This has been a fun one to produce, super stoked to share the final commercial with everyone. We had the opportunity to work with James Madison University Sports Marketing team to create this commercial:

Process-wise, what could have been tight parameters for assets ultimately worked out well in our favor: school was out for summer, no available game footage of games played in the upgraded stadium, and no chance to shoot in the new stadium without pushing deadlines.  We had access to a few football players, university photos, and were told we could go for “bad ass.”

The ideas came very quickly, and we pitched creative a day or two after the initial conversation.  JMU Sports Marketing was fantastic to work with, rounding up players and photos.  Our home office is based in Harrisonburg, Virginia, so we could easily arrange some studio time. We shot with offensive tackle Theo Sherman for a few hours in our studio, and he couldn’t have been more natural on camera.

Will started creative editorial on the live-action video of Theo, along with sound design, at the same time Jeff started the 2D/3D photo manipulation. All the elements were brought together in Final Cut to lock in edit, with color on the live-action sections in Color, and the still photos colored in After Effects.

All-in-all, we had a great time putting the spot together.  Three of us here are JMU alum.  As a student I never imagined I’d get to work with the University on a commercial for JMU football. Go DUKES!