Student-Produced Commercial Shortlisted for a CLIO Award
by Meghan Fletcher
It opens on a Japanese game show host, then cuts to a common dairy cow. The clock counts down from three while the cow boldly stares down a hidden obstacle. As the timer lands on one, the camera cuts in close to reveal a larger than life fluorescent pink square cutout. The square begins moving toward the cow and the pair stare each other down as the host becomes more and more animated. At the last possible moment before cow and cutout collide, the host screams and a square hamburger patty tumbles on screen.
This creative take on the popular Japanese game show Human Tetris is an advertisement for Wendy’s. It was shortlisted for the annual CLIO awards and won a gold ADDY along with a regional judge’s choice. And it was produced by a group of BYU students in assistant professor Chris Cutri’s Comms 335 class, TV Commercial Production, making it the first BYU student production shortlisted for a CLIO.
Cutri, who has a master's degree in film directing, felt the need for advertising students to get a very real-life sense of what it takes to make a commercial eight years ago. The next year, alumni of the class were filming Mercedes-Benz commercials in Europe. Despite the copious amounts of talent from previous students, this group was the first to be recognized on such a large scale.
“It was a pretty unique, creative and different way of talking about a square burger,” Cutri said. “Past CLIO winners have always been cutting edge. Just like talking about a square hamburger in such a visual way.”
Cutri teaches his students that an idea either has to be great or it’s not worth doing. It was Cutri’s push to come up with an intriguing concept that led students to the idea for this commercial.
“The class is all about finding the big idea,” advertising student Anthony Abbott said. “We wanted to do something really over the top, but with a good solid foundation.”
After brainstorming and selecting the idea for the Wendy’s commercial, the team of five poured hours upon hours into the execution. Their to do list ranged from finding a cow and a studio, to designing and creating the set, to filming on green screens and adding in the sound and most of the background in post production. Countless hours went in to the 30-second clip.
“I think we learned a lot when we did it,” Abbott said. “It’s refreshing to see that it wasn’t perfect, but people recognized it and were able to get it. It’s really just random and I think that’s what is so good about it.”
The group had only one day to film the commercial, and a limited amount of time for post production. While not everything went smoothly and there were a few headaches along the way, the recognition for all their hard work more than made up for it.
“It just seemed really stressful,” LJ Johansson said. “The cow didn’t really cooperate with us and we weren’t sure we would get the shots we needed. But walking away from that experience, we felt a real sense of accomplishment. It is definitely the strongest piece in my portfolio.”
Film student Jordan Peterson also felt the payoff for all their time and effort, but for a different reason. It was the audience response - not the awards - that gave him the most satisfaction.
“If people watch it, and they think it’s funny, and they smile and they like it – then I’m happy,” Peterson said.
