The “What are you doing tonight?” Challenge

CS magazine called with a challenge: Cover behind the scenes of the 12 location nightlife advertorial shoot with photographer Jon Shaft in 2 weeks.

The Solution: James Gustin had the vision of stepping outside the traditional behind the scenes sizzle reels and montages. He transferred that vision to the fig films team. They then came up with the “What are you doing tonight?” concept. Imagine if you found an iPhone full of footage from someone’s night out on the town in Chicago. What would that look like? We took Jon’s photography and brought it to life.

The result: A custom 2 minute film for the magazine to promote the advertorial and a vimeo channel with behind the scenes clips for their social media needs and one very happy marketing manager.

If you think shooting on the iPhone is easy- It’s not. “I had 2-5 minutes with each model in each location. My window was in between set ups for the photography for the advertorials. I had to think out each location like a sequence, see what the photographer was doing and build on it. I had to use my time with the models well and then compose a vignette of shots for each location. It took a while for me to figure out the angle I wanted to go, but once I took off- I started to get excited.” says, director Melissa Martens. ” Once I did the first shoot, I knew how to direct my teammates to cover the rest. It was a lot of fun to build on a well oiled machine that was already moving. I think Jon has been doing this spread for years. I am grateful they allowed me to play. James’ vision was dead on, I look forward to seeing what we come up with next.”

Credits
figfilms.net
Directed by Melissa Martens
Iphone Cinematography by Emily Hard, Tim Musho, Melissa Martens
Original Music by Eric Hillman

Photography by Jon Shaft, jonshaft.com
Wardrobe and Styling by Sofia, sofiavintage.com
Hair by Charles Ifergan, charlesifergan.com
Makeup by Leah Chavie, leahchavie.com and
Fredy Anaya, Artist by Timothy Priano, chicagoemergingartists.com
Models by Factor Women, factorwomen.com and Chosen Management, chosenmodels.com

#FF @VertigoChicago, @OldTownSocial, @epicresturant, @sofitelchicago, @BridgeBarChi, @Market_Bar, @ariaChicago, @TZARCHICAGO, @SUB51, @CSchicagosocial, @figmedia, @jonshaft, @sofiavintage, @Charlesfergan, @Leahchavieskin, @factorwomen