Anatomy of a spot: BMC Union Station

Last September, PlattForm produced a standout commercial for Brown Mackie College’s “One” campaign. It broke the mold for educational spots—something we strive to do at PlattForm.

To learn from it, we dissect the commercial here with the help of Writer/Director Caleb Brattrud and Senior Creative Editor Scott Reece, the creative duo who created and produced the spot.

What was the vision for the commercial?

The commercial dramatizes the fact that there are obstacles in life to pursuing education. In the spot, these obstacles are words that are pushed away.

“There’s a lot of symbolism,” said Caleb. “You’re going through this jungle—reasons you can’t go back to school—and this pure orbit of light (BMC’s logo) pushes everything away.”

Why shoot the commercial in Union Station?

For the creative team, historic Union Station Kansas City was the ideal location for the commercial but not without challenges.

“We wanted the biggest, most illustrious room we could find and shoot at night,” said Caleb, who scouted the location six times.

Shooting at night was both practical and problematic. For one, it helped convey the concept of being overpowered by obstacles. The fading into darkness made the space look even bigger. There also wasn’t the challenge of fighting sunlight. However, lighting was still a challenge.

“Lighting was a huge issue,” said Scott. “Can we get the lights and the budget? Where do we draw power from?”

The budget for lighting was worked out and the power source was solved by stringing extension cords all over Union Station. This preventing us from overloading the old building’s power supply to the room being used for the shoot.

What special effects were required?

The obstacles or words had to be created by a 3D artist and then Scott manipulated them into the scene. On one of his many trips to Union Station, Caleb shot some test footage of miming the movement. Scott and the 3D artist were then able to use the footage for practice and for solving how to create the special effects.

“That test footage really helped us figure out a lot of things,” said Scott.

Another digital effect challenge was match moving. If the camera stood still, this would not have been a problem. But since the camera moved, the digital effect had to match the movements. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have looked right.

Was there a signature special effect?

The most important special effect was the shatter shot where the orb presents itself and all the obstacles fall away.  

“Like you dropped a vase,” said Caleb.

But for Scott, the effects took a lot of time and required careful planning both before and after the shoot.  In fact, Scott and the 3D artist were at the shoot and gave Caleb a thumbs up or thumbs down based on whether or not the shot was going to work with the effects. For example, if the fingers were out of place pushing away the unseen obstacles, this wouldn’t look natural after the obstacle words were added in digitally.  

Was that a special skill you looked for in casting?

PlattForm considered many actresses for the role but one stood out. She had the right look and took direction really well. She had a natural way of pushing the words away.

“The biggest thing was miming. The actress had to pretend what she was pushing away had weight to it,” said Caleb.

To help the actress prepare for the role, Caleb met her at Union Station before the shoot to go through the pacing and visualize it. Thanks to this, on the day of the shoot the actress was more relaxed and prepared.

Is there a single challenge that you had to overcome?

For Caleb and Scott, the spot enabled them to stretch outside their comfort zone. That said, breaking new ground is never easy.

“We had never done this before. A lot of people were unsure,” said Scott.

 “We had this challenge to figure it out. It’s why we do what we do,”  said Caleb.

How long did the spot take to create?

The team spent a month on pre-production, which included scouting locations, casting and getting the crew together, and about three and half weeks on post production, which included editing, voiceover, music and special effects. The shoot itself took 13 hours—basically dusk to dawn. The photo doesn’t show it but that’s an exhausted crew.

You read about it. Now play the commercial and watch it for yourself.  Share a comment below.