Oculus Connect 6
My partner and I created and managed a lot of pieces for this event, but none were more in limbo than the keynote’s opening film that we were making with Venables Bell. Throughout production, we heard that Mark Zuckerberg was the final approver, but he wasn't able to review it until rehearsal the night before. When the event started, we still hadn’t gotten word. Then the lights dimmed and the film fired up right on cue. I looked at my partner and let out an excited exhale. It was a big hit.
Partner: Andreas Ekelund
Path of the Warrior Trailer
This game’s fighting mechanics are an homage to the classic beat’em up games of the 80’s. That heritage led us to an idea about transitioning from a 32-bit game to modern-day VR by harnessing the power of the Oculus Quest. To pull it off, we worked with the geniuses at Psyop NYC and GoldenWolf. Their incredible attention to detail was key to bringing this to life. We all wished it could have been a full 60, but even as a 30, this was one of the most enjoyable one-offs we made that year.
Partner: Andreas Ekelund
Oculus Rift S Holiday
This spot turned out much better than I expected. We didn’t have the budget or the time for mixed-reality capture, but we still wanted to convey a similar feeling of immersive, high-quality VR. Working with the folks at space.camp, we landed on an idea to put the live actors in a position that paralleled their body’s posture in POV gameplay, then cut between them. Even though that’s a pretty basic device, I think it conveyed the immersion really well.
Partner: Andreas Ekelund
Facebook Reactions
When thinking about becoming a copywriter, I never knew it would include questions like, “Are we sure the dog’s eyebrows aren’t too pandering?” But I asked that one and many more throughout the creation of this spot. We were working with the kind-hearted folks at Animade in London to make a short film introducing the new Facebook Reactions. These days, Reactions seem so inevitable that it’s hard to imagine them needing a demonstration at all.
Partners: Omid Rashidi & Nate Salciccioli
iPhone “DREAMS”
We essentially made this spot twice. The first was an attempt to extend the “More powerful than you think” campaign with a film that focused on productivity. But that message was falling flat. Then our creative director offered some clutch advice to consider work from the optimistic perspective of kids—back when careers weren’t just jobs, but something we dreamed about becoming. That spark was key to finding the heart of this spot. It also led to us changing the music, which ended up doing more heavy lifting here than usual.
Partner: Yves Laroque
iPhone “AMAZING APPS”
This shouldn’t exist. Our team was given the Herculean task of producing four animation spots in a single week. The angels at Psyop LA accepted the job and we started the sprint. My main task was partnering with a strategist named Zach to architect this spot, which included supplying the content for every screen. The result isn't groundbreaking, but every time I watch it, I’m reminded of a quote from Steve Martin: “I think I did pretty well considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.”
Partner: Zach Wootton
30 Years of Mac
I love this spot more every year. After two fellow creatives had the insane idea to shoot a film entirely on Mac's 30th birthday, the four of us worked together to concept all the scenes and craft the narrative arc. Amazingly, the spot isn't a cheat. We had crews in 15 cities on January 24th, all capturing scenes on iPhones. I learned that a single day on Earth actually lasts for 48 hours. I also learned that, in that time, you can make something like this.
Partner: Yves Laroque