Location: Land O Lakes, Florida
Member Since: February, 2010
Biggest Win: $2,850
Lifetime Earnings: $2,850
In this installment of the Tongal Twelve, Caleb Light-Wills interviews 1st Place Winner of the $7,500 Binaca® Have A Blast Commercial Contest, John Jones. “Binaca Throughout The Ages” is unique in that it accomplishes something rare for a 30-second commercial…It makes you want to watch it again. Why? Because the video is so rich in detail that not all of it registers and you end up asking rhetorical questions like: “Was that a Pterodactyl?” “Was that a Jersey Shore reference?” “Was that a paisley karate uniform?” Based on Chip Bolcik’s 5th Place Concept, “Binaca – Through The Ages,” John’s commercial is a perfect blend of humor and effective brand messaging. Here’s what he had to say about the Tongal experience.
Caleb Light-Wills – How and when did you first find out about Tongal?
John Jones – I was searching the web for video contests a couple months ago and came across Tongal.
CLW – Were you apprehensive about the Tongal process, or was it something you understood almost immediately?
JJ – The concept was easily understood. I like that there’s a chance to win multiple times for each contest. It’s also nice to see how everyone interprets the concepts differently.
CLW – So how does it feel to win almost $3,000 for 30-second commercial?
JJ – It feels pretty awesome! We were a bit nervous, since there were so many other really good videos. Died Hard was my favorite.
CLW – What is your production background like? Is it your day job or more like a hobby?
JJ – I’ve been doing video production as a serious hobby for about 3 years, and just recently transitioned into doing it fulltime.
CLW – Your commercial was based on Chip Bolcik’s “Binaca Throughout the Ages” but you definitely made it your own. What made you choose that concept?
JJ – I originally wanted to make videos for 3 or 4 of the concepts using different actors for each. Christian Schwier had the initial interest in wanting to do this one. As we got closer to the deadline, all the other videos ended up falling through, so we dedicating all our time to making this the best it could be before the deadline, which was a few days away. I do feel like it was a collaboration between Chip and us. We thought we could have a lot more fun with the concept if we did different eras instead of since Binaca was created.
CLW – How long did it take you to shoot “Binaca Throughout The Ages” and what was your process like?
JJ – There were five people involved in the creation of the video. Here’s a list of cast and crew –
Diana Durango: Actor (Damsel in Distress), Costume Design
Ian Hoppe: Actor (The Villain), Costume Design
Christian Schwier: Actor (The Hero), Director, Writer, Costume Design, Editor
John Jones: Director, Writer, Cinematography/ Lighting, Costume Design, Assistant Editor
Jeff Zampino: Writer, Costume Design, Boom Operator
Keith Jones: Color Correction, Chroma Keying, Special Effects, Caveman and Space background design
There were five days total involved in the production of it, but only one of those days was spent creating costumes and filming it. We filmed it on the Panasonic HVX200. First we worked on putting together all the costumes. Christian’s been collecting costumes and props since he’s been in high school, so we had the ingredients for half of the costumes. What he didn’t have, we made. We actually made all three caveman/woman costumes out of a roll of brown string, one pillowcase, one towel and 2 fake-fur pieces (for the villain’s fur arm bands). Diana came up with the rest of her own costumes, which included combining a backwards corset and gold pillowcase to make up the princess costume. First scene shot was the medieval scene, right outside Christian’s town home. We edited that down so we had a cookie cutter layout for the rest of the scenes. All the other scenes were shot on greenscreen and bluescreen. We filmed the background for the modern day scene at a bar down the street and Keith created the caveman and space scene backgrounds in 3D. As we were filming the caveman scene some of Christian’s neighbors walked by behind his house and looked at us weird. It probably looked like we making some kind of creepy fetish porn.
CLW – Your commercial was beautifully cast, are those people professional actors, or friends?
JJ – Ian is a friend who was in town for the weekend, but now seems to be interested in doing more acting. Christian and Diana are both professional actors who are also staring in the indie feature, “Jules Dongu Saves the World”.
CLW – Does the hero usually rock a shaved head or was that an artistic decision for the commercial?
JJ – Christian usually rocks the shaved head look. He says it’s because he’s balding, but I think he just wants an excuse to wear wigs.
CLW – What are you going to spend the money on?
JJ – We split the money up between everyone involved based on how many days they put into it. My cut will probably go to getting more equipment. I think the others mentioned something about sending their cut on Japanese prostitutes.
CLW – What is your favorite thing about Tongal?
JJ – That I have the chance to participate at any level. If I don’t have time to make a video, it only takes a few minutes to come up with and submit a concept.
CLW – What’s next for you?
JJ – Interested in doing a MacGruber video. Other than that, working the day job and trying to finish up “Jules Dongu Saves the World,” which is an indie feature film that Christian and I are producing. Hoping to have it completed summer of 2010. Check it out: www.julesdongu.com.
CLW – What types of improvements would you like to see on Tongal in the future?
JJ – It looks like you guys are already working on them, so I’m happy.
This interview was conducted by Caleb Light-Wills, via email on April 5th, 2010.
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