Dodge dart pdf

Kevin Ward Director´s Treatment

Director’s Treatment

I love these spots! They will be a lot of fun to create, and as I have discovered over the years, that good energy we have on set will also infuse itself into the final edits. We’ll find and create the most powerful imagery and reward viewers for their attention. Each spot has its own personality, so every one of them will get the individual attention it deserves.

We have the luxury of the announcer and the music creating a common thread in all six spots. This will allow us to choose the perfect location, time of day, talent, camera movement, lensing, lighting, art direction, and color timing, embracing these differences and resulting in each spot having an individual unique look.

Our drivers of the Darts for this project will also play a vital integral role. As a professional racer, I have a very discerning eye for car action, and can communicate with those behind the wheel to get exactly the style of driving we need. I plan on putting our actors into the car as much as possible to continue their stories through to the end of the spots. We will pay special attention to this dynamic when capturing our running footage.

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Our Hero- the Dodge Dart

A sharp 4-door sedan with some Italian attitude. The visual treatment will admire the uniquely Dart exterior lines and special features, and when we move into the interior it will be all about spaciousness and high technology. Our spots that are based at night we will get a chance to appreciate the “array LED style” tail lamps, and projector style headlights. We will work in the city, and show it in various locations on the highway, across a bridge, in a tunnel, negotiating a parking structure, pulling out onto the street, place it in both daytime and night time scenarios, and tying it in with our various stories.

FUEL ECONOMY-BOOTS

Studio with dark background for car interior, bedroom, and daytime exterior running footageTalent: Incredible pair of legsOur announcer takes us through the interior of the car while addressing the fuel economy. We hear “buy her something pretty” and cut to a girl modeling a sexy pair of boots in front of a full length mirror. We see a new shoe box is there on the floor with some torn gift wrap and ribbon. We cut to those same boots getting in the car and door slamming. We end up with aggressive and fun running footage shots.

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SAFETY“FLIGHT ATTENDANT”

Studio with dark background for car interior and exterior running footageTalent: Flight AttendantAs we listen to the announcer we watch our flight attendant point out the 10 airbags in the Dodge Dart. I would like to actually start her standing centered in front of the car, much like she would in the aisle of the airplane.

She can straddle the center console (meant to be a bit provocative) and have her sit in the middle of the back seat to continue the theme of being in the airplane aisle. We could also sneak in some fun cuts of her sitting on the hood! We cut to a close up of her buckling her seat belt (safety!) and end with the Dart turned loose on the streets of the city.

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Studio with dark background for car interior, party environment for the “finger” scene, and practical exterior night location for the button push and take off of the car. Night time running footage. Talent: Beautiful woman between 30 and 35 years and slightly nerdy man between 35 and 40 yearsOur announcer’s voice takes us through the interior features of the car. We cut to our girl in charge as she motions a man to “come hither” at a party. We see a close up of her finger. He is incredulous and looks around. “ME?!” On a nightime city street or park setting as a background the same finger confidentaly pushes the start button on the Dart dash. We are off and running through our urban nightscape. Maybe she is taking him for a spin? Quick close up shot of him loosening his tie in the passenger seat. Energetic shots showcase the Dart inside and out, teasingly revealing the car. Here I would wet the streets and use some fog to have some mysterious reveals and exits.

KEYLESS ENTER´N GO “COME HITHER”

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7" CONFIGURABLE CLUSTER DISPLAY “GIRLFRIEND”

Studio with dark background for car interior and woman at her homeTalent: Woman 30 to 35 years- attractive and Male 30-35 years- handsome.We work our way through the control features of the Dart letting the announcer’s voice guide us. “Change your girlfriend” we cut to her in the kitchen or garden. I will get several reactions from her. Everything from her raising her eyebrows like “excuse me?!”, to just a narrowing of her eyes and that “better watch out” look, to her exclaiming “what?!”. Announcer says “Just kidding”. We cut to our running footage action. We cut to a wide interior to show a man and woman couple both laughing inside the car. This car action should feel fun and mischievious. Lots of color and quick camera movement.

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7”CONFIGURABLE CLUSTER DISPLAY “BOYFRIEND”

Studio with dark background for car interior and evening house partyTalent: Man 35 to 40 years, Female 30-35 years, and Extras as needed.We explore the interior of the Dart and work the control features in a studio environment. “Change your boyfriend” takes us to him singing badly at a Karaoke party. We dolly back to see everyone is basically ignoring him except for a couple of girls who are watching in horror. We hear our announcer say, “Seriously”. We jump to our running footage. The car action should be very energetic for this spot. Wheeling around turns and lighting up the tires. The girlfriend is driving rebelliously, having “escaped” her boyfriend, with a smile on her face. Play

Night time vista with city lights in the background and urban night running footageTalent: Attractive woman 30 to 35 years.As the announcer takes us through the interior of the car we will show details with just a hint that there is someone sitting in the passenger seat, out of focus in the background. We will then finally reveal our georgeous model in the driver seat. She could ignore us and be busy looking at the view deep in thought, or she could just acknowledge us with her eyes. We could also have her turn and smile and even give us a provocative look. I plan on getting several different reactions from her so we have many choices in the edit. We pull back to reveal her sitting at a night time vista viewpoint. We then roll out for our night time running footage- this car sequence should feel more romantic and upscale. We can spend some more time admiring her in the driving sequence also, letting the camera caress her under the city lights.

