For Ambient Devices — Loop for Retail Locations

When Ambient reached out to me, it was still a tiny startup, but drawing attention in the national media for its elegant "information at a glance" objects. 

Ambient asked me to create a loop to be played in stores that sell its products, to draw shoppers in and intrigue them. And they needed the video quickly.

To be as fast and cost-effective as possible, I filmed Ambient's staff, investors, and friends. I asked them to describe their emotional responses to the Ambient Orb and coached them to narrate imagined use scenarios. I then intercut excerpts with product stills, using transparency and motion effects, added music, and designed the ending to loop seamlessly with the beginning in terms of both image and sound. 

This project was great fun. It was the first time I used a technique made famous by Oscar-winning director Errol Morris (in his Apple switcher ads and documentaries, such as "Fog of War"): overlaying audio of an interviewee's words with video of the interviewee looking into the lens but not speaking. I liked how emotionally powerful it could be, depending on which silent expression I chose and its emotional interplay with the underlying spoken words. So I used this technique in videos for many other clients after this engagement. 

2004