When McCann central approached team Gate about a film featuring a pro skate boarder, we knew just which director would nail the brief.
Simon Mulvaney first learned his trade making skate films. Strapping on a pair of skates and careering round with a go-pro, he made some award winning content. So the Emerge energy drink range brief from the McCann Central team was right up his street.
The Brief
The brief was an ambitious set of films, showcasing the emerge target market. They featured an awesome cast -
Freestyle footballer Roman - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3zmPeY49ewkyoic0O7kvaw
Skater Keith Melia - https://www.instagram.
BMXer Mike Hullock - https://www.
And Amanda Vimbainaishe of J'adore Models - https://www.jadoremodels.co.uk/model/amanda/
The Vision
This was to be a film about focus, that visually embodied elements of confidence, concentration and hydration, by focusing on movement, colour, shape and sound, to assault the senses and motivate viewers to push their passions to the next level.
The three pillars of focus - confidence, concentration and hydration, are individually represented by the different colours that make up the abstract world of colour, shape and shadow, in which our action takes place, whilst also perfectly representing and immortalising the colours of the Emerge brand.
Black perfectly represents concentration; a dark and endless pool from which the performer must pull their focus.
Red perfectly embodies confidence; a primal shade of danger, passion and energy.
Blue represents the tranquil nature that correct hydration brings; a calming, reassuring effect that boosts performance and brings clarity to the focused mindset of any athlete.
Playing with red, blue and black, to create an abstract and memorable world of colour and shadow, that perfectly reflect the colours of the brand, will communicate creativity and a forward thinking mindset, whilst also connecting with the contemporary interests of our demographic audience.
The Grand Plan
On a Monday night shoot at Rampworx skatepark in Liverpool, our cast made the magic happen. Shot by DOP Shaun Atherton and lit by Chris Sargent of Drop City, the nights shoot was long, but a lot of fun.
Producer Josh Boswell says -
"The shoot couldn't have been done without our superb crew. It was a long night in a fantastic location full of improvisation and killer moves. My favourite moment of the shoot was seeing the skate park lit up with the brand colours."
The Results
We produced 12 pieces of content to be shared socially by Emerge as part of a digital campaign to promote the brand.
Josh says -
"It was great taking Si back to his skating roots for Emerge and McCann. Si worked really well alongside the creative director Richard John-hughes, and their slick edits show the results of some very hard work."
Simon says -
‘This was a really ambitious shoot and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Having a whole skatepark to use to our disposal to create these short films gave me a lot of creative freedom and the results we achieved were spectacular.’
