Children's Bureau "New Home"

Director: Matt Holwick

Writer: Dan Sorgen

DP: Dan Rink
Gaffer: Derek Bazan
Producer: Matt Holwick
Cam OP: Casey Todd
First AC: Amir Rakib
sound: Edman smith
Production design: Natasha Fravel/Mike Kelleher
Makeup: Cauline Pedro


Why this script/concept? How does it reflect your vision as a commercial director?

This script caught my eye because it is hard to have an audience feel a connection to a character in thirty seconds. This commercial is a challenge because it is one of many where I must pull out the raw emotions from a kid actor.

What was the casting process like?

I saw over 1000 headshots and did not pick any of the people. I called a person I knew, Martine, over at Barron Entertainment and he helped me out right away. I told him exactly what I was looking for in an actor and he was on it!

How did you search for/lock a location?

The location was at Brooks Institute, a film school in Ventura, CA. They have affordable studios and film equipment on site.

How did you select your DP, crew?

I decided to shoot on Super 35mm and Dan was the only DP I knew that worked with film the most. He was amazing and communicated with me throughout every shot and made suggestions on how it could be better. Most of the crew I had worked with in the past and I knew they would be solid workers.

How did shooting go? Any challenges?

Murphy’s Law seems to linger around set and there is always something that goes wrong. Our biggest problem was that we had to shoot the entire commercial in four hours due to child labor laws. The day before the commercial shoot I rehearsed all the scenes without the actor in order to make sure that any kinks that could arise would not affect the DP in any way. We were working with 1200 feet of film so we only had about 5 takes per shot to get it right. That’s about 12 minutes of film to shoot a 30 second spot.

Tell us about editing and finishing.

The most simple and small things kill me. I cannot sleep when it comes to putting the final touches together. The commercial could look great to most people, but if one little thing was off, like the graphics not being completed, I go crazy!

In retrospect, is there anything you would have done differently?

There are a couple of things that I would have done differently. First, on the first two shots, I would have gone hand held on the dolly. Second, I would have kept the organization’s logo a second longer at the end and third a thousand other things.

Any other thoughts.

I can’t wait to turn other writers' thoughts into something visually.