Introducing a new pharma product can be an exciting proposition. Our brief called for video and stills of a boxer and his trainer in the ring and training with a NYC skyline background.

I love to shoot integrated campaigns that allow me to shoot video and stills to complete a cohesive message. When we were approached to shoot this campaign for a new HIV product for  a NY agency, we jumped at the chance to roll up our sleeves and dive in.

The storyboards called for several scenes shot in a boxing gym and in and around the boxing ring with the trainer and his protege as well as several shots of training and running with a NYC skyline background.

Casting started almost immediately. We took a look at hundreds of potential candidates,  had two casting sessions in NY and one call back where we had a chance to meet our favorites and spend a little time with them. When we're shooting motion,  we purposefully take time to get to know the talent and insure they understand the roles they need to play. In our case, training and boxing were important and both talent had some experience they brought to the shoot.

Locations were key and as we were casting, we were deeply entrenched in finding the best boxing gyms in NY. Since this was for a pharma shoot, the client didn’t want the gym to be too gritty and had to have a cleaner, slightly more contemporary look.

When I was reviewing the shots I wanted to get with my DP and going over lighting and camera/lens selection we agreed we also needed 50 or so extras in the background with flashes popping on camera and a little fog/smoke to help with the overall ambience of the boxing scenes.

The shoot was very successful and we’re happy to share some of the ins and outs of how we pulled this off in two days of shooting. There’s a BTS and the Final Video as well as some of the stills here.  Give us a ring, we’re happy to go through the details.