This month we had the opportunity to work with an amazing local business — Brock St. Brewery — to create some ads for their new vodka sodas. We’re big fans of Brock St, so when they approached us, we knew we’d pull out all the stops.
In pre-production, we worked out details like the mood and overall aesthetic of the ads. The goal was to create something snappy and fun, primarily using closeups of the product. We quickly settled on using an inky-black backdrop, which would help to emphasize the colours on the cans.
The ads were actually shot in our office kitchen. Since we were working with a lot of water and sticky fruit, we decided that the kitchen was the safest place to shoot in case we made a mess (which I tend to do).
Using some Bristol board from the dollar store, we blacked out the windows and made the space as dark as we could. The cans were staged in front of a black backdrop with enough distance so that, on camera, they appeared to be floating in a void. Our team member Jess brought her experience in product photography to the set, brilliantly staging all of our shots with fruit, and spraying down the product with water for a misty look.
Shooting product close ups can be a balancing act, as you want to have a nice soft background, without sacrificing the sharpness of the product. We played around with a few different ideas and camera settings until we found the perfect look. This is one of the major benefits of shooting in your own studio — we were able to experiment on-the-go, and take our time in finding what worked best. From there, work felt more like play: spinning the cans on a lazy susan, sweeping lights over them by hand, and dropping them into a 30-gallon aquarium tank. Check out some behind the scenes footage that shows off our setup:
The shoot was a blast, but only half the battle — the edit, as always, is where things really come together.
Again, the goal was snappy — no time wasted on screen. This meant quick cuts, and seamless transitions to keep our audience engaged. Our team member Chris produced an original music track that perfectly suited the product: bubbly, fun and energetic. We just needed one more thing — neon.
The ads are occupied by a lot of black space, and that space needed to be lit up a bit. We decided to incorporate some neon titles at the end of each ad, listing the 4 flavours of the drinks and reinforcing the strong colours throughout. With some quick After Effects magic, we produced some eye-catching titles to close out each video. This helped tied the ads together as a complete piece. In the end, we put together 3 unique but consistent videos that hopefully make you as thirsty as I am right now.
Look, we had a ton of fun with this shoot. It’s always a blast when a local company puts their trust in us to execute their vision. If you have the chance, check out the new ads, and definitely check out Brock St. Brewery’s vodka soda. We may have sampled our fair share during the shoot, you know, for research — and yeah, they’re really good.