MACCOFFEE Café Pho ‘Samba’

It’s always fun shooting an active & lively commercial, especially when it involves dance. From clients Food Empire & Optinovus Films, comes a slightly humorous story of a young man pining for a woman he cannot have… she’s out of his league. Well, at least not on his own. Thus, with the help of MacCoffee Café Pho, he’s transported into this magical Samba/Carnival fantasy, & of course, she’s there as the main dancer. Clad in a red & white Samba costume, she dances & teases. One of the challenges was getting all 11 dancers in place & cordoning off a whole street in Putrajaya to allow us to shoot the outdoor scene. The weather was rather forgiving – as it didn’t rain – but it was hot, & we managed to create an energetic atmosphere. It definitely helps when our main female protagonist is an accomplished dancer herself, so capturing all the essential gyrating of hips & twists & turns wasn’t too hard. Shooting the indoor scenes was a cool & welcome change, but for the food products, those required a bit more time, with trial & error to get the pouring & ice splashing scenes just right. Something worth mentioning that stood out for me in this spot is the use of our hero’s POV, where we see the glass lifted into frame & every time he brings it down, the scene changes. It’s unique but a challenge to achieve at the same time. We used the RED Dragon – mostly because of the high-speed food shots required – with Nick Lee as DOP. Editing was done by myself, with the rest of post-production at Meccanica FX.