Take a Look Behind the Scenes on our TMGM Australian Open Ads

What does it take to create a sexy looking ad like this?

It turns out, quite a lot! Take a look behind the scenes on our TMGM AO series to find out.

In October 2020 TMGM approached GLOBAL to pitch on their 2021 Australian Open sponsorship commercial. The brief was to deliver an idea for a 30 second ad that would be played on the big screen at the 2021 Australian Open and online. Three creative directions were provided by the client open for the pitching of multiple ideas. After much creative thinking, we provided 5 scripts but it was our 'The Right Tools' concept that took the cake because it offered a unique combination of humour and the ability to create alternate versions.

'The Right Tools' - A business man dressed in a suit on the tennis court addresses the audience directly while a ball machine serves tennis balls towards him, albeit missing him by inches.

We knew casting for this would be paramount. The talents' performance, his look and audience appeal was going to determine the success of this idea. So we took to the casting platforms to find the right tool (ahem) talent. But after sifting through literally hundreds of casting applications, it was TMGM's own sponsorship manager who found comedian and YouTuber Isaac Butterfield (AKA "The Buttsmarn") on a list of top YouTubers. GLOBAL reached out to Isaac's talent agency with an offer and a deal was struck.

Location was another major consideration. Our concept called for the man to be on a tennis court. Since the ads will be played on the big screen at the Australian Open Tennis event we really wanted a similar looking tennis arena to shoot on. We eventually settled on the tennis arena at Sydney Olympic Park and an agreement to shoot there was made. Now all that was left to do was to shoot it (well, after storyboarding, talent rehearsals, engaging crew, hiring equipment, arranging catering, working out a shooting schedule, client meetings, wardrobe selection, prop buying, more client meetings, and the list goes on)!

The brilliance of this idea was its efficiency to shoot. Because each ad utilises the same space we could set up and light the scene in the morning and then shoot all day without much disruption. Because it was held on an indoor arena, it didn't matter what the sun was doing and this helps to increase efficiency with our lighting strategy. Shooting in 4K on our RED Epic-W, we hired in a special zoom lens kit covering a range of angles from an ultra wide 15mm to telephoto 90mm in just two lenses. This meant we could capture that impressive ultra wide hero shot for the intro of the film, engulfing the immensity of the stadium and then cut into a mid shot with a beautiful soft background without too many lens changes.

Our crew consisted of a fantastic team of professionals. Led by director Ben Kumanovski and producer Patrick Rohr, our tight-knit crew included our assistant director, cinematographer, focus puller, gaffer, sound recordist, wardrobe & props stylist, standby props, hair & makeup artist and production assistant. The team worked efficiently and effectively throughout the day, each bringing their own invaluable technical and creative knowhow to the success of the production.

Once it was all in the can, the process moved onto postproduction for a swift delivery, and included editing, sound design, specially composed music and a slick colour grade to really make the image pop.

You can see more from our series of TMGM commercials below:

That's a Wrap!

We hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes breakdown. If you have a creative project you'd like to discuss we'd love to speak with you. You can contact us via email here or call for a chat on (02) 9188 0835.