As part of Pepsi’s new rebrand, Dan French has directed its Epic Choice commercial.
Intended to unfold like the start of a movie and narrating central character Terry’s misfortunes, the spot unravels when the Pepsi God intervenes, guiding Terry to finally make a decision to drink a Pepsi.
Director Dan French built on the initial concept by setting the scene in a derelict cinema. The brutalist architecture and the film title, Instant Regret 3, set the tone.
Art Director Riccardo Pugliese created a full cinema light frontage, while French chose to sprinkle details like a line shaved into the back of Terry’s head by a dodgy barber, to add comedy.
To create a big gold statue of Terry, on set a 3D scan of the actor was taken and then a mannequin dressed in his clothes was used to get the perfect folds.
Night shoots during summer posed a challenge, with the crew chasing sunlight. On the final day, a piece of equipment failed, forcing the team to shoot the inside-the-Pepsi-machine scene in daylight. They blacked out a flower shop and used green screen techniques, combined with a DJI handheld vlogging camera to capture the necessary background plate.
Dan French said: “ This was so much fun to shoot, with lots of work to adlib some fun performances from the actors. We ran a few different versions of the dialogue for the news reporter, reactions from Terry and even get the crowds shouting “do the pose” as he stood in front of the statue which leads us into him copying the statues pose and having his final sip. There’s so many little easter eggs in the sound mix and visuals, even the posters outside the questionable cinema which were designed by me for awful sounding B Movies like Gnomeaggedan – which I to be honest, I would actually love to see”
Credits
CAST
TERRY: Andre Du Preez @andredupreezz
LISA: Cheyenne De Sousa
CLIENT: PEPSI
PRODUCTION: OTO FILM
SERVICE PRODUCTION: SMOKIN GUN PRODUCTIONS
EXEC CREATIVE DIRECTOR: MATT WATSON
SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER: DOROTA OMELAŃCZUK
ART DIRECTOR: ERWIN BARANOWSKI
SENIOR PRODUCER: NATASHA LOBUREVA
COPYWRITER: FILIP SLIWA
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: MONIKA WAGNER
DIRECTOR: MEEE
DOP: @BENCOTGROVE
PRODUCTION MANAGER: KAROL NOWICKI
PROD COORDINATOR: MICHAŁ FILIPOWICZ
POST PROD COORDINATOR: TOMASZ OLEKSA
PROD ASSISTANT WADE: BUTLER
SET PA: LIAM VAN ASWEGEN
1ST AD: JEAN BELLINGAN
2ND AD: DAX GAGE
PROD CHAPERONE: GARY GOOD
CLIENT CHAPERON: EFARIED SAFERDIEN
FOCUS PULLER: DIOGO DOMINGOES
LOADER: ADRIAAN MADIKISA
SOUND RECORDIST: FERNANDO ALFREDO
GRIP: ALLAN GRAY
BEST BOY: ISAAC NDLOVU
GAFFER: DANNY SMART
ART DIRECTOR: RICCARDO PUGLIESE @riccardo_artdirector
PROPS MASTER: ANDRE FOURIE
WARDROBE STYLIST: ULRICA KNUTSDOTTER @ulricaknutsdotter
MAKE UP ARTIST: NINA DAVIS
DC POST: MOI
DC GRADE: @ALEXGREGORYCOLOUR @NO8LDN
SOUND DESIGN: @LUKEISOM @JUNGLESTUDIOSUK
AGENCY POST: ORKA FILM
Pippa Considine
Share this story
