Lucia Ahrensdorf

Tech - Intro

Especially during the pandemic, I think everyone has been trying to find new ways to connect to each other without having to be in the same room. After becoming a Portal user over the last week and using it for everything from pitch calls to personal calls, it’s clear to me that Portal has identified what is missing from other ways of talking through technology - focus and a feeling of transportive intimacy. It’s a device that connects people in ways that empower emotional interactions. 

As someone who’s influences primarily come from photography and independent film, I deeply responded to the visual style that you propose for this campaign in your deck. To me, there is nothing more cinematic than a scene with compelling people speaking honestly, a human face against a naturalistic, yet curated background, and I think that’s what your campaign understands so well. I think of the great moments in Joan of Arc, Persona, Moonlight, Nomadland - the scenes that touched me were simple, an actor being vulnerable, framed simply and letting the focus be on the story and emotion. Paired with bringing diverse faces and experiences to the screen, there’s something deeply humanistic about your campaign that speaks to me as a storyteller and a person.

Comedy - Tone / Approach

Dark humor is at the heart of this concept, and we want the audience to enjoy that delirious sense of impending doom that we know will unfold. In the Cat spot, we want to cringe as well as laugh when the “Cat” scratches and ruins an expensive-looking piece of furniture. We grimace and delight when an aggressively blond Game Day mom tries to park her brand new Audi and scratches and squeaks against the other car. In all of the spots, we want to highlight the victim’s perspective - we want to make sure that we feel the people cringe as they regret listening to our protagonist’s instructions. 

Part of what is special about the spots is their dry absurdity. We don’t spoon-feed our audience with jokes, but rather let them play out without drawing attention to them – we trust the audience’s intelligence. When the Cat is sitting on his owner’s chest, the owner looks up at him as he would any other inscrutable feline. We want the audience to laugh, while always feeling a slight twinge of discomfort. The way to approach this is to mix the outrageous, the unexpected, and the realistic. I want the audience to both identify with the victims of these disasters and also be able to laugh at how recognizable they are.

Automotive - Pack shots

A vehicle reveal is the most precious of moments for an automotive brand and I take this very seriously. We need to ensure that the viewer sees what makes this vehicle special, and pique their curiosity so they’ll want to see it in person and give it a test drive. 

We’ll get all of the hero angles in glistening soft light: the grill, the badging, the wheels. We’ll craft beautiful camera movements to dynamically showcase every square inch. The best angles: profile, 3/4 front and back, 7/8s and everything in between. And let’s not give short shrift to vehicle interior shots as well, so we paint a full picture of everything that makes the truck special. I’d like to do is get a list of all of the vehicle features that the brand would like to show so we make sure we have a clear target list to follow. 

The pack shot at the end of the spot is so important in leaving the audience with a strong impression. We should be sure to shoot the car against a stunning backdrop with and without G. In the editing room we should have a full range of possibilities to see what packs the most visual punch.

Lifestyle - Cinematography

I appreciate that you’re bringing these spots to a more grounded present and I really responded to how you want to distinguish yourselves from the previous brand iteration’s aesthetic. The spots should evoke lived experience, the now. Special moments with friends have a special patina, a sheen that feels magical and heightened, the images should evoke that - we should allow our emotions to guide us. Asking ourselves questions like “does this feel like a real experience? What’s an experience I’ve had that has a similar spirit?” 

For inspiration, I would look at the work of cinematographers like Emmanuel Lubezski. I think of intimate scenes from Terrence Malick films like Song to Song for inspiration - moments when the camera and the light almost dance with the actors to create spontaneity and rawness. There’s a fluidity to the camera and to the images that I would want to bring to this spot as we move from scenario to scenario. 

Fashion - Set Design

I imagine the set as a sort of a magic box that can transform before your eyes and feel expansive even though it's an intimate space. Since we’re inventing a unique talk show space, it should be a vibrant and dynamic world, with moving panels, rising platforms, and a lighting scheme that allows the space to adapt to fit the topic at hand – a candy-colored, rocking concert venue, a frosted winter wonderland, or an intimate interview setting. 

In the architecture of the space, it could be visually appealing to evoke a retail space, with shelving-like details in the back, and display tables. It would be a clever way to subtly remind people that our store is the ultimate shopping destination for the holidays. A mix of art installation, set, and store, this space will stick in people’s minds and elevate the spots.

Healthcare - Intro

Thank you for thinking of me, I find this project really meaningful and I really connect with your approach - a refined yet grounded series of moving portraits that address a crucial social issue: gender bias in healthcare. 

As a woman, it can be disheartening to hear about the extreme disparity in healthcare attention and to witness medical injustices in 2021. However, there’s something validating about talking about it out in the open, and that’s where I think your campaign is really meaningful. This is a widespread issue that women of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds have had to deal with and we should be having direct, open conversations about it. I’ve recently been interested in books like Women Who Run with Wolves, and have felt empowered by their utopic vision for the future. Rather than seeing everything as an isolated struggle, there’s a lot of potential for strength in empowering each other, as a collective.

Together, we can craft this spot to make female viewers feel less isolated, and hopefully, more optimistic for the future.