INTERIOR-MODEL

Visual Approach

We will utilize a Red Epic or an Arri Alexa for our main camera. DSLRs are great lightweight cameras for ease of handheld movement and spontaneous moments, especially for interior driving shots, so I will have a Canon 5D on hand also. GoPros work great for those camera positions and mounts that until recently were deemed impossible, and we will have some in our kit for those especially creative moments. Tracking shots we will capture from a camera car and with mounted cameras, giving us the ability to sustain those moments where we see our talent driving, and completing the mood we have created for each spot. I like to “overcrank” the camera on these shots occasionally to create the mood I want. The plan with exterior lighting will be to work as much as possible with existing light. We will schedule our day and our camera placement and angles to capitalize on the beautiful natural sunlight at this time of year. I love working in the winter months, when the sun stays close to the horizon. For our night scenes I will carefully choose backgrounds that separate the Dart, and utilize lit buildings to reflect off the windows and body panels.

For some of our spots I have planned very stylistic approaches, with an overhead toplight isolating our car for “Interior- Supermodel” and letting the distant cityscape fall away our of focus. We could shoot this at a scenic vista or possibly a rooftop parking structure. For other situations like “Economy- Boots” I plan on having a saturated color palette and playing up the feel of being outdoors and joyful. “Boyfriend” calls for a slightly desaturated and flat-lit scene when we go to him singing, to contrast to the vibrant colors of the running footage we finish with. “Keyless” I would like to take advantage of a very shallow depth of field for our actors, to really isolate them from their environments for a bit of a tunnel vision effect, forcing the viewer’s perspective.

I like handheld shots for capturing spontaneous interior driving scenes and exterior blow-bys. A Hockey-Stick Cam lets me hang out the window of the picture car to shoot close-ups of our own tires wheeling around corners and grab reflections off auto body paint and windows. It’s a fantastic tool that also allows me to make extremely fast pan rotations. It’s a trick that’s beyond the capability of any robotic arm, and easy to use at a moment’s notice.

I’m always very careful to gather “B” roll of a scene before moving on. Gathering tight shots, extreme wide shots, and cutaway angles always helps create a compelling story and complement a setup, and would give us the option of cutting some 30 second or longer web spots down the road.

Exteriors

The plan here will be to draw the audience’s eye to the Dodge Dart’s lines and style more than to the background. The exterior locations chosen for their perfect light, but distant backgrounds, will play perfectly for this. I also want to show these vehicles at their most dynamic as when the tires torque them around corners at full throttle. Quick cuts and sharp panning will mirror the speed and agility of the vehicle.

Occasionally using slight slow motion, we’ll linger on the car as it flows through its surroundings and playfully zips through urban streets in the late afternoon light. Camera highlights the detail put into each aspect of the Dart’s exterior with precision moves and shallow focus to hone in on the details of the vehicle. We can also dress up our urban locations by carefully introducing some fog or smoke, and with a saturated color palette. Wetting the streets for our night work will create reflections and help separate the Dart from the environment, along with giving us an excuse to splash through a puddle or leave a roost of water. We’ll capture long, open camera moves juxtaposed with tight shots of the vehicle’s best details, as it speeds through the urban streetscape.

Dodge Dart Interiors

For the studio version of the interior, I will have complete control of the lighting and camera movement allowing us to create the feeling of spaciousness. Any special features, leather trim, chrome accents, etc. will be paid special attention to- building the mood of the particular story. I would also like to capture the Dart interior during the running footage portion of the spots. We will pay careful attention to ergonomics, design, and comfort. Light and reflections will be moving to match the landscape we are traveling through. When we see the Dart from the inside, we have an opportunity to put the viewer inside the visceral driving experience. We become the car. To grab the interior driving scenes with the most intimacy and immediacy, I balance the filmed scenes with shots using the Canon 5D Mark III. I’ll use it to grab shots of hands on the shifter and the steering wheel controls. It works great to pick up abstract angles of the driver, eyes in rear view mirror, the landscape blurring past the windows, and dappled light skipping across the interior.

Sound DesignThe current soundtrack for the Dodge Dart spots is a great one, and will be a fantastic template to work with. I’m imagining the sound design will be a mix of environmental noises, subdued music and sync sound during the storytelling portion of the spots, and then pump the music up and mix in our exhaust notes when we cut to running footage. We will have a mixer with us for all our scenes, and he will gather a library of sounds for our edit.

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Our target audience for these spots is a specific age group—mid thirties. We’re looking at high achievers, hipsters, small business owners, artists, white-collar individuals, blue-collar workers, and everyone in between. They care about their own appearances no less than they do the look, feel, and engineering quality of the cars they drive. That’s the type of people I think will be watching the spot. To really appeal to them and their lifestyle, we have to know how to live life, have fun and enjoy a good laugh. These spots have all the necessary ingredients!

Demographics

LocationsFor our urban needs, Mexico City has a very diverse selection of looks. Modern cityscapes and long clean streets for running shots. Just a short way out of town and we find plenty of choices for the roads and highways. Different parts of the city have just the look we need here- a sophisticated cosmopolitan backdrop. From there we will explore the city at night and choose our city lights background. There are sections of the city that offer great looks after dark.For me, so much additional creative happens when we scout our locations, and I look forward to that part of the creative process!

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SummaryI have a keen understanding of what appeals to the core group of car enthusiasts- in the pop culture hang out scene, the car enthusiast group, and those who have much more practical needs. I want to deliver much more than the basics needed to assemble these spots. My aim is always to have many choices in the edit, and to have everyone agonize over having too many choices! We’ll generate plenty of spectacular shots and choices in the edit, and it’s going to be footage full of unforgettable imagery that’s worthy of memorable spots. As I mentioned before, I bring a genuine appreciation for the Dodge brand and its effortless design. Thanks for letting me offer my ideas.Kevin Ward