VIDEO DIRECTION
Most video work was either directed, produced, scripted, storyboarded, or all of that. Maybe some shooting, but editing is not my bag.
DARN TOUGH VERMONT - DEVELOPMENT OF A SOCK
Informative and inspirational - that was the self-prescribed goal with this. As brands/companies go, Darn Tough is about as pure as you are going to find. Good people, making a great product with its own cult following. The audio, the pace, the minimal text - all aimed at showcasing how a sock comes to be, with a bit of reverence. Connecting the line with the number of people involved reinforces their Still Made in Vermont vibe and the end instills their “We Have Yet to Produce Our Best Sock” ethos.
Scott Barber filmed and edited, as he did with me on several DTV projects. Direction, scripting, producing were my primary roles. Nearly every DTV project was created with an intent of alternate/variant production - typically what kind of short edits I could get could get out of a single production.
DARN TOUGH VERMONT - NEW LIGHT HIKER
Darn Tough’s Light Hiker sock was its most popular model, or real close, and was in need of an update. Aesthetically, it was starting to look brutal, but more importantly, recently developed knitting techniques needed to be applied. Their lifetime guarantee is an endless amount of product data, and their family-owned mindset allows for exhaustive development. Thirty-one prototypes seemed like something we could illustrate while getting a message across that it was “Not Taken Lightly.”
The animation of the sock models in studio was Rick Levinson and RL Photo. Mark Cernosia, Profanity Creative, handled the edit and graphic animation while Michelle Boutin was on design. Outside of the idea, most of my work was just writing stuff for it - which does not require audio.
That’s the long one. There was a :30, a :15, and they all had verticals and squares.
DARN TOUGH VERMONT - ADS
Did a series of ads like this with Alex Adrian. The edits were his, as was the shooting, and I trust his soundtrack selections. Between the two of us, we came up with relatable scenarios and twists. Copy on screen would tie things together to DTV, and audio was irrelevant to get the point across. Point of view was always to be sock-level. This one was one of mine - a ridiculous notion that the moisture-wicking properties of merino wool might drive you to do such a thing. And if all else fails, you can return the socks.
MORE DTV - VARIANTS
I do like how these came out, but the intent was to create ads that could be A/B tested using variants of the message as well as animation within the video - nothing intense, just movement. The back-to-back :15 clips you see all have difference. Scott Barber was shooting and editing, and Mark Cernosia helped with the emojis. Direction and everything else was me.
The scenarios were intended to be somewhat similar, and one uses a pro athlete, Jake Blauvelt (Vermonter) with his signature sock model, the other was a friend and Smuggs coach Kaylee Rumley. The magnetic Darn Tough logo used in the final seconds was a fun add.
I’m not sure DTV actually ran the tests, so I can’t tell you what rose to the top, but the versatility of the idea and production was sound.
DTV - ATHLETIC SOCK & THE WORBLE
Darn Tough was coming out with an athletic/gym sock. Known for their hiking socks, they actually knit quite a few different styles. Category-specific socks are important to them. To introduce a sock that should have wide appeal, the fear was we would pigeon-hole ourselves into a “crossfit sock” or a “basketball sock”. We really only had fear itself, to fear at the time, but I understood. To me the answer was tennis. I’d recently seen a vintage photo of a player jumping over the net, and the socks were pulled up tight. Tennis was the answer - approachable activity almost anyone has played, but yet, not all the time. No way was this going to be pickleball - could smell that trap a mile away. The vintage aspect would keep it light, but calling Tom Mull to film, direct, and edit was the key.
Tom is a Vermonter, and with his brothers and friends, The Worble. He jumped all over this from the get. Shot in LA with Adam Moran as the accompanying photographer (his shots were great), It was a fun day. Main video played part in a PR launch with shorter social cuts in all sizes.
Outside of their talent, and good being, Tom and his brothers are Vermonters, and had been to the Mill - that’s all the connection we needed. A connection Nick Africano deserves a lot of credit for making. We weren’t just working with a skate crew - we were working with a Vermont skate crew. Acceptable behavior.
The idea and a mood board were my contributions, outside of the All Day, All Year, All Time lyric. I hire people to do what they do with an idea or concept. Facilitating that and then protect their work from potential nonsense. Not afraid to watch other’s magic, and I can wake up looking for a hill to die on.