Creating a Commercial, a Brand, and a Lifestyle

Invest in water. Don’t just buy it. This slogan encompasses what Calabash strives to communicate with its consumers: to actually think about what you are investing in and the water you are buying. In this modern world, water is seen as a commodity and is taken for granted despite being one of the requirements to live. What might seem like a regular water bottle on the outside, the Calabash bottle represents something bigger, a brand with a greater cause and ultimately a lifestyle.

This slogan of Calabash is what I first thought of when I started to make a commercial for the bottle.

The first thing I did was research. What really inspired me was a Youtuber by the name of Jesse Driftwood. The way he uses transitions and other film techniques to make his montage sequences, also known as B-roll, is unique and I knew this was something I wanted to incorporate in the video. You can probably notice the transitions from each shot are relatively smooth. One place you can especially see this is where the scene transitions from inside my house to outside, and this style of transitions I must credit to Jesse Driftwood.

I filmed the commercial with a friend who studies film at Binghamton University, Darren Tun. We filmed at a park near my house in New York. One tip: look at the weather before filming. The park was situated near a bay, which I thought would be very good visually, but what I forgot to consider was how much colder and windier it was near the bay! The temperature was probably in the 50s, but with windchill, it felt well below the 30s. Already driving all the way there, we decided to tough it out and to film. After walking around for five minutes, it became clear that we were not going to be outside for a long time, but in the end, we stayed outside for over an hour trying to nail the shots. My hands were so cold I could barely get the keys in the ignition.

Before coming to the park, I had a very loose idea of what the commercial would be, but on the spot I decided to make the commercial showing the process of making tea from start to finish. This would not only showcase the features of the bottle but to show it in a way that is visually appealing. We worked backwards, what you see as the end of the video we shot first, then we went back to my house to shoot the beginning and the making of the tea. Believe it or not, the last shot was filmed backwards and flipped when editing. Instead of opening the bottle to drink it, I closed it. If you look close enough at my hands you can probably see this. If we shot this forward it would be difficult to manually focus on the bottle and move the camera at the same time, so we grabbed the focus first and then moved the camera afterward to eliminate the hassle of switching focus mid shot.

After we got the shots, we headed to my house to film the making of the tea, which was the beginning of the video, and then went straight to editing. The entire process took 8 hours, including shooting and editing, but I think it was definitely worth it and I am happy with the finished product.

Written By: Alden Aspiras | Calabash X IQ Magazine