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For the Love of Craft
UNCSA
From the eyes of the maker
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts was on a mission—and so were we. To launch the biggest fundraising campaign in the school’s history. The goal was simple— compel people to donate. How? Easy, put them in the shoes of an artist.
Artistry: the magnificent obsession
The key was to identify what all five UNCSA disciplines had in common. There were dancers, musicians, designers, filmmakers, and actors— all of them fiercely devoted at their core. It’s a truth every artist knows to be true— that mastery is something you inch toward, every single day.
Gold Telly for Promotional Videos for Schools, Colleges and Universities
Gold American Advertising Award for “Music Without Lyrics”
Silver American Advertising Award for “Cinematography”
The show before the show
We wanted to give potential donors a peek into the rehearsals before the recordings, the shows before the shows, and the late nights that turn good artists into great ones. We went straight to the source and conducted a series of in-depth workshops with students and professors to understand what classes are really like. The idea was to tap directly into the makers and their mastery process— to walk in a mile in their ballet shoes, so to speak.
We wanted to understand the school, to live and breathe it as much as possible so we could get the point of view we needed to create something great.
The art of allowing
We started with a beat— well, with a drummer to be exact. Our director Spike Hoban pushed student Bobby Thomas through multiple takes to capture the blood, sweat, and emotion that goes into rehearsal. It was less about directing him, and more about drawing inspiration from Rebonds B by Iannis Xenakis and allowing Bobby to get lost in the music. From there, we let light do the talking with warm, emotive, cinematography.
We connected with them on a personal level because the things that were important to them are the same things that are important to us as artists.
The making of... a heartbeat
Our editor Daniel Cook spent hours mixing, mastering, and sonically layering the sounds of our drummer into what became the heartbeat of the film. If you listen close— you can hear the craft in our final track for which Daniel won an Addy. He even recruited his violinist bandmate for the final touches. Magic.
70 million and counting...
The fundraiser exceeded its 65 million dollar goal, and we felt good knowing that we’d help set that ball in motion. At the end of the day we connected with the students over a shared love of expression‚ and you can sense it in the final product.
It was important to show the artist’s process and how they achieve greatness while they’re at school.
I think they nailed it.
Credits
Director
Spike Hoban
Producer
Hillary Scott
1st AD
Melissa Douglas
Creative Strategist
Jedidiah Gant
Director of Photography
Kent Willard
1st AC
Gray McClamrock + Trevor Jackson
2nd AC + G&E Swing
Ryan Shackleford
Editor
Daniel Cook
Music Score
Daniel Cook, Bobby Thomas, Autumn Rose Brand
Sound Mixing
Taylor Paris + John Machado
