s edition to be his last – the rest of the the Troupers joined Doug in full-on clown mode for not one, but two ridiculous bits.

The first bit was planned and scripted for inclusion in the actual Top Ten list itself. I haven’t had a chance to watch the playback yet, but it was hard keeping a straight face during the filming, so I’m pretty confident that mojo will carry over to the final piece. The second bit filmed was hatched on the spot as a continuation of the scripted bit. We thought it might be fun to post it to the Troupe Dynamic site as a companion to the full video available at Thrive (exclusively for the month of January). Janet’s clown has a great opening line of dialogue in this…!

THIS is why I throw so much energy into this project. THIS is why I love working with this crew. THIS is why I keep clown makeup lying around.

Yep, that’s me and fellow Troupe Dynamic member Tim Haworth in “boy band” mode.

Guyliner and hair gel aside, we’re wearing basic shirts and ties. What’s up with the mashup of styles? Where are we? What in the world was this for?

The easy answer is that it is a commercial I just wrote, directed, and co-produced through Falcon MultiMedia (we have yet to enter post-production). Of the many projects I’m juggling right now, this may well be the most fun. Deets and the full picture after the jump…

Working once again with Jim Cloney of Falcon MultiMedia and fellow Trouper, Tim – long-time collaborators both – would make for a fun project in and of itself. But there’s more to this spot that amps up the enjoyment factor…

A short history: I was brought on to this project to cultivate a new direction for this client’s television commercials, write a script or two, direct, and co-produce. I would join Jim to pitch my ideas, and then with a greenlight enter into the pre-production phase.

I wrote a couple of scripts echoing earlier client commercials with a fresh spin, but I also came up with a separate concept that was about as far away from their previous spots as possible. Yet the very idea of the alternate spot was possible only because of how ingrained in the minds of TV viewers those previous commercials had become. It involves two bumbling ad men hired by this business to “re-imagine” their jingle. They perform the jingle (for the business’s spokesperson) word-for-word in different genre types – comically, of course – and at the end of the spot the original jingle is re-introduced, much to the relief of the spokesperson. The spot is built specifically to reinforce the familiarity of the original jingle, and in doing so strengthen brand awareness.

The client loved the idea when I pitched it, which jazzed me up to no end. I fleshed the idea out even more, threw together demos of the re-imagined jingles, and then wrote the specific script.

For me, this is where it starts getting fun. In the script, I went for a 30’s or 40’s comedy vibe, channeling Laurel & Hardy specifically. I even named the characters Stan and Ollie (though you won’t hear their names in the spot). When it came time to cast, I needed a couple of guys who could not only sing and feel comfortable looking like idiots, but also share a passing resemblance to the Laurel & Hardy body types.

Turns out I know two guys who fit that bill perfectly: myself and Mr. Haworth. Physically we resemble the classic comedy duo, we already have chemistry, we have no problem looking like idiots, and as a director, I knew I’d get the performances we needed. It was a no brainer!

Which brings us to the photo. There will actually be two commercials produced, each featuring three genre types for a total of six re-imagined jingles. We all convened in a basement to film – again, these are bumbling ad men, so a rec room vibe seemed appropriate for their audition – and Tim and I spent a good four hours donning ridiculous hats, wigs, boots, bling, and guyliner to film the various jingle segments. We covered rock, rap, classical, country, blues, and boy-band., and each persona for the various genre types was built up from our basic shirt and tie “professional” look, which explains the mashup of styles in the pic.

There was a lot of laughter as we filmed this sucker, which we’re confident will play out in the spot itself. As soon as we have a premiere date for the spot I’ll clue you in on who the commercial is for so you can keep your eyes open for it. We can’t wait for you to see it! For now, bask in the awesomeness that is the Jay & Tim “boy band” look!

I recently had the pleasure of creating a new business card for Teddi Lucas, an area style consultant who formerly showed off her fashion know-how with her much-missed clothing boutique, Teddi’s Body Shop. Teddi now provides image and style solutions to a number of clients, covering everything from hair, makeup, and nails, to building fashionable (and practical) wardrobes unique to the personalities she works with. She has both male and female clients, with no age limit – she’s built awesome wardrobes for infants!

As forward-thinking as Teddi is fashion-wise, she remains very simple when it comes to marketing and promotion. She has yet to build a web presence (we’re working on that…), and most of her business is word-of-mouth and referral. Basically, she IS her business – a walking, talking billboard for what she does. Her style sense is always on display because she is her number one client. I’ve seen it happen; someone inevitably stops to ask her where she got that top, or what color her nails are, who did her hair, etc. So following Teddi’s lead, ’simple’ is what we aimed for with her card.

‘Simple’ ended up working to our advantage: with fashion trends coming and going so quickly, we couldn’t throw just any image on the card. By focusing on the face that anchors the fashion – and the uniqueness of her name – we pull attention away from the specifics of style and fashion and focus on the consultant herself. Her smile is inviting, her upward gaze hints at endless possibilities, and the rich, bold colors – specifically her striking green eye against the deep red – make for an irresistible invitation. The colors on display below unfortunately don’t quite match the card itself, where the colors really pop!

Teddi reports that response to her new card has been incredibly positive. “People love it,” she says. “I’ve gotten some calls, and scheduled some appointments. I couldn’t be happier.”

Could you be happier? With your hair? Your wardrobe? Give Teddi a call to see what she can do for you!

Yes, we really do have this much fun in Troupe Dynamic.

After the jump you can see exclusively on this site a bit more of the pic (though not the whole tamale – it would give too much away!). The above banner is being used over on troupedynamic.com to tease our December Top Ten vid, scheduled to be posted December 1st on thrivedecatur.com. I wanted to post it here because I believe it perfectly showcases why I enjoy working with my merry band of Troupers so much.

We’re often asked, “Why do you do this?” The answer is easy; we do it because we enjoy working with one another so much. I love this picture because it captures that feeling of joy we get creating something together. We crack each other up so easily, and we try so hard to bring that silliness to our projects, but our characters – versions of ourselves but characters nonetheless – typically don’t crack up on camera. This is a nice showcase of the camaraderie within our group.

Of course, we’re just the ones on camera. What you’re not seeing is our extended family of Troupers who work behind the scenes to help make these projects so much  fun. They add plenty to the merriment, believe me!

What you’re also not seeing is the full picture, and that’s a shame. Though to be honest, I’m probably showing too much as it is (we hate giving too much away before the videos are posted). Hugh’s wife, Alida – who is an awesome photographer, by the way – helped us out by snapping pics that will appear in December’s vid. She also cameos in the production as well!

Good Times!