Department of Theatre and Film

by Anamita Gall

The Project

The Project was to make a commercial for the Owens-Illinois Glass Packaging. They wanted to reach a younger target audience, to educate them on the benefits of using and recycling glass products. Their goal was to promote this commercial through Youtube with an advertisement which was quirky, comical, and preferably under one minute in length. Each group participating was to be in charge of its own production, from the pitch to O-I, to budgeting, casting, storyboarding, filming, mixing and finally editing. Thus the groups were given the funds and the parameters, the rest was up to them.

Carlos Piepenburg

What were the benefits of being involved with the project?

The autonomy was the most significant benefit. Since we were producers, directors, script-writers, etc., we obtained much more experience than if we were supervised and constantly hounded by professors. Our weekly reports to advisors and O-I’s advertising staff were really as far as those relationships went. Outside of that, we made all the calls, searched for locations, and got things done.

What was the plot/ synopsis/ theme of your film/promotional, and why did you chose to focus on that theme?

We set our 60-second commercial in a grocery store since that’s where a lot of glass products, especially bottles and jars, are acquired. The comedy came in the form of an over-exuberant cashier who touts glass’s superiority. We wanted to go for something right out of left field, so we made the whole scene seem just outlandish: he quickly dons a snap-on tie and gestures to a tripod board that magically appears in front of him, while the overwhelmed customers stare blankly at his antics. Since the character’s so preachy, it was easy to include important facts about glass preservation, but the big thing was to make him so weird and zealous that you just had to laugh.

What role did you play in the group?

We all held a number of posts. Basically, if something needed taking care of, someone had to step up and do it. All three of us, Matt, Larry and I, came up with different story pitches and all had a say in the selection process when the time came to narrow them down to one. I drew the storyboards when the story was finalized, and pitched them to O-I when the time for that. It was also my responsibility to obtain our most significant prop, a glass jar (meant to resemble a glass bag) that would serve as a punch-line for one of the jokes in the commercial. On shooting day, I was the assistant director, the gaffer, the boom operator… again, someone to do whatever had to be done. Oh yeah, and cameo actor.

What was the work ethic if any of your group?

We got things done and kept to our timeline. Our group meetings were always productive, whether they were concept-oriented or for final post-production. Until shooting day, though, we each had our own little projects to complete, so we worked fairly independently in preproduction. On shooting day, we were allotted a shooting window of 9-12 at our location, and we got everything done in that time, so we kept ourselves and our talent on task the entire time and did a good job of managing our time there.

How did your group do? How do you feel about the results of the competition?

I’m really proud of our finished product. With the tech shrewdness that Matt and Larry both exhibit, the production value flew through the roof. Apparently O-I thought so too, so they awarded us 1st prize and a spot on YouTube, and I am grateful for both.

Was there anything you would have done differently?

I probably would have managed my time better; the glass jar was a second choice for our glass bag. We initially thought that we could hire help from BGSU’s glassblowing department, but those plans fell through at the last minute. If I had been more persistent with them, we probably could have secured a really cool original work of art for our prop.

How did this experience compare to projects you did in Theater & Film/ Telecommunications classes?

This course was, by leaps and bounds, much more fun and educational than any other courses I’ve taken in production here on campus. Being required to meet so much responsibility was the best first-hand experience I could have asked for.

How did your major classes prepare you for the project?

THFM 393 was good preparation, because we had to come up with a prospectus for our film, including a line-item budget, synopsis, and cast list. It also taught us about copyright laws, so we didn’t go into the project blind to any possible infringements.

Larry Marshall

What were the benefits of being involved with the project?

Getting real world experience with a company was the biggest benefit for me.  I pitched ideas to a real client and got the “green light” with my teams idea.  There are many more benefits, but to name a few, they would be working creatively with a group of peers, gaining valuable production and post production experience, and overseeing an aspect of production I’ve never done before, which would be producing.

What was the plot/ synopsis/ theme of your film/promotional, and why did you chose to focus on that theme?

The plot was for a woman to check out food at a grocery store and when asked the question “Glass or plastic” rather than the traditional “paper or plastic” the woman is taken aback and answers incorrectly with the answer “plastic”.  The clerk then transforms into a salesman for glass in general and explains the benefits of glass over plastic, even though they don’t necessarily affect the immediate choice of what type of baggage to use.  The rant lasts about 30 secs and when finished, the clerk returns to normal and asks the woman again.  She answers with a “glass” and a glass “bag” is pulled out in a comedic fashion and the scene ends with the woman carrying out the “glass bag”. 

We chose this idea mainly for its comedy appeal, which we felt was essential to our target audience, youtube users.  An additional appeal for us was that we could shoot it in 1 day on a real location at “Stimmel’s Marketplace” here in Bowling Green, OH.

What role did you play in the group?

I executed several main crew roles on this producion including Executive Producer, Assistant Director, Director of Photography, and Editor.

Larry Marshall on set

What did you gain from the experience on being involved with the competition?

I gained experience with a new crew position that I’ve never done, being Executive producer.  That position deals with nearly all the pre-production planning, including budgeting, location scouting, and overall production schedule on when to shoot and where, along with some casting directing. 

I’ve never really worked with a budget besides just pouring my money into something as the needs came about.  With this production, I had to meticulously plan out each penny and account for everything from gas, to crew costs, to food for talent.  I worked with a budget of $500.

What did you learn from your experience making the film/ promotional?

I learned how to manage time and work with a crew I didn’t know.  Previously, I’ve mainly worked with people I knew very well and so working with new people professionally has really prepared me for working with new, creative people in the future.

What was the work ethic if any of your group?

The work ethic was very high for our group.  We met frequently to discuss and update our progress on preparing the shoot.  This was easy to do since there were only three of us on the crew.  Our cast was twice as large as us.  We held preproduction meetings and planned out our shot order.  While we had problems, as all productions do, it’s sometimes more important how you handle them then what you actually decide to do.  Our group had excellent chemistry and respect.

How did your group do? How do you feel about the results of the competition?

My group was awarded 1st place, and of course, we are ecstatic that we won.  We knew everyone’s concepts were good, and that it would come down to execution of our ideas.  Production value became the key.

Was there anything you would have done differently?

I wish we could have paid our location some money for allowing us to “rent” the place for free.  I would have loved to surprise “Stimmel’s Marketplace” with a check.  

How did this experience compare to projects you did in Theater & Film/ Telecommunications classes?

This experience was like a culmination of the theories and practices I’ve learned in my TCOM (Telecommunications) classes.  My major is TCOM and my minor is film, so I’ve had lots of class production exercises and marketing experiences.  I liked this project a lot and would strongly encourage BGSU to continue this class or create ones like it.

How did your major classes prepare you for the project?

My major is TCOM and I, along with our director Matt Cass, were in the same script writing class at the time of this project.  We learned how to write a script from Dr. Lori Liggett’s TCOM 260 class.

Anything else you want to share about your

experience?

I am glad I had the opportunity to work with Owen’s Illinois.  They’re very kind people and I really enjoyed this class and competition. 

Matt Cass

What were the benefits of being involved with the project?

The benefits of participating in the competition really gave each of the competitors a leg up to the rest of the students of BGSU.  We were introduced to “real world” experience opposed to just college experience.  A few examples of this would be . . . pitching a commercial concept to higher level executives to a fortune 500 company, directing/writing/producing our own commercial, working with an actual budget.

What was the plot/ synopsis/ theme of your film/promotional, and why did you chose to focus on that theme?

As the writer of the commercial I tried to incorporate humor, because I feel that commercials that contain humor tend to be more successful, because people tend to remember them.  The basic concept of the commercial came from the single line, “Glass, or Plastic?,” a clever spoof of everyday supermarket lingo, which in fact we titled the commercial at a later date.  Anyways, the basic idea of the commercial is an everyday average supermarket clerk who is trying to persuade all of his customers to choose glass (not plastic) for bagging, as well as other merchandise.

What role did you play in the group?

With such a small staff on the production, I was involved in several positions.  I directed the production, wrote the script, and solely composed all Foley and music.  I helped in other areas too, such as producing, but my main focus was on the three previous jobs mentioned.

What did you gain from the experience on being involved with the competition?

I learned many things from being involved in the competition, but I guess the best thing I learned was real world experience.

What was the work ethic if any of your group?

I can recall many struggles with my group, mainly because my group is involved on campus with other organizations and it was hard to schedule a time when everyone could meet.  Other than being involved in studies, one other member is highly involved in the Kappa Alpha Order, and many other film activities, while the other member is involved with his film activities too.  I personally am involved in the Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity and held the Technology chair during the competition, I volunteered at BG24 almost everyday, and am involved in film activities too.

Considering how involved my group was on campus we seemed to get everything done in time.  I think we all worked together well, and I am happy how everything turned out.

How did your group do? How do you feel about the results of the competition?

I can remember watching all the other entries for the commercial and thinking to myself, “Wow, they are good!”  I thought all of the productions turned out really well, so I was truly surprised when O-I announced that my team won.  We did get first place in the competition, but there is always room for improvement.  I never like to settle on anything, and so next time I plan to remember the productions flaws.  But overall, I couldn’t be happier!

Was there anything you would have done differently?

I consider myself a perfectionist in almost everything I do, so I tend to continually fix flaws and continue my strengths until perfection is achieved.

How did this experience compare to projects you did in Theater & Film/ Telecommunications classes?

One thing that I absolutely loved about this class was that I didn’t have to focus on my grade all the time.  With less focus on grades I was able to bring my creative side out and I could focus on the production, not just trying to get an “A.”  If only all classes were like that!

How did your major classes prepare you for the project?

The only major class that I took previously to the competition was TCOM 103, which was an introduction to media, so really all of my knowledge came from earlier productions such as the award winning 48 hour film Dextropodophobia, volunteering at BG24, and even my own short films in my small company that I founded last winter, Krazefire Productions.

Anything else you want to share about your experience?

I really hope that future students are able to go through an experience such that I went through in THFM 490.  It truly was an incredible experience that cannot happen in a classroom